Page 307 of A Matter of Time

I couldn’t have said anything if I’d tried.

“And you?”

I took a breath. “What?”

“Don’t be an idiot, answer the goddamn question.”

I took a deep breath. “After you left, I basically pined for a year, and then, when I was sure you weren’t coming back, I⁠—”

“You knew I was⁠—”

“I’m sorry, am I answering a question or not?”

Sharp exhale. “G’head.”

“Well, once I gave up on you, I was a little messed up. I slept with a lot of guys.”

He nodded. “And then what?”

“Then for a while there was Aaron.”

“Uh-huh. Who else?”

“No one worth mentioning.”

His eyes were dark. Clearly, he didn’t like my number of conquests. “Where did you meet Aaron Sutter?”

“Why do you care?”

“Just answer the question.”

“When I was working at Barrington. Dylan and I did some work for his company.”

“What does he do?”

I shook my head. “You know who he is and what he does.”

He glanced away from me.

“Don’t you?”

“Yeah I know.”

“I knew you did.”

“Huh. And so what?”

“You know the story. He wanted me to move in, wanted me to travel with him, just go places with him and be around.”

“He wanted to be your sugar daddy.”

“No.” I shook my head. “He wanted me to be his partner.”

“But?”

“But it was too soon. I wasn’t ready.”

“It was nine months in, J. When were you gonna be ready?”