“But the boobs helped.” She sat up and smiled. “Speaking of which, I thought maybe we could take a look at mine, among other things.”

She expected him to grin and drag her across him for a kiss, or stand up and push her toward the bedroom. But he did none of those things. In fact, he didn’t smile at all.

“We have to talk.”

She blinked. Talk? “About what?”

“Us.”

She was still unclear. What about them? She shifted back and smoothed down her skirt. Obviously he had something on his mind. Better to let him get it out and then they could get on with the good stuff.

He straightened and angled toward her. “Ellen, we’re home now. Things are going to be different than they were on the trip. We can’t just have random sex whenever we want.”

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t work that way. We live in a small town. People will start to talk. We have to think about what we’re doing. We also have to think about our friendship.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“This could ruin our friendship, or don’t you care?”

He wasn’t making any sense. “Of course I care. You’re incredibly important to me. May I point out that even though you were mad at me for no good reason, I made your favorite dinner and came over here to make up with you? I haven’t liked us not talking. We always talk.”

“Then you should respect what we have.”

They were talking in circles. “What does that have to do with sex? I like us together like that and you do, too. So why do we have to stop?”

He glared at her. “Because this is real life. We have kids we have to worry about. And the town. We’re both teachers. We can’t be sneaking around, screwing in every empty closet we find.”

“Why would it have to be in a closet? We already hung out all the time. No one talked about that. How would they know it was different now?”

“They would.”

She genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. “Keith, are you saying you don’t want to sleep with me anymore?”

“No, I’m saying we have to consider the consequences. There’s more at stake than just a good time.”

He seemed really mad and she had no idea of the cause. She stood and pulled up her skirt. “I wore a thong. Does that count for anything?” She wiggled her butt as she spoke, hoping to get him to smile.

He stood and took her hands. Excitement flickered in her belly.

“Can I be on top?” she asked. “And maybe we can—”

Only they weren’t headed for the bedroom. He pulled her into the kitchen where he grabbed the casserole and pushed it into her hands, then opened the front door and eased her outside.

“Sex doesn’t solve everything,” he told her flatly before shutting the door in her face.