“I’ll think on it.”

Easton’s longing gaze did nothing to sooth the turmoil boiling inside me. With a wry smile, he walked to the apartment door and let himself out.

I wanted him, but he’d made it clear he didn’t want emotional attachments. Would I be able to do that?

Yes, I told myself, I would. I’d experienced the white picket fence with two kids and a husband. Been there, done that. My priorities were different now. I needed security for my children and me, but I’d work toward independence and not lean on a man for anything. I wouldn’t be my mother, who’d required a man to bring home a paycheck and never picked the right man. She’d also considered her children inconveniences and done minimal parenting. She dumped me off with my older sister, who was struggling in her own living hell married to an abuser.

My senior year, I’d started dating Mark. His family had been my first taste of normal. Like a drug, I’d craved more normalcy. I’d clung to him like a lifeline until he’d left that summer for a tour of Europe, and I’d met Easton. We’d had a magical summer, but magic usually ended and you were left with nothing.

Now I had to save myself. I’d enroll in the winter quarter at the local college, and I’d never depend on a man for the basic necessities of life again.

Sleeping with Easton for pure enjoyment would prove I was nobody’s fool. I was a strong, independent woman who made mature decisions and was able to separate emotion from recreation.

I could do this.

~~Easton~~

After leaving Caro’s, I trudged across the hall to my condo and let myself in. Steele was sprawled on the sectional watching a whodunnit, his jam as much as the Food Channel was Kaden’s.

“Hey,” I said as I slumped next to him.

“Hey,” he said back, never taking his eyes off the TV.

“Where’s Kaden?”

Steele shrugged. “Where’s Junie? He was supposed to bring her home.”

“Oh, she’s doing shots with some of the guys. One of them will see that she gets home.”

“You don’t know where Kaden is?”

“Probably with his secret girlfriend. Don’t think he’ll be home tonight.”

“The one we think is married?”

“Yeah, the one he’s texting all the time. The one he sneaks off to meet. She has to be married. They never come here or go to her place. They get a hotel room.”

“How do you know this shit?”

“I listen.”

“Eavesdrop,” I corrected.

“Not on purpose, but the two of you aren’t exactly discreet.”

“Why are you including me in this?”

“Because you have the hots for the mother of your children.”

“I do not.”

“You were strutting around like a bantam rooster when you saw Caro and the kids sitting behind the glass wearing your jerseys.”

“I was not.” I sounded like a whiny little boy who’d gotten caught filling up on candy before dinner.

Steele snorted and rolled his eyes. “You’re a dweeb.”