He hesitated for the space of two heartbeats, sighed, and then slowly disentangled himself from me, still careful of my back. Sitting on the side of the bed, he reached down and pulled the cell phone from his jeans pocket. I shifted over, staying propped up on one elbow, admiring the shape of his body, even as a strange, bittersweet feeling began spilling through my heart. I knew, without knowing how I knew, that it was Maddie.

“Hey. Yeah . . . I got caught up with . . . um . . .” Seth paused, and I sensed something monumental about to take place. “I got an idea for this latest chapter.”

I closed my eyes. In all the time I’d known him, I’d never heard Seth outright lie.

“Right. Yeah. Okay. Um, if I leave now, I can probably make it in . . . oh, twenty minutes. Mmm-hmm. You want me to pick you up, or . . . ? Okay. See you there.”

He disconnected and continued sitting with his back to me, clasping the phone in his hands. Although he sat up straight, he had the air of someone hunched over, weary with defeat.

“You have to go?” I asked.

He looked back at me, anguish on his face. “Georgina . . .”

I managed a weak smile. “It’s okay. I wasn’t tricked here. I understand the situation.”

“I know, but I want you to realize that it wasn’t . . . that I didn’t . . .”

He didn’t need to finish. One of the things I’d always loved about Seth was his open, honest nature. Occasionally he’d been able to hide his feelings from me, but more often than not, they shone through on his features. This was one of those times. With a single look, I saw what was in his heart, that he hadn’t had sex with me because I was easy or available. He’d done it because of how he felt about me, because he loved—still loved—me. It made all of this that much worse.

“I know,” I said softly.

After one more kiss to my forehead, he put on his clothes. I watched each move hungrily, uncertain if I’d ever see anything like it again. When he was dressed and ready to go, he sat beside me on the bed, playing with my hair again. Again, those golden brown eyes spilled over with emotion. He was overcome and confused. I was too, but for his sake, I tried to appear strong and articulate.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It was great. Amazing . . . but I understand that we shouldn’t have and that we can’t ever . . .” So much for articulation.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“It was just this once. And it was perfect.”

“Just this once,” he repeated.