He nodded, his smile getting bigger. “Yeah, I know.”
Did he? Did he really? She needed to make sure he did. “So, just to be crystal clear, what I’m offering here is a short-term fling. Light and fun and no pressure. Very, very temporary. If you don’t think you can do that and happily wave me goodbye when the time comes then best just let me know now because I’ve been down this road before with someone and it was messy and distracting and I’m not doing it again.”
He raised himself up on his elbow, a smile still tugging at his mouth despite the more serious set to his features. “Yes, Vivian.” He bugged his eyes. “I hear you. I get it. I’m only in Marietta for three months myself before I return to Bozeman.”
That’s right, Viv had forgotten he was only here temporarily, too. He’d be out of here even before she was. Which made them perfect for each other.
“And I’ve just come out of a long-term relationship. It’d be dumb with a capital D to get emotionally involved with another woman so soon. For me and her.”
“Right. Who wants to be the woman to get over the woman?”
“Exactly. That’s not fair to anyone. So, I’m not looking for anything permanent or serious either. Light and fun and temporary works for me. Really.”
“Good. So, no falling in love.” Viv knew she was harping on but this was important. “Promise me you won’t fall in love with me.”
“Oh God, okay, hang on.” He leaned over her, the weight of his torso pressing her into the couch as he groped on the floor for a moment and grabbed his shirt. Easing off her again he removed his badge, curling his fingers around it as he gripped it in his palm. “I do solemnly swear on my deputy badge that I, Reuben Connor Price, will not fall in love with you, Vivian—”
“Catherine,” she supplied.
He grinned. “Vivian Catherine Dawson.” Tossing the badge and the shirt back on the floor, he added, “Will that do?”
“Thank you.” She stroked his scruffy cheek.
He smiled and kissed her nose, settling down beside her again and for long moments there was nothing but the silence between them. “What happened with the guy?” he asked. “The one where it was messy and distracting?”
Viv sighed. “He thought I’d change my mind and want to stick around after the six months. Even though I’d been very clear about that not being the case. He’d seemed fine with the arrangement until I left and he made a bit of a nuisance of himself for a little while afterward. It was my first store, too, so I’ve been very careful ever since.”
“And you’ve never changed your mind? Never been tempted to stay?”
“Nope.” Viv shook her head. She could put her hand on her heart and swear to that and if he hadn’t taken her seriously before, she hoped he’d get the message loud and clear now. “I love my job. I love the variety.”
It was exactly the type of life she’d craved when she’d been a kid growing up in Kearney, Nebraska, with a bunch of siblings and parents who, even if they had been able to afford it, rarely got the chance to take a break away from running their small, barely-turning-a-profit motel. But the people who stayed in the motel—they got to leave. They got to hand over their keys and go somewhere else. The next place.
The where of it hadn’t mattered to Viv; she’d just envied them that freedom, that choice, and had been determined to emulate it—to keep on going down the road, wherever it led. And if that meant shutting herself off to people that was fine.
“It’s not really suited to long-term relationships I know but, to be frank, there’s been nobody who’s made me think twice about my career.”
No one in her present either. Definitely not.
Ruben was fun and sexy and what he could do to her body was astonishing but it would be stupid of her to confuse great sex with anything else.
And Viv was not stupid.
Her career was busier than ever with a handful more rural stores to launch over the next few years. It was going to be a time of amazing growth for the company and she was proud to be part of the team. Missouri beckoned.
Sure, some people might not have exactly considered Missouri a highlight of their career but it wouldn’t really matter where it was—it was the next place. She was living the life she’d dreamed about as a kid.
“I suppose that makes me some kind of unfeeling bitch,” she said when he’d been quiet for longer than felt comfortable.
“What?” He glanced down at her. “No, of course not. It makes you decisive. You know what you want and how to go after it. That’s a good thing.”
His quick-fire response bolstered Viv’s life philosophy. She did know what she wanted and how to get it. And it was a good thing.
“What about you?” she asked. “How come you’ve never settled down?”
“I don’t know…” His voice was low as his fingers absently stroked down her arm. “I guess, like you, I haven’t met that special someone everyone talks about. I moved away from Montana for about eight years. Did my police training in Seattle and I’ve worked in Philadelphia and Chicago and Colorado. I’ve had a few short-term girlfriends over the years but I always knew I wanted to return to Montana so I guess I didn’t really allow myself to get too attached.”
Yeah, Viv totally got that. “How long were you and Clem together?”
“Three years.”
Three years? When he’d said a while she’d assumed he’d meant six months, maybe a year. “That’s a long time.” A long-ass time.
“I guess…I’ve just known her all my life. We were in school together, in church together, our parents socialized together… And then not long after I got back, we were out at a party together one night in Bozeman and we ended up in bed together and that happened on and off for a few months before we decided to make it a permanent, monogamous kind of arrangement. Be each other’s plus-ones at events et cetera.”
“You didn’t live together?”
“No. I mean, we often slept at each other’s places if we’d been out somewhere. Or maybe I’d go to Marietta for the weekend if I wasn’t working or she might come to Bozeman. But she lives in Marietta because her librarian job is here and I live in Bozeman and neither of us ever suggested that we change that arrangement. It’s like I was saying…we weren’t that hot and heavy. We were never one of those couples. You know, the kind who can’t bear to be apart and who can’t stop touching each other when they are together.”
Viv was super aware of his fingers tracing patterns on her arm. He hadn’t stopped touching her since he’d picked up her foot and started massaging.
“Although—” His fingers swirled in a circular pattern from her arm to her breast, looping around her nipple before stroking toward her throat. “I am finding it hard to stop touching you so I do have some sympathy for them now.”
Viv smiled as she snuggled into Reuben a little more, also sympathizing. She liked that he found it hard to stop touching her and the feeling was entirely mutual. Being with Reuben made it very difficult to keep her hands to herself.
“You should definitely not stop touching me,” she said, as his finger changed direction, trekking to her other nipple, edging closer and closer with more light, teasing circles. “At least when we’re behind closed doors anyway.”