“Why are you in such a hurry?” Greg said with a smirk.

Noah looked away from his phone. Five o’clock. Cynthia’s family would be starting their dinner.

His mom was about to serve dessert. He probably couldn’t duck out for at least another half-hour.

“I have places to be,” Noah said as he bounced his knee in impatience. He didn’t want Cynthia to think he was playing games.

After the most amazing, though strangely positioned, sex he’d ever had, he’d sat with her wrapped in his arms in the back seat, relishing in the feel of her. If not for the tourists who’d parked somewhere nearby and wandered closer, trying to see the ocean, he would’ve made love to her again. As it was, he’d dropped her off shortly after the shocked strangers had caught a glimpse of them naked.

“Did you ask her about moving in with you?” Greg asked, taunting. He was such a shit sometimes.

“I haven’t talked to her about helping with Colton’s company, no.” Noah gritted his teeth. “Or that I have a place she can stay.”

“Colton said he would be into having some extra help?” Greg leaned back so his mother could place his plate in front of him.

“Colton’s holdout is the pay. He is down to the dredges of his funding and doesn’t have the budget for more employees.”

“Meh.” Greg waved the thought away. “I betcha she won’t care. She’s living with her parents. Hell, she’ll probably jump at the chance to change locations and earn her room and board. I don’t know many who wouldn’t. I mean, look.” Greg gestured at his plate. “I’m getting waited on, and I’d still rather take off after dinner. That says something.”

“Shh.” Noah smiled and looked at his mom. She’d just set out a pumpkin pie, and was heading back into the kitchen for more goodies. “Don’t bring it up, or the spell might be broken and we might have to help.”

Tia walked out with a stack of plates. One she set down in front of Noah’s dad, who had pointedly ignored him since that morning, and one she put in front of her oldest kid.

“Even my wife is waiting on the men-folk,” Greg said, loud enough for her to hear. “Isn’t that right, honey? You’ve finally found your calling.”

She narrowed her eyes at him as she straightened up. “And what calling would that be?”

“Looking after your man. Being at his beck and call.” Greg puffed up and put his hands to his chest dramatically, like he was holding on to lapels.

“Keep it up, and you won’t be going home with me,” she said in a voice that could curdle milk. She slammed the rest of the plates down on the table—not loud enough to create a disturbance, but plenty loud enough to send a message.

“I’d abort that joke, bro,” Noah said in a low tone, barely moving his lips. “Maybe don’t tease her about that. She looks like she’s about to crack.”

His brother’s expression had already dropped and his hands quickly returned to his sides. “I could’ve used that advice before she silently threatened to cut off my dick. Thanks for nothing.”

“She’s your wife, not mine.”

“Exactly. I’m the one that’ll get her wrath.”

“You’re also the one sitting here like an asshole, letting her wait on you.”

“I don’t see you up and helping,” Greg said through his teeth, shifting to stand. He was no dummy. Well, not after Tia’s threat, anyway.

“I don’t have a wife, you idiot.”

“Oh, are you staying here for dessert?” Noah’s mom asked him after having delivered a serving bowl of ice cream. “I thought Tia said you were going to stop by the Bells’ for dessert?”

Noah was standing before she’d finished her sentence. “Right, yes. I’ll just head over.”

“Wish them a happy Thanksgiving from us,” his mom said, heading back into the kitchen.

“Good luck with your pissed-off wife,” Noah said, and shoved Greg as he passed him.

“Good luck with her batshit-crazy family,” Greg muttered as he slouched off toward the kitchen.

An uncharacteristic nervousness rolled through Noah. He sent a text to Cynthia. On my way. Then he was walking briskly down the sidewalk. Once there, he barely knocked before the door swung open.

There she was, his beauty, wearing the white dress from earlier, her hair still a little tousled, her eyes glimmering. She gave him a radiant smile. “You made it.”

“Of course. I got to skip dessert in the other place.”

“You got to? What was it?” she asked.

