“Something like that,” she said with the casual nonchalance of a woman trying to pretend she didn’t remember every second of those three scenes in vivid, technicolor detail.

“I didn’t know you were interested in consensual non-consent. Not until after you’d started seeing Kyle.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

She shrugged, sticking with casual nonchalance. “It just never came up, I guess.”

“But you knew it was one of my kinks.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did. You just said, you’ve met four people who were into CNC—”

“I know what I said.”

His eyes narrowed warningly. “Olivia.”

She sighed. “Fine. I was going to tell you, but it was after you’d already quit, and I didn’t want you to feel pressured.”

He shook his head, his stern expression giving way to bemusement. “You’ve lost me. After I quit what?”

She kept her gaze fixed on his beard. It lay flat against his jaw, the whiskers silky smooth instead of rough, and dark, with none of the toffee-colored highlights he had in his hair to soften it. The edges of his mustache were neat and trimmed, but he let the rest go, so it crept up his checks and down his neck. It made him look a little wild, as though his charm and polish were a thin veneer that could fall away at any moment to reveal the wolf beneath.

And now she really was horny.

“Olivia.”

She blinked, her eyes darting guiltily to his. “What?”

“After I quit what?”

“CNC play, of course,” she said, perplexed.

He was staring at her as though she had a mushroom growing out of her nose. “I never quit CNC play.”

She frowned. “Yes, you did.”

“No, I didn’t.”

She shook her head. “But you did. Amanda told me.”

“Amanda?” Now he looked even more confused. “When?”

“I don’t know.” She tried to think back. “I’d worked up the nerve to talk to you about it, but you were out of town on a job, and I was a little blue. Amanda asked what was wrong, and I told her that I’d wanted to talk to you about doing a CNC scene, and she told me not to because you’d decided not to do them anymore.”

“Why would she…” He trailed off, his look of confusion giving way to one of realization. His head dropped back against the chair. “Oh, damn.”

“What?”

“I never said I wasn’t going to do CNC scenes anymore.”

She blinked. “You didn’t?”

“No.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” She sat up straight, bracing her hands against his chest. “Amanda lied to me?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. She just didn’t have all the information.”

“I don’t understand.”

He looked grim. “Do you remember Tim and Andrew?”

She frowned. “They moved to Indianapolis last year, right?”