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I got down from my stool, went around the island, and poured a glass of water. Stalling for time, I drank most of it, then supported my weight on the counter opposite Quincy.
“I don’t regret it, but it can’t happen again.” When I looked up to gauge her reaction, I expected a frown. Instead her head was tilted, and she was smiling halfheartedly at me, almost as if she pitied me. “What’s that look for?” I asked defensively.
“I guess it’s your age.”
I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but I already didn’t like it. “What’smy age?”
“This Mr. Serious thing. You’re overthinking last night, aren’t you? Second-guessing?”
“There’s no guessing. That wasn’t a good idea, Quince.” The shortened form of her name came out without thought, sounding more intimate than I intended.
“Did you enjoy it?” she said, picking at her bacon.
“You know I did.”
“Then why can’t we just go with that? You didn’t propose or anything. It was…a fling.”
“A one-time thing?” I asked skeptically. I was pretty sure she was campaigning for a repeat, and frankly I wasn’t as dedicated as I should be to saying no.
She laughed quietly. “Three times so far, but I’m open to more. If it’s casual.”
“How do we guarantee it stays casual?”
“It just…does. I’m leaving for school in less than three months, Knox. Plus neither one of us is looking for a relationship, right?”
“Right,” I said with emphasis.
“I just got out of a way-too-long relationship,” she said. “This is my time to be free. I don’t know what your reasons are for not wanting a relationship, but for me, it’d be a mistake to get involved with someone before I leave for college.”
“That’s fair. But what if feelings start?”
“Maybe feelings will start, but that doesn’t change the rules.”
She was so matter of fact about it that my resolve weakened fast. Resisting those passionate, pretty eyes was nearly impossible.
I inhaled deeply, watching her, considering my next words. “I might be open to this recurring fling idea, but I have a condition.”
Her brows shot up her forehead.
“I don’t want people to know. Not because I’m ashamed of you but because I can imagine what they’d say. I’m too old for you. I’m your boss.”
“All the things you already threw at me,” she said.
“I’m already the outsider trying to fit in. You think I’m being old and over serious, but you know as well as I do that people would go straight tocradle robbingandsexual harassingand who knows what else. If the fling isn’t long-term anyway, let’s keep it to ourselves.”
She studied me while she chewed a bite of toast. “I’m down with that. We can do the whole secret-lover thing.”
Her grin told me she was poking at me again, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t help grinning myself. The thought of having her again, with these conditions, was too good to pass up.
The warning voice in my head, the one that’d been squawking at me during my run, was a lot easier to shut up when I was standing a few feet away, staring at Quincy in my barely buttoned shirt.
Later, I promised myself. I had all kinds of time later to get my head straight. Right now, I needed to drag myself away to my weekly meeting with Ava.
CHAPTER19
KNOX
As I walked from the parking lot toward the Honeysuckle Inn for my Monday meeting with Ava, I checked the cottage off to the side to see which vehicles were there. I was glad to verify Cash’s blue truck was gone.
