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“Okay, that was a little bit of a lie,” he says. “I’ll still want you, but I don’t need to have you.”
“Brett, what?”
“Unless you’d rather eat first.”
“No. I mean, I’m hungry, but I feel like I should finish this first.”
“Then we do it.”
“We do what?”
“I give you a massage, you finish your comedy set, and then we eat dinner. And if you still need to work after that, you can keep working and spend the night.”
“But I came over so that we could …”
“Look, I’ve got plenty of articles to read about sexual positions. I can study up for when you have free time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. We can always go to dinner another night. We can make love another night. I’m a patient man, and you’re worth waiting for. Plus, I want to see you kill it. I want to see you do your best. I want the best for you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I guess I didn’t know what to think, seeing as I’m here and we had plans that didn’t revolve around me spending the evening on my comedy set.”
“Hey, I kind of like watching you work.” He smiles. “And I kind of like being your test audience.”
“Hopefully, I can write some good jokes.”
“You will,” he says softly. “I’m glad to be here to support you, like you support me. Does that sound odd?”
“Not at all. In fact, it sounds pretty nice.”
“Good. Let me turn off the oven. I’ll cook the salmon later.”
His phone beeps, and he grabs it. He frowns. “Oh, this is weird.” He holds the screen up to me. “Your friend Patrice just texted me.”
“Patrice? You mean Marcus’s friend from the comedy club?”
“Yeah. I guess she’s interested in a second date.” He makes a face. “Guess she didn’t get the fact that I wasn’t interested.”
“I mean, if you want to go, you can. Obviously, we’re friends with benefits, so I have no right to tell you that you can’t.”
“We said we’d be exclusive,” he says softly, and I swallow hard.
“I mean, yeah. I guess I wasn’t sure if that included dates or just sex and kissing, or …”
“It means everything,” he says. “No dates with anyone else. No kissing, no sex, no nothing. Not while we’re doing this anyway. Right?”
“Yeah. Right. That makes sense, of course.”
“Good.” He kisses my forehead. “Head to the bedroom, and I’ll be right behind you.”
“Okay.”
He taps me lightly on the ass and whistles. As I walk away, I look back over my shoulder, and he has a sheepish smile on his face. My heart sinks as I gaze at him. He’s so handsome. He’s so kind. He’s so honest.
And I know this is about more than friendship for me. I don’t want to be friends with benefits. I don’t want this to be casual. I want him to be the one. I want him to want me for real.
And I know there’s no way I can tell him that. I can’t change the rules after we’ve set them, especially when Brett has been honest with me from the beginning. He’s a sweet, generous soul, but he can’t open up enough to give me his heart. He isn’t looking for a relationship. He isn’t looking for forever. And just because we have hot sex and he’s sweet and nice, it doesn’t mean he wants anything more with me.
