Page 27 of All Yours

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s fine. I’ve only ever been with Sebastian.”

“Seriously?” I asked. How? She’s a gorgeous woman who could have her pick of men.

“I spent so many years only focused on tennis, and then on hiding from the world that I never took part in this dating stuff or going out to bars.”

“But you write romance novels?”

She shrugged. “It’s make-believe, not my life. I’m good at researching and listening to other people talk. But I have very limited first-hand experience with any of it. Just a good imagination, I guess.”

I let the information sink in. “So does that mean…” My voice trailed off. This wasn’t my business. It didn’t matter. And I shouldn’t ask. But the curiosity killed me. Not that I’d been with a bunch of women, and it’d been a couple of years for me.

“That’s what that means,” she said, still slouched down in the chair.

“So, it’s been like seven years?” I asked.

“Yep.” She popped the p on the end of the word.

“That’s a long time.”

“There’s more to life than sex,” she snorted.

“Granted. But that’s a pretty great part of it. To go without orgasms is just cruel.”

Sloane laughed. “Dude, we don’t need you guys for orgasms. You know that, right?”

A smile spread across my face as my cheeks warmed.

Sloane laughed even harder.

“What?”

“I can see you blushing in the fire glow,” she giggled, struggled to sit up.

“I’m not blushing,” I said, swiping a hand down my cheek, my fingertips scraping against the scruff.

“Yes, you are,” she continued, giggling. “It’s so cute that you blush.”

Did that mean she thinks I’m cute?

“So, whatever happened with that girl you were with when I moved to town?” she asked. “Chasity, was it?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. But the usual dread that appeared when someone mentioned her name didn’t materialize. “We were together almost five years, and she decided that Hart Valley was too small. There was a big world to explore, and she left.”

“I’m sorry.”

I crossed a boot over one knee. “Barnes Construction was still new, and I had no intention of leaving here. It all worked out for the best. She wasn’t the right one.”

Sloane answered the front door wearing a black-and-white striped dress with knee high black boots. A brief flash of her in only those boots crossed my mind. I pushed the mental image away.

“Are you sure about this?”

I held up the bouquet of colorful wildflowers I picked up on the way over. “Yeah, I am.”

She gasped, a slow smile forming across her face. “Those are so pretty.” She took them and I followed her to the kitchen, where she fished a vase out from under the sink. “You didn’t have to.”

“We should go out on a date. That way, we’re already seen out around the town before any story comes out.”

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