“Skylar!” he hissed, hoping no one around was listening. “Weren’t you the one who was just telling me my questions were too personal?”
Her soft laugh was her first response. “Fair enough. Sorry.”
Luckily, their waitress arrived with their bread and drinks and that was the perfect distraction.
“Mmm…” Skye hummed. “I love when the bread is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. And warm like this so the butter melts. It’s perfect.”
He took a bite of his own piece and the taste didn’t even register because his mind was racing with just how many women he’d slept with in his life and how many were there that he wasn’t seriously involved with.
The number depressed him.
“We are definitely going to need more bread,” Skye was saying as she reached for another piece. “I love dunking it in the salad dressing. So yummy.”
“I’ve had sex with more than four women,” he blurted out and watched as she stopped chewing. It seemed like the entire restaurant had gotten quiet, but he chose to ignore that and kept his focus on Skye. “I don’t need to be in a serious relationship to sleep with a woman so…I don’t have to be celibate.”
She took another large bite of bread and nodded. “Okay, good for you.”
“Damn right it’s good for me,” he said firmly. “I can have sex any time I want and no one can tell me I have to have an embargo on that too!”
“Exactly.” But she wasn’t looking at him. She was studying her bread plate and playing with the silverware.
Clearly I’ve made things awkward…
They sat in silence until their lunch arrived and then the conversation was primarily about their food.
It was incredibly boring and as much as he hated to keep harping on the subject, he couldn’t seem to let it go.
“What about you?”
“What about me?” she repeated.
“Where do you stand on casual sex?”
She blushed again but seemed to consider her response. After a moment, she told him, “I’m not really a fan of it. Back in college I was in a friends-with-benefits kind of situation, but other than that, I prefer to be in a committed relationship.”
That’s what he figured.
Although…if she had said she was okay with something casual, Elliott knew he would have introduced the topic of potentially getting together. After all, they were friends and therefore, safe for something casual.
Unfortunately, now he knew that wasn’t her thing and he didn’t want to even suggest it and bring her into a relationship–even a casual one–when she clearly deserved better.
For some reason, it bothered him to think of Skylar in a casual relationship with a guy who didn’t realize how special she was.
While they finished their lunch, she asked about his job and seemed more than happy to move off the topic of sex.
He drove her back to the Meet Me at the Altar office, and he knew he couldn’t let her leave without addressing the one thing they seemed to be avoiding.
The kiss.
“Thank you for lunch, Elliott,” she said when he parked the car. “You didn’t have to pay, but I appreciate it. Everything was delicious.”
Nodding, he agreed. “Before you go back inside, I need to ask you something.”
“O-kay…”
“Why did you kiss me at my house that day?”
As usual, her eyes went wide before she answered.
Then her shoulders sagged and she let out a long breath as if resigning herself to responding.
“It was just an impulse,” she said quietly. “I don’t know. I guess I got caught up in the moment and…there was a time when I was attracted to you and I guess…”
“When? When were you attracted to me?”
Looking at him, she frowned. “Does it matter? It was just a kiss, Elliott. Can we just let it go?”
“I would, but we almost kissed again just a few hours ago in your office,” he reminded her.
“But we didn’t.”
“Only because Josie interrupted us. If we had been alone, I definitely would have kissed you again.”
Her lips parted and her expression softened. “Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah, really.”
“Well…it really doesn’t matter because it’s not going to happen again.”
“Why?”
She studied him hard. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m attracted to you, Skylar. That I want to kiss you again and not have you run away.”
“Elliott, you’re just saying that because…well, the whole conversation we had over lunch. For all your talk about embracing being alone, we both know that sort of thing didn’t change overnight and I’m convenient,” she said lowly.
Was that all this was? Was he that shallow that he was thinking of her like this?
No!
“Jeez, Skye, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to feel that way, and I certainly don’t think of you like that. You’re a good friend and maybe you’re right and all the sex talk got to me.” He paused. “Although…I don’t think that’s really it.”
She looked at him with wide-eyed disbelief. “So…what…you want us to be friends with benefits while you’re forced to be single?”
“What?! No! I would never ask that of you! I’d never put you in that kind of position and I would certainly never use you like that!”
But secretly, he really wished he could because…suddenly, she was all that he wanted.
“Oh. Okay,” she said solemnly as she reached for the door handle. “I need to go. Thanks again for lunch.”
It wasn’t until the door was open and she was about to climb out that he spoke. “If I were going to ask anyone, Skylar, it would be you. But I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship. But…I just wanted you to know that I’ve been thinking about you and if things were different…”
“I know,” she whispered, and then she was gone.
Chapter 7
Love is like falling down…in the end you’re left hurt, scarred, and with a memory of it forever.
Unknown
“Stupid, stupid, stupid…” Skye murmured to herself as she walked back to her office. Humiliation washed over her and she prayed Josie and Leanna were busy so she wouldn’t have to face them.
What the hell was I thinking?
It was one thing to confide in a friend about her stupid crush, but it was another to admit it to his face!
Groaning, she tossed her purse under her desk and sank down onto her chair. Things were quiet, but that wasn’t anything new. Chances were that Leanna was in the kitchen and Josie stepped out after having to deal with the impromptu client lunch. Closing her eyes, Skye leaned back and thought about her own lunch.
What on earth possessed me to ask him about the women he’d slept with? Who does that?
“Apparently, I do,” she said quietly.
“What do you do?” Leanna asked as she breezed into the office in a flour-covered apron.
“I make bad casual conversation.”