good radar about that sort of thing—but I know there’s a risk. If someone thinks they can get fifteen minutes of fame and goes to the press crowing about his lay, I am prepared for them.” Her voice went up an octave, as if she were reading lines from a play. “Just because I don’t want to have a relationship doesn’t mean I don’t have needs. You’d never shame a man for casual sex. Crush’s business model is built on empowerment. I’m using my own app exactly as it was intended.” She twisted her wrist. “And so on and so forth.”
“Impressive. Very good answer.”
“Business. You can have whatever you want so long as it doesn’t cost you customers.” Her smile was grim. “I learned that the hard way. Now. Where was I?”
He tipped his glass to her. “Your demands.”
“Right. You still talk to Annabelle for me.”
“Obviously.”
“And one more demand, and this one is personal, and off the record.”
“I heard you loud and clear, and I meant what I said in your office. You don’t want this to get physical. I get it and respect it. I won’t try to persuade you otherwise.”
She half laughed. “Your butt persuaded me, Samson.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I beg your pardon?”
“You have a great butt. I was never a butt person, but then you walked away from me.” She pursed her lips. “Let’s be real. I really like your ass, enough to bend another rule or two of mine. And you seem to like parts of me. So we might very well fall back into bed if we spend enough time together. I accept that.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” He held out his hands, palms out. “This is a one-eighty.”
“I do those sometimes,” she murmured. “It’s not flip-flopping if you do it for a good reason.”
“I don’t mind flip-flopping when it comes to sex. You can flip-flop ten more times up to and during the sex act, and that’s fine. I’m mostly confused how this flip-flop came about.”
She placed her hand over his. It was cold, but he didn’t mind that. She stretched across the table, and he reciprocated. Her eyes were so pretty, a deep, dark brown full of secrets. “Not to be crude. But it really was your butt,” she said softly.
He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. He glanced over his shoulder. “It’s that good? I don’t even have to speak?”
“Let the cheeks speak.” She sat back, slipping her hand out from his, but before she could he flipped his over and captured hers.
She glanced down, and then back up. “It doesn’t mean anything, though. I don’t want anything more than that.” She pinned him with a stern look. “Don’t ask me for a real date, don’t ask me for a future, don’t ask me for anything beyond the time that we spend together. That’s my last demand.”
He’d let her go if she wanted him to, but she remained passive, letting him hold her. He wanted to hold her more. Exhilaration soared through him. He didn’t care if it was his butt or his personality that had done it. She was willing to give him a second chance.
Kind of. No dating, no romance, no long-term stuff. He could deal with that. They were back in the same position they’d been in after That Night.
Except she’d been softer when he’d convinced her to give him a second date That Night. This coolness, this toughness, had been missing then. A stab of regret went through him. A broken piece to spackle.
So he’d take this time to spackle over some of the damage he’d done. Temporary or not, he could shower her with reliability and kindness. “I’m not looking for anything long term either,” he said. He wasn’t anti-love. He’d had some fairy-tale romances modeled for him. However, the thought of loving someone the way Lulu had loved Aleki or Annabelle had loved Joe—it filled him with anxiety, not anticipation. “I would like to be with you again, on your terms. So we have a deal?”
Her agreement came slowly, though he’d acquiesced to every request she’d made. “Yes. The contract will be for five meetups, in locations I choose, since I know the city better. Have they uploaded your debacle of a date yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Okay, well, we can figure out the release schedule over the next couple of days. It should be fast, within a few days of each other. I’d say back to back, because people do like