a year?”
That brow went back up. “Balls really don’t explode or turn blue, you know. Also, there’s this fantastic thing called masturbation. It feels good and only requires you, yourself, and… Well, the saying is me, myself and I, so I’m not sure what the last part is when I change it to third person.”
“Third person? That’s the trouble. You’ve got way less than three in this picture.” She rolled her eyes big enough he laughed. “Look at us talking about masturbation like it’s a thing I’d be willing to do for an entire year.”
“You don’t like it, you don’t have to do it,” she pointed out. “I don’t want to be married to you for a year, but I will suck it up and make the best of it.”
Not remotely the same thing in his books, especially considering he liked her. Wanted her.
Wanted more than this sham relationship they’d begun.
Still, seemed the best thing to agree for now and deal with changing her mind over the months to come—
Dear God, a year of no sex?
Screw that. He wasn’t some hound dog who couldn’t keep it in his pants, but he liked sex, and he liked Julia, and he wanted…
Right. At the moment what he wanted and what he was negotiating for were two different things.
“If we’re spending a year together, I want this to be something we enjoy.” He tapped the No Sex line in her book. “I hear you on that rule, but seriously, you’ve had some shitty boyfriends if the only thing you’re negotiating on is sex. We have a lot of time to get through while we make this look real enough people don’t figure it out. We should write down things we want to spend time doing together.”
Other than sex, dammit.
Julia nodded then on the opposite side of the page added a new heading. Activities to Do Together. “That’s a good idea. How about you think of three things you want, and I’ll think of three. We can start there.”
Finally a place he could lay a few ground rules in his favour. He considered before nodding. “Got my three.”
She dragged the pen against the surface of her notebook, doodles of flowers appearing on the page. “Hang on. Give me a minute.”
Zach sat back. With her frowning at her notes in the most adorable way, it was too easy to slip into admiration mode.
The twist of her lips right before she bit down on the bottom one…
Fuck it. Zach twisted in his chair and prayed that she didn’t glance his way until his erection no longer threatened to burst from his jeans.
Her eyes lit up, and she wrote something down only to scratch it out a second later, her frown growing deeper.
“Having troubles?” Zach asked.
Julia nodded then shrugged. “You start. I bet that’ll give me some ideas.”
Okay by him. “First. We go dancing once a week.”
She blinked. “Really?”
He nodded vigorously. “I like dancing. It’s great exercise, I love the music, and it’s a good way to make sure people see us together.”
It would also put her in his arms on a regular basis.
“I guess.”
“Don’t try to tell me you don’t like dancing, either. Rose and Tansy and Karen and…damn, all of your girl posse pulled me aside at some time over the past four months to tell me how much you like it and wished you could go more often.” He held up his hands in a modest shrug. “And I am a fantastic partner.”
Her nose wrinkled up in the most adorable way before she wrote down a number one followed by Go Dancing. “Okay…but we dance. We don’t need to make out in the corners of the dancehall or anything to have people think this is real.” An evil smile crossed her lips. “I know.”
This time she wrote decisively in her book on the rules side of the page.
Zach slipped over to read over her shoulder. “No public displays of affection.” Screw that. “I agree.”
Shock flashed. “Really?” she repeated.
Hell no. “With one addendum.”
He stole her pen and inserted the key word in his favour.
Julia sighed. “No unnecessary public displays of affection?”
“You said it before. People need to believe we’re a couple. If we never hold hands or anything, people will wonder what the hell is wrong.” He gave her his best puppy dog grin. “The local women I dated have kind of gotten used to me being…affectionate.”
“You mean handsy,” she drawled.
He didn’t want to grin, but it was impossible to stop.
“None of their business what