Page 96 of Putting Out
Reilly’s jaw dropped. “Me? Seriously?”
“Why the hell do you think I showed up in Little Creek?”
“Because of the ranking. Because of what it meant. I thought you came to be supportive.”
“I did. I also came because I decided I was tired of getting married and divorced. Reilly, it’s time for all that to end. I’m ready for some permanence. It’s why I bought this old house.”
“This house is only a couple of years old,” Reilly reminded him.
“But it looks old. Like your grandparents' house. I love that house. It stands for something. Like a part of time itself. I don’t know. All I know is that I want it. I want it all. We don’t have to live here. We can live in Florida or on the West Coast. We’ll both be traveling during the season so…”
“Whoa! You want me to live with you? Because of a house?”
“Not because of a house. Because of what the house means. Will you please keep up?”
“Keep up with what!? You’re not making any sense.”
“As far as living together, I think it’s best, don’t you?” Luke suggested. “I mean, marriage hasn’t worked for either one of us and the idea of going through another ceremony makes me cringe.
She folded her arms over her chest. “Let me get this straight. We’ve been friends with benefits for ten years, never once having a conversation about turning our involvement into anything more than friendship and sex. Then you see the announcement on television about my ranking, weeks after another one of your divorces and you decide the time has come for us to live together.”
“And don’t forget the house. I bought the house first. I think it was part of the ramp up.”
“You say nothing at the time when you see me, other than to convince me you’ve got some woman in your life you’re serious about. Now, I’m weeks away from the biggest moment of my life. I’ve got some bastard following me around necessitating a bodyguard. Kenny is going through… something… I don’t know what, but now he wants me to pull out of the tournament. And you decide with all of this going on, now is the time to tell me you think we should try to have a relationship!”
Luke grimaced. “Bad timing, right?”
“You’re an idiot.” She started to turn away from him, but he caught her hands and pulled her back in between his legs, once again sitting on the bed.
“I know it sucks I did this to you now, but I’m tired of waiting to start this. And for the record, we’re not going totryanything. We are in a relationship. We have been in a relationship for years. I just happen to be ready to make it more normal. If you think about the last couple of weeks we’ve spent in this house together, you’ll agree you’re ready for it, too.”
“For the last couple of weeks I’ve been pissed at you.”
“I know,” he said smugly. “And why is that?”
“Because you… then you…”
“If you were honest with yourself you would realize you’re mad at me because you want things to stay the same between us. You don’t want to change, but it has to, Reilly. We’re not kids anymore.”
“Oh, I’ve been thinking about change,” she charged. “I’ve been thinking about ending this once and for all. How about that for change!”
He pulled her hand to his face and rubbed his cheek against her palm. “Is that what you want?”
She huffed. “No. But I don’t know if I want what you’re offering, either. What about all the reasons why we never did this?”
“What about them?”
“We’re too competitive.”
“Not anymore. I don’t compete. I’ll play the occasional tournament for fun but being on top of the golfing world isn’t my goal anymore. It was phase one on the start to my new life. You’re phase three in case you were wondering.”
“We’ll get back to phase two in a minute. What about our volatile tempers?”
“I’ve mellowed. So have you.”
“What about our failures to commit? Five marriages and six engagements between us, Luke. That’s not normal!”
“Did you ever think the reason why we couldn’t make it work with those other people is because there was another person we really wanted to be with?”