“My mom’s legendary homemade pumpkin pie.”

“Oh yeah. Definitely worth passing up in favor of store-bought pecan pie. Bullet dodged.” She shifted and glanced back over her shoulder. Her eyes dulled for a moment and she lowered her voice. “Look, I didn’t say anything about us. To my family, I mean. I said I was at your house the whole time, chatting with the family. Friendly. Just friends.”

He tried to keep the disappointment from showing on his face. No, he hadn’t expected her to talk about their sex life, but he’d thought she would mention something regarding their attachment or intimacy level. He was thoroughly into this…thing between them. This budding, growing thing. He’d thought they were on the same page.

“Just…” She bit her lip. “I mean, Ellen would be pissed and think…you know…”

“No, I don’t know.” He’d tried to go for light and unaffected, and missed the mark entirely.

“Well…you played a lot of girls in high school, and it’s only natural that she’d expect you would do the same to me.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the porch. He stepped around her and pulled the door shut so they would have some privacy. Anger simmered just below the surface, and he realized it was because of fear. Fear of losing her because of a stupid misunderstanding or unfounded rumors.

“Look,” he said, trying to keep his cool, feeling warmth in his chest at her proximity. “It’s weird that I have a past with Ellen—I get that. It was so long ago that I don’t ever think of it, but I can understand why it would make you uncomfortable. To be honest, I don’t know why she’s angry. I never lied to her. I never misled her. At the time, I thought we had an understanding.”

“She wasn’t picking up what you were putting down, but that’s not your fault.”

“And yes, I did see a…few girls in high school. But the rumors were out of hand. I had a couple of consistent hookups, and a couple of one-night stands after parties. That was it. I was labeled as a hit-it-and-quit-it type of guy, but half the girls that said they’d slept with me were lying.”

“Wait… They said they slept with you? Not the other way around?”

Noah shook his head. It had completely dumbfounded him at the time, although the same thing had happened to Colton. “Yeah. My friends and I figured it was smarter, less drama, to stay away from the friends of the girls we were seeing. Including…” He glanced at the door, wishing more than anything in the world he’d never gone down that road. He hoped to hell Cynthia could look past it. “But we started hearing people whisper that we’d hooked up with the friends, too. With girls we’d hardly spoken to. The best we could figure, the friends didn’t want to be seen as less desirable. They were jealous. It was ridiculous, but what could we do? Make fools of them? I didn’t think it mattered, in the end.”

Cynthia stared up at him with a thoughtful expression. “Did you ever tell Ellen you weren’t screwing her friends?”

He scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “Yes. Often. She didn’t believe me. Amazingly, she also didn’t tell me to get lost. I think she was mostly annoyed by the thought that she wasn’t special. I mean, not special, as if I’m anything special, but—”

“You were. It’s fine. You don’t have to be modest. She probably lorded it over her friends in that way she does, and they lied to knock her off her pedestal. I could definitely see that happening. I mean, if I hadn’t gotten dumped in a garbage can every time I approached the quad, then I might’ve admired your majesty once or twice. As it was, I hung out in the grass. It was safer.”

“Wait…what? You were dumped in garbage cans?” He probably shouldn’t have been smiling, but the way she’d said it was so absurd, so humdrum and blasé, that it didn’t sound like the crappy situation it had obviously been. “Bodily dumped in, you mean?”

“Yeah.” She stared at him with a straight face. “That dickface Bobby Nygard and his band of blockheads declared I wasn’t welcome in the quad because I was too smart. This was right after I jumped up into his grade. He didn’t trust me, he said. Thought I was working undercover for the Russians as a spy.” She rolled her eyes. “You can see why he thought I was too smart. If there were three or more of them, they could get me in the garbage can. One or two, though, and I could take them. I gave that dickface Bobby a bloody nose on a couple occasions. He deserved it.”

“I heard of you fighting guys, but I never knew why. What the hell?”

