“Oh, quiet, you.” She glared at him for being so annoying yet so good-looking. “Were you planning on doing this the entire time we were playing truth or dare?”

“Yup. That’s why I suggested the game. It was a stroke of genius,” he said excitedly, so proud of himself. He needed to quit being so adorable.

How did his eyes twinkle when he smiled? It shouldn’t be possible. Maybe it was the lighting at the bar. She tested out a smile to see if she could do it, too.

“Um … you okay?” Seth asked, his gaze skimming her face with concern. “Your eyes are twitching.”

“Of course, I’m okay.” She whipped away her smile, abandoning her failed experiment.

“I think you’re stalling.”

“I don’t need to stall.” She was stalling.

Temptation sang its siren’s call to her. It would be for a short duration with a hard end time, so it couldn’t become anything serious. And there was no chance her love life and real life would collide into each other if they were discreet. They would keep their dates completely under wraps for a month. No one needed to know. There. Chaos and annihilation avoided.

She was obviously oversimplifying things, but she wanted this. Besides, Seth Kim was a player. He was just looking for a fun fling while he house-sat in a sleepy little town. That was exactly what she wanted, too. There was no doubt she was attracted to him, and he was fun to be with. And she really wanted to be not-alone for a while. Of course, she wasn’t going to jump into bed with him right away, but she wasn’t adverse to considering it. Her vagina cheered.

She briefly thought about Roger, but their arrangement was flexible and nonexclusive. They had paused their arrangement while he was in a relationship for a few months a couple years ago. This would be something like that but even shorter. There was no deterrent there.

As for the last bit about not falling for him? That was laughable. Tara hadn’t made the mistake of giving her heart away since college. She was a quick learner. Love warped some people into jealous, possessive, and manipulative assholes, while it turned others into simpering putty who desperately molded themselves to fit the person they loved. Soon the relationship felt like a cage without light. She valued her autonomy too much to risk falling in love. And she never wanted to become the one to stifle another person’s spirit.

Plus, Seth was Landon’s younger brother and Aubrey’s brother-in-law. Hell, he was practically her little brother by default. A sexy-as-hell, mama-would-like-some stud of a little brother, but there was no way she would fall for him.

Are you done convincing yourself? Yes.

His sobriety test assured him that Tara was the one making the decision and not the alcohol. No matter how much he wanted to date her, he wanted her to choose him because she wanted to, not on a drunken whim.