Taylor arched her brow. “Romantically involved?”
A repentant sort of grin on his face, he shrugged. “I guess that was presumptuous.”
“Is that what’s happening here?” she pressed, needing to hear him verbally confirm what was happening. “Us becoming romantically involved?”
He searched her gaze. “You tell me. Is that what you want?”
Refusing to look away, she held his gaze, determined to make sure he understood who her core being was. “I don’t sleep around.”
Sex, or even thinking about sex, just hadn’t been an issue until she’d met Jack. She’d not really thought about or tried to figure out what she, the Taylor she was morphing into, wanted regarding a sex life because she’d thought she wouldn’t have to deal with that until way into the future.
“Good,” he said. “Neither do I.”
“No, I mean I really don’t.” She paused, tried to figure out how to explain, feeling it imperative she make him understand. “It makes me old-fashioned, but the only person I’ve been with is my husband.”
At Jack’s look of surprise, she corrected, “My ex-husband.”
His expression softened. “That you haven’t slept around isn’t a negative in my book, Taylor.”
“But you wouldn’t be opposed to us having sex?”
One side of his mouth hiked up, revealing a gorgeous dimple. “Is that a trick question?”
His response shouldn’t annoy her, but for some reason it did. She pulled her hand free. “I want an honest answer, Jack.”
“I gave you one.” His expression grew serious. “Besides, you knew the answer when you asked.”
“How would I know?”
“You knew the moment you walked into the medical tent and our gazes met,” he pointed out. “I instantly felt a connection and you felt it, too. If I’m mistaken, tell me.”
Taylor couldn’t believe they were having this conversation in the middle of a crowd. They’d stopped walking. People thronged all around them, yet no one was paying them the slightest attention.
“You aren’t wrong,” she admitted.
He gave a low laugh. “Is that easier than saying you want me, too?”
“Even if I did, it doesn’t mean we’re going to act on those feelings,” she pointed out, even though she wondered if that’s exactly what that meant. “I don’t do that.”
He didn’t look upset at her answer, just asked, “Why not?”
Stunned, Taylor stared. “What do you mean?”
“Why don’t you have sex?” he clarified.
Her face caught fire. She couldn’t believe they were discussing her sex life—her lack of a sex life. “Because...”
“How long have you been divorced, Taylor?”
She’d told him the only man she’d been with was her ex-husband, but something in his voice, his eyes said he knew more than what she’d revealed about her past. What had Amy told him? That Taylor had screwed up her life by marrying a man who had been all shiny surface and no depth? That she was lonely and desperate?
She wasn’t. This past year had been about healing, finding Taylor, not about replacing Neil. She didn’t want to replace Neil. Not when she’d finally started discovering who she was and liking the woman emerging. The adult Taylor who didn’t have to abide by her parents’ heavy hand or be under her ex-husband’s critical thumb.
She’d fight to protect that Taylor, would go to great lengths to keep any man from changing who was emerging from the dark cocoon she’d been encased in her whole life.
“A little over a year.”
“And you’ve not had sex during the past year? Not even a rebound fling?”