Shock - Marie Johnston Page 0,32

to spread out and get the cops called on us again.

“Tell me, Lia—when’s the last time you had sex?”

Again, she surprises me by answering, no coy evasion. “Sex, or when I last orgasmed?”

A ragged moan rips out of my chest. This girl is killing me. “Both.”

“Last year and last night.”

I make the decision before we can both come to our senses. “Then it’s time to do both at the same time.”

Lia

I can’t agree more. Yet it’s the worst idea in the history of coworkers.

Only Ford and I aren’t just coworkers anymore. We kissed. We made out. We could stop here and go no further. Our time together at work would only be minimally affected.

Or would it? Ford never came on duty gushing about his conquests. He’s mentioned being on a date, he’s expressed his frustration that he and his dates rarely stay on the same page as far as expectations go, and sometimes he jokes with the guys about his playboy status.

It didn’t seem like much at the time. Until Officer Roberts made that comment today and jealousy reared its ugly head inside me. A little voice whispered that Samuel and his ex wasn’t an isolated incident, but a direct reflection that I’m not enough. I’m not enough to wipe a man’s ex from his mind and I’m not enough to keep him.

But I’m not that girl, and I won’t let Samuel’s impulsive, shitty decision affect me now.

Sex with Ford sounds like a good time. Even better, it sounds like a way to forget my ex and prove to myself that I’m ready to move on.

We stare at each other for a moment, then Ford flips the lid of the crumpled cheesecake box. He doesn’t feed me, but pops a marbled bite into his mouth and nudges the container toward me. I pick one that’s probably carrot and chew slowly. Yep. Carrot. A predictable flavor for an unpredictable situation.

“I’ve never done this before,” he finally says.

“A relationship that’s just sex?” That makes two of us.

“You’re more than sex, Lia,” he says softly. “That makes this more like friends with benefits, except I don’t want to lose the friends part.”

“The only way that’d happen is if one of us falls for the other and the other doesn’t feel the same way. So we have to be honest about this.”

“You think you can keep yourself from falling hard for me?” He smirks, but it’s not a jest at my expense. He doesn’t think I’d go for a guy like him.

I’d go for a guy exactly like him, but he’s always been off-limits, and really, he still is. Cass isn’t only his past. She’ll always be his present and future because of Jayden. Sunnyville is my place to regroup, to figure out what I want to do in life, how I want to contribute. It’s Ford’s home. His long-term plan. He risked his future to stay here. This town became his future and as long as Jayden is here, so is Ford. Cass isn’t leaving anytime soon because she’s hoping to reconcile with him.

Only he won’t. Not after what she did with the birth certificate. The irony is that if she moves, he’ll follow. Maggie’s doing okay and his son is the most important person in his life. But he’s not getting back together with Cass, so she’s not leaving.

“It would’ve happened by now.” The sense that I’m lying snakes through me. My inflection makes all the difference. It hasn’t happened by now because we both purposefully avoided it.

The humor fades from his face. “No, you’re right. You wouldn’t have gone for a working man like me.”

“Good lord, Ford. Don’t spout Cass’s nonsense to me.”

“What was your type before Samuel, other than the girl you kissed that I’d bet my paycheck was probably a bet you couldn’t back down from?”

It was at one of the few frat parties I went to, and yes, it was absolutely the result of a drinking game. She remained one of my friends in San Francisco, though like the rest, I no longer talk to them. And I met Samuel the next month. He was five years older, so that ended the party scene. I had to act mature to prove that my twenty-year-old self was sophisticated enough for a divorced budding politician.

“Just because you’re right doesn’t mean I’m not also correct. Cass resents the decision you made and she’s taking it out on you.”

He shrugs and picks another bite, gaze unfocused as he chews. But I know