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I shake my head. “No. Please. You don’t owe me any explanations.”

His hand gently tugs mine to follow him to the bed. “I know that. I want to tell you.” He glances back at me over his shoulder. “It’s nothing scary, Quinn. I promise.”

Only his scary and my scary probably aren’t the same thing. But that’s not even why I don’t want to know. I don’t want to hear his story because then I’ll have to tell him mine. And I’m nowhere near ready to.

“No. I’m serious, Riker. Whatever shit you have buried in your past, leave it there. Because that’s where I’m keeping all of mine. I don’t want to dig it up. Not even for you.”

Riker watches me like he’s contemplating his next move. He grinds his jaw back and forth, and I know he’s carefully choosing his response. At last, he nods. “Alright. No digging tonight. But I am going to get back in that bed with you and make up for the speed sex we had earlier. I know I can find more satisfying things to do to you before the night is over.”

“Now this is a conversation I could get into.” Except we both know there won’t be any talking once we hit that mattress, which is fine by me. Actually, after all the talking I did tonight, it’s probably a good thing if I limit my mouth to other activities for a while.

CHAPTER TWELVE

RIKER

“Are you still mad at me?” Sid’s standing next to Nox’s stall door. I’ve barely been here three minutes. I actually expected her to show up sooner.

“No.” I scoop the soggy strands of hay out of his waterer and snort at him in disgust. He’s sloppy as all get out.

“Are you sure? You kinda look like you might still be mad.” She’s rubbing the crease between her brows with her fingers. I hate when she stresses over stuff she doesn’t need to.

“I’m pissed because it’s seven a.m. and I’m in here cleaning slimy crud out of a water bowl and picking up his nighttime shit like I’m his little bitch. Because I am. Every day. For the rest of my life. Or at least his.” And because Nox is smarter than most humans, he whips his tail just right to catch me straight across my face.

“You know, you really shouldn’t insult him when he can hear you,” Sid says, pointing out the obvious.

“And you should keep some of your dialogue internal,” I shoot back.

“I’m guessing you’re referring more to last night and less to just now?” She’s still holding onto the stall door, but she’s leaning back as if she’s attempting to achieve a safer distance between us.

“You had no business saying half the shit you said.” I finish up with Nox and walk past Sid into the aisle.

“I know that. And I said I’m sorry like a hundred times.” She has a flare for exaggerating. And she knows it. “Okay, maybe like five. Whatever. I’ve said I was sorry. What else do you want?”

I turn to face her full on. “I want you to be okay with this. I want you to stop worrying. And I want you to be nice to her. She’s not who you think she is.”

She bites her lip, presumably fighting the urge to argue. “Fine. I’ll do all of those. Just tell me one thing.”

“What?”

“Are you sure she’s whoyouthink she is?”

I can’t answer that. Sid knows I can’t. It’s why she asked it.

“She makes me happy, Sid. Whoever else she is, she’s someone who makes mehappy.And that’s all I need to know right now.”

QUINN

“You look guilty. What did you do?” Kirsten hands me a cup of hot tea alongside her morning accusations.

“Nothing you want me to tell you about with your five-year-old sitting three feet away.” It’s an open-ended question and I’m well within my rights to give an equally unresolved answer. Even if I am misleading her slightly by sort of insinuating that I feel somehow guilty for my various sexual escapades, which is clearly not the case. Nevertheless, she wouldn’t want me talking about Levi in front of Sophie either, so I’m not exactly being dishonest. Merely crafty in the interest of self-preservation. Which telling her what I told Sid and Riker last night would not be. Because she’d kill me if she knew.

Regardless, she’s right. I do feel guilty. And not just because of all the personal stuff I shared on her behalf last night. It’s all the personal stuff I chose to omit when the time came for one-on-one sharing with Riker.

Kirsten’s still giving me a dirty look, and I’m pretty sure she’s racking her brain of every heinous sexual act she’s ever seen or heard about and wondering if I enacted it. I’m quite sure I haven’t. I’m horny, and I have a lot of sex these days, but it’s pretty basic stuff. Fun stuff. But nothing that would get me invited to a BDSM party anytime soon.

“Would you stop staring at me? Sophie’s going to start thinking there’s something wrong with me the way you keep glaring at me like I have a rainbow bursting out of my forehead.”

She brings her own tea mug to her lips and pauses. “Thereissomething wrong with you.” Then she takes a drink, and I know damn well she timed it that way so I wouldn’t see her smile.

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