All his prepared explanations vanished. “I’m sorry, Cat. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you—”

She cut him off. “Yeah. I know. I’m not really here for an apology. The point is, I let you hurt my feelings. I thought you were slut-shaming me by not wanting Sara to know about me.”

Noah’s open mouth closed with a snap. “Huh?” he managed.

“I realize that probably wasn’t the message you were trying to send me.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Good. Okay then.” She nodded briskly. All business.

“Is there anything else you want to say?” he prodded, seeing the indecision in her eyes.

She took a breath. “I only do casual because, well, because it fits my schedule, my life. You make me wonder if maybe that’s not all I want. With you. And I’m not really ready to consider that possibility. Because it can’t be. I’m not staying here, and I don’t know when I’m going to be ready to find a permanent home and stay put. I literally don’t know where I’ll be living next year. And it wouldn’t be fair to ask you to wait for me to figure out when I’d like to settle down.”

He nodded and then, at a loss for words, kept on nodding.

“Anyway, I get that you’re not comfortable with Sara knowing about us. I’m not a parent. You are. I get the need for secrecy. So… that’s it.”

She leaned toward him, pressed a chaste kiss on his mouth, and turned to open her door.

Noah thanked his reflexes for being faster than his wits. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her back across the bench seat. The kiss he gave her was anything but chaste, reminding them both of what was at stake. The heat, that glorious burst of flames that leapt to life when her lips moved hungrily under his, was all they needed to know.

He pulled back and searched her face, those swollen lips, her half-closed hazel eyes. “Tell me what you want now. What can we have now?”

“Fun,” she suggested. “Let’s just have fun. I like it. You need it. Everyone wins.”

“Fun?” he repeated.

She gave him a little smile. “Don’t look at me like I’m speaking Russian. Fun. Naked fun.”

“And will we be having this naked fun with anyone else?” he pressed.

Her eyes widened, sparking with annoyance. “No! Exclusive fun only for both of us.”

“I’m fine with exclusive naked fun,” Noah said, threading his fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes.

“And it can be secret exclusive naked fun,” Cat offered. “That way you don’t have to start a safe casual sex conversation with Sara.”

“I’d be eternally grateful for being able to put off that conversation for as long as possible,” Noah admitted.