Page 64 of Beautiful Harmony

CHAPTER17

“The pizza is definitely cold,” Emma said.

“Worth it,” Lucas said before taking a big bite of pizza. He watched Emma take a much more delicate bite of her slice before sipping at one of the sodas he’d brought.

Shit, was she regretting what just happened with them? There was only one way to find out.

“You okay, Emma?” he asked.

“Yes, why?”

“I’m worried you have regrets about fucking me again,” he said.

She poked at her pizza slice. “Do you know one of my favourite things about you is how you’re not afraid to be blunt?”

He grinned at her, and she said, “I’m serious, Lucas.”

“I know. I’m smiling because it’s one of my favourite things about you,” he said. “I guess like calls to like, huh?”

“I guess.” She poked again at her slice. “I don’t regret what we just did.”

“Good. I don’t either,” he said.

“But we did say that we wouldn’t do it again.”

“We did,” he acknowledged. “But we could change our minds.”

Now was the moment where he suggested a friends with benefits arrangement and looked like a real fucking asshole.

But he had no choice. He didn’t think he could be just friends with Emma, at least not until the sexual attraction between them ran its course, but he couldn’t date her either. Not with his history.

The only thing worse than seeing Emma and not having sex with her would be not seeing her at all. Or worse… seeing her and having her look at him like he meant nothing to her because he hurt her.

It didn’t matter how attracted he was to Emma or that it was the best sex of his life with her. If they dated, he would grow bored within months. It always happened, and he wouldn’t risk his friendship with Emma, not even for amazing sex. Emma was too important to him to risk hurting her like he’d hurt past girlfriends. But if they kept it casual, there would be no hurt feelings when he or she got bored with the sex.

“Lucas?” Emma studied him across the table.

“Sorry, up in my head for a minute,” he said.

“It’s fine.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before looking directly at him. “What would you think about a friends with benefits arrangement?”

Shock made his voice weird. “You want a friends with benefits relationship?”

Her cheeks flushed until they were almost the colour of her birthmark. “It’s fine if you don’t want that, but I’m not looking to date you, so… fuck, that came out awful.”

He shook his head. “No, I get it. I was going to suggest a friends with benefits thing too.”

“Yeah?” Relief washed over her. “Okay, that’s good. That’s really good.”

“It is,” he said.

This was exactly what he wanted, so why the fuck did he feel so hurt? Why did it bother him that Emma wouldn’t be interested in dating him? Of course she wouldn’t be interested in dating him. Not with his reputation. Emma was well respected in Harmony Falls, and she owned a business that benefited from how respected she was. If the town found out she was dating him - the guy who fucked anything that moved - her reputation would take a hit, and potentially her business as well.

He wasn’t worth that kind of risk to her, and he understood that.

Do you? Because you’re feeling a whole lot of butt hurt over something you claim to understand.

He pushed his inner voice deep and smiled at Emma. “So, I guess we’re friends with benefits now.”

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