But it was all her fault, he reminded himself. She was just so into the sex and nothing else mattered. Except the sex was new for her and he got that. After seventeen years, she deserved some time to play. Her interest in him, in them, that way, wasn’t a dismissal of the rest of what they had.

Plus she was amazing in bed. Adventurous, fearless, totally up for anything he suggested. And when she came, it was magic.

Which made him wonder why he was so mad at her. If he believed she cared about him and he understood why the sex was so important to her and if he believed they were good together, then why were they fighting?

His left knee began screaming at him. It was always late to the party but when it got there, it made a lot of noise.

He ignored the pain and the sweat and the fact that he’d gone only three miles of the five he’d planned. He slowed to a stop as he turned the questions over in his mind. He shouldn’t be mad at Ellen. She hadn’t done anything wrong. So what was causing the low-grade dissatisfaction that he couldn’t shake?

He started running again, only to stop a second time as the truth hit him like a three-hundred-pound linebacker. All the air rushed out of him and for a second, he thought maybe he was going to go down on the sidewalk.

The problem wasn’t Ellen, he realized. The problem was him. He was totally and completely in love with her. Crazy in love. He didn’t want to play—he wanted this to be real. Forever real, which should have been great except Ellen had never been in an adult relationship before. She was just starting to enjoy it all and there was no way she was going to be interested in settling on anything permanent before she’d had her time to explore the possibilities. Possibilities that might not include him.

twenty-five

Unity battled excitement and nerves. Thaddeus was driving over to have dinner with her and stay the night. She’d cleaned the whole house, carefully planned a menu, had shopped for new lingerie and a sassy summer dress that she hoped was seductive and had brought a bottle of pricey-to-her wine. Perhaps most important, she’d sprung for a new mattress for the master bedroom. It had been delivered that morning. She’d carefully made it with the new linens she’d bought. She’d kept her things in the hall bathroom and would let Thaddeus use the small master bath.

At exactly five, Thaddeus knocked on the front door. She was smiling as she let him in.

“How was the drive?” she asked as he entered.

“Easy.”

He carried a bakery box in one hand. After setting it on the living room coffee table, he turned to her. She stepped into his embrace and raised her head to kiss him.