She laughed, turning her head away. "Yeah. Breakfast is out."
"Same," he agreed, wiping at the dark smudges under her eyes. "And sorry I passed out last night."
She turned for the shampoo again, giving her hair a second scrub. "I, uh, don't really..."
He took the other bottle, using Braden's shit for his own hair. "Gotta give me a little more."
"I have to be in the mood, you know?" she asked. "Not like an every night thing. I guess I'm more of a cuddler."
"Me too," he admitted. "I mean, I like messing around, but I fucking love cuddling. Kissing's up there on the list too."
She glanced back to give him a dirty look. "Bullshit."
Psyc laughed, because she was right. "Ok, ok, I could screw four times a day and still be ready for more. I also get it. Kinda a guy thing, you know? Most chicks aren't into that. I still like the cuddling and kissing, though." Nah, fuck it. She'd just given him an opening, and he'd be a dumbass not to take it. "So, if I'm not the sex toy, then what are we doing?"
For a long time, she didn't answer. Rhaven just finished lathering her hair, and then she stepped into the water to rinse it all out. When that was done, she moved for yet another bottle and worked that in. Her eyes never moved over to him. She didn't even glance at his feet, so Psyc waited, hoping like hell that he hadn't crossed some line.
Then, "Braden said that he figures he's on standby. He doesn't want what we have to fail because I want to try new things."
Which meant they had talked, and seriously, it sounded like. "And what do you want?" Psyc asked.
"I don't know," she mumbled.
"Bullshit," he said. "Dream big, Rhaven. Shoot for the moon. Don't fucking care. Put it out there, because I'm kinda confused here. I mean, things happened in Denver, and now I've got this warm, fucking fuzzy feeling in my chest, and I'm not sure if this is a hookup, a friends with benefits, or if there's like, emotions and shit involved. I'm trying real damned hard to stay in my lane, because if push comes to shove, I know that Braden will be the man to jump on like six guys to keep you safe, and I'm not able to say the same. I mean, I'd fucking jump, but then I'd get my ass kicked, you know?"
"No, you wouldn't," she told him. "I used a fire extinguisher. Gave one of those assholes a nasty concussion and a skull fracture."
"Damn," he gasped. "Ok, note to self, do not piss my girl off."
That was the phrase that finally made her eyes jump up to him. "Your girl?"
Psyc just pointed at her. "Kinda the only one I got. Only one I want, too, but I'm pretty sure that you're going to break my heart in about a week."
"But you live in California," she said. "I mean, Braden said he honestly doesn't care if this is a regular thing, but I work all the time and you live across the country!"
His lips curled into a smile because that was not what he'd expected. "And what about between conventions?" he asked. "Like, if I flew up to Ohio for a weekend fling? Is that allowed?"
She nodded. "He said, um, that you're good for me, and that he doesn't want me to feel like he and I are an ultimatum. He said that so long as I'm cool with him kissing Chance, he's cool with me and you, you know? And that it's good for me to have the option to figure things out on my own time so that what he and I have can be real, even if that means that you and I have a real thing too."
Yep, Psyc had to pause to take that in, so he stepped under the water to rinse out his hair. Braden had said that? Psyc didn't have to be just a weekend thing? Granted, Braden had said he wanted to talk to Knock, and that kid had a little too much wisdom for his age sometimes. But this? It meant Psyc could honestly do the long distance thing?
No, more importantly, he could do the relationship thing. It was just a timeshare situation, but what happened when the roles reversed? When Psyc was the one with more clout because of time, or distance, or anything else? Would he expect her