“Not after dating for a week,” I said.

“I’m counting since the first time.”

“In case you forgot,” I said, “I have a baby. A kid.”

“I didn’t forget. There’s room for her. Besides, your apartment is a shithole.”

Harsh. Even worse, he was right. “You’re completely frustrating.”

He raised one eyebrow, which somehow proved my words irrelevant in one smooth swoop.

I set down my fork, taking his offer seriously. “We barely know each other.”

“We know each other enough,” he said. “From the first it was different.”

It was only the truth. Ever since my sordid proposition at the bar, there had been something between us. A spark, or maybe just recognition that he could handle my brand of crazy. I’d tried to ignore it and had even gone back to the bar to disprove it, but nothing had worked. What was this thing that felt like trust but looked like lust?

“But why?” I said, desperate to deny him or find some excuse to accept. “Just tell me why you’d even want that?”

“I have reasons.”

“But you aren’t going to tell them to me.”

“It’s okay, what happened before.” He pulled me close. “You’re with me now.”

The words were pitched perfectly, but they bounced off the wall of secrets I kept between us. I’d left out the most important part. What would he do if he found out?

I shivered, and he encircled me in his arms. Keeping me, for now.

“Can you spend the night?” he asked.

“Yes.” I had already put Bailey to sleep in Shelly’s bed. This was the third time in as many weeks, but Shelly graciously claimed not to mind about the loss of income.

“Good,” he murmured.

He took me to his bedroom upstairs. It was just as plain as all the other rooms, just as casual. Home, but I couldn’t think about that. Instead I tried to psych myself up. Please him, pay my dues, when all I really wanted to do was have sex with him. I wanted to rip off my clothes and his. In my wildest thoughts I wanted to push his face down between my legs and tell him to do that thing again.

Instead I just stood there in his bedroom like I’d never been inside a man’s bedroom before. Which was almost true, except for Andrew’s.

He turned down the sheets. When he glanced back, his eyes softened. “Come here.”

I averted my eyes while he tugged my dress over my head. He gestured to the bed, and I kicked off my shoes and climbed in, still in my underwear and bra. After stripping down to his boxers, he followed me in.

I wished I didn’t feel this strange nervousness. It felt almost like a wedding night. How awful.