“Yeah,” he said. He didn’t do strings, general rule, but he couldn’t say this night with Sierra was a one-off, no matter how much smarter that would be. Couldn’t imagine not having another few chances to be with her. But strings… No. “Tonight, last night, whatever you want to call it—this—was good, better than good. A thousand times better than good. But I’m not a strings guy.”

She reached out and ran a finger over his bare chest, sending a shiver through him.

Could he stay? Would it suck to crawl back under the warm blankets, sweep her hot body into his arms, sink inside of her, sleep for a few hours, then start his day with yet another dose of sex with Sierra?

Maybe he could try it once. Maybe he could start to blur the edges of his leopard spots after all. Sex with this woman, okay, sex and more with this woman… If anyone could change a man, change him and his fucked-up selfish ways, it would be her.

He leaned down and kissed her, in part to buy himself time, in part because how could he not kiss her?

As their lips met and her fingers closed around his biceps, a vision of them heading out to their trucks together in the morning to go to work popped into his mind, and the domesticity of it snapped him out of the temptation to stay. He ended the kiss, sat up, shook his head.

“Tito needs his tuna,” he said as he pulled his shirt over his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay tonight.”

He was sorry, all right. Sorry-ass bastard. But he was what he was, and he’d have to keep that in mind before he tangled with Sierra again, because she deserved so much more than he could give her.

Chapter Twenty

“Something’s going on with you,” Hayden said as Sierra slid into the red-vinyl booth across from her at Frank’s Diner bright and early Monday morning. Just hours after Cole had retreated, as a matter of fact. Sierra had texted her friend first thing to set up the impromptu breakfast date.

“Just because you’ve known me since second grade and have been right there with me in my best and worst moments ever doesn’t mean you can tell something’s up before I even sit down,” Sierra said, unable to keep a grin off her face. “Maybe I just need coffee.”

“You undoubtedly need coffee. You also need to tell me why you forgot to wear your coat and why your eyes are lit up this early in the morning.”