Page 55 of Not That Impossible

“Jasper—”

“And the second time—”

“The second time, when I came over as a professional courtesy and you randomly took your t-shirt off?”

“I was hot! Again! I have a fast metabolism! You were the one who got all up in my business.”

“You got me in a headlock.”

“You made me sit on you.”

His shoulders heaved with a short laugh and he smiled. It didn’t last long. “Jasper,” he said kindly. “I told you it was a one-time deal. You agreed.”

“I did agree, yes. Thing is, what I was agreeing to being a one-time deal was the sex. I didn’t realise you meant having a conversation and being friendly was also a one-time deal.”

“I did mean the sex,” he said.

“All right, then.” I thrust the doughnuts and coffee at him.

“You know you look like you’re bribing me?” Liam said.

“For what?”

“For information. You’re a journalist, aren’t you?”

“Hah.” I wished. Most of the time. “This is me being nice. Don’t you have nice people in your life who do things like bring you hot coffee on a cold morning? I’m being friendly. This is what friends do.”

“Except we’re not friends.” My face must have done something weird, because Liam softened his tone. “You’re Adam’s friend. I’ve only ever known you as Adam’s friend. What you and I are is…we’re acquaintances.”

I couldnotformulate a response. I couldn’t.

He went on, “Can you honestly tell me that being friendly—being friends—is all you want from me? Because if so, I’ll say yes. In a heartbeat. If not, the answer is no. Believe it or not, I don’t want to be a dick, Jasper.”

“I’ve got bad news for you on that front. You are a dick.”

“I don’t want to lead you on. It’s not fair.”

“Then maybe next time you see me, don’t kiss me? Because saying,No thanks, not interestedone minute, and then the next minute humping me into my mattress until I cry sends a really mixed message.”

“I won’t kiss you again.”

I narrowed my eyes at his confidence. “We’ll see.”

“I won’t. My reasons for not wanting to start anything with you are good reasons, and they stand.”

I thought about his attention on me last night, his focus. About the way his hard hands were gentle as he ran them over me, mapping my body thoroughly and possessively. Almost adoringly. I blushed at the thought, but…it fit. He wasgentlewith me. Like I was precious. I thought about his kisses, about how they went from teasing and carnal to soft and thorough.

“Even after last night?” I said, sounding lost.

“Yes.”

I swallowed hard. “Okay. I suppose you can’t make it any clearer than that.”

He regarded me in silence.

“Happy Wednesday,” I said, and thrust the coffee and box of doughnuts against his chest.

He took hold of them reflexively. “It’s Tuesday.”

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