“Yeah. Whatever.” She waved it off as though being canned throughout high school wasn’t a huge deal. Most people would’ve been scarred for life. Instead, she just roamed around in shirts featuring Jesus riding a T-Rex.

“I think you’re my new hero,” he said seriously, staring down into her beautifully expressive eyes.

“As long as we’re digging into the past, why’d you only have two boyfriends in high school?” Her eyes went wide and her mouth turned into an O. “Three girlfriends, I meant! Duh. What’s the deal with you only having three girlfriends?”

He thought back. Unfortunately, his brain wasn’t bringing up much. “Honestly, and this is probably me shooting myself in the foot, I only remember having Becky as a girlfriend. She was my girlfriend in tenth grade. First love, first lay, first girl to cheat on me and then rip out my heart…”

Cynthia grimaced. “That’s rough.”

He shrugged. “I’m not going to lie—I was hung up on her for a long time. Any girls who came later were my attempt to fill the void. Even in college, none of my relationships surpassed what I remembered feeling with her. You never forget your first. But…” He stroked the side of her face. While he knew he shouldn’t be this forthright with her this early, it felt right. “When I’m with you, I can’t remember what I felt for her. I can’t remember how consuming I thought it was, or the pain of her betraying me. I just think of you. Of what I’m feeling when I’m with you.”

A slow smile bent her kissable lips and her eyes glittered, soft and deep. “I told myself I wasn’t going to give in to you. That I wouldn’t turn out like Ellen.”

“You won’t. I mean, I don’t know why Ellen turned out like Ellen, but our situations are in no way similar. I don’t want to be your friend with benefits. Your casual fling when we’re both single and lonely. I want…” He took his hands away and shoved them into his pockets. “I’m just going to lay it all out there. Please be kind.” He cleared his throat. “I want to date you, Cynthia. To be exclusive. To…call you my girlfriend.”

Fear shot through him as he heard what he was saying.

Exclusive.

How the hell could he be exclusive when he worked for Big Dick Escort Service? If he gave that up, it would slice out two-thirds of his income.

But her delighted, relieved smile and bright-eyed gaze turned something inside him gooey. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and reached for her again, hugging her tightly against his chest. “And since I’m just laying it all out there like a goober…”

“I like goobers. Even ones with silver spoons stuck up their asses.”

“Like you can talk. You grew up four houses down.”

“Yes, but my family doesn’t like me. You see? I have a grievance. That makes me oppressed and cool.”

“Sure.” He blew out a breath, ruffling her hair. Why was this so hard? The worst that could happen was that she’d say no. He’d been rejected plenty of times. What made this different?

The pep talk wasn’t helping, because he knew it was her. She made this different.

“Remember the mini-golf thing my friend Colton is about to open?” he asked.

“Yep. With the painting.”

“Right. He’s just about out of money, so his resources are thin, but he doesn’t really have a marketing plan for the launch. He has a large social media network, but that’s about it. I wondered—”

“I can take a look, sure.” She pulled him down for a soft kiss.

His cock hardened and he deepened their contact, wanting her again. Struggling against his raw, consuming desire, he pulled back. “I wasn’t done,” he said, panting. “Since he doesn’t have any money right now—”

“I can do it for free, sure.” She shrugged. “I can’t do any serious job searching for a while anyway. Why not?”

“I still wasn’t done. I have a spare room if you want to get paid in room and board.” Heat rushed to his face. “Whatever happens between us is up to you. The arrangement could be purely platonic. But you’d be in Sacramento, so if you have any interest in working there, you’d be much closer to job interviews. Then, when you get something, you can get your own place. This is just to get you out of your parents’ house while you help out my buddy.”

She gazed up at him with a blank face, giving him nothing. Not even her eyes let him know what she was thinking. Silence filled the space between them.

“Or not,” he said, trying to save face.

“Sure,” she finally said, as blasé about that as she’d been about getting stuffed in garbage cans by a bunch of bullies. “But I’d need to stop by the storage unit to pick up some more clothes.”