High-Powered, Hot-Blooded

He did understand but didn’t agree the price was worth it.

She smiled. “Now you have the thrill of them knowing about your sex life.”

Something he could have lived without. Not that he didn’t like the girls, but didn’t this fall under the category of too much information? “Tell me they didn’t ask any questions,” he muttered.

“Only if you’d used a condom.”

Annie kept her chin high as she spoke, but he saw the flush on her cheeks. She was an interesting combination of shy and determined, bossy and yielding.

“What did you say?”

She cleared her throat. “I said you had…. All three times.”

He held in a grin. “And?”

“Jenny hung up.”

They laughed together.

Annie looked good in the morning light. The riot of still-damp curls seemed to glow, like a halo. Her mouth was full, her cheeks still pink. Hers was a quiet beauty, he thought. One that would age well. She would be even more striking in her fifties. If he’d met her before he’d met Valentina, he would have been intrigued by the possibilities. Or maybe not. Maybe the appeal of the bad girl would have been too strong. Maybe he’d needed to be burned to learn his lesson.

And learn it he had. Trust no one. Don’t give away anything for free and never, under any circumstances, risk his heart.

“You know this can’t be more than it is,” he said flatly.

Annie sipped her coffee, then drew in a breath. “Is that your way of saying not to get my hopes up? That this is simply a business arrangement with benefits?”

“Something like that.” Too late he remembered he’d promised that sex had no part in their bargain. “When the holiday season ends, so do we.”

“I’ve never had a relationship with an expiration date,” she said, staring into his eyes, a faint smile on her lips. “It’s okay, Duncan. I know the rules and I won’t try to change them.”

“I’m not sure I believe you. You’re a happy-ending kind of woman.”

“It’s what I want,” she admitted. “I want to find someone I can love and respect. A man who wants desperately to be with me. I want kids and a dog and some hamsters. But that’s not you, is it?”

“No.”

Years ago, maybe. Now, the price was too high. Getting involved meant putting too much on the line. He only played to win and in marriage, there was no guarantee. Valentina had taught him that, as well.

“You weren’t supposed to sleep with me,” she said.

“I know.” He couldn’t figure out her mood. Was she teasing or pissed? “Do you want me to apologize?”

She drew in a breath. “No. I want you to promise that when this is over, you won’t tell me you want to be friends. It will just be over. You have to promise.”

“We won’t be friends,” he said, and then felt an odd sense of loss at the words. Annie was one of the few people he liked. He would miss her. But he would let her go.

Annie spent the day trying not to grin like an idiot. She wasn’t worried her students would notice, but her fellow teachers certainly would. Then they would start to ask questions and she wasn’t that good a liar. Probably a good quality, she told herself as she drove into her driveway and got out of the car. Under normal circumstances.

As she walked to the mailbox, she felt the lingering soreness in her legs and hips. Muscles not used to being stretched and used complained a little. Not that she minded. It was a good kind of ache—one that reminded her what had happened the night before. In Duncan’s bed.

No regrets, she’d promised herself and that was how she felt. No regrets. Being with him had been spectacular. Her body had done things she hadn’t known were possible. The time in his arms had shown her what she wanted in her life. Not just a great love, but also great passion. With the two other men, she’d been settling. She hadn’t realized it at the time, but it was true. She would never settle again.

“Big words for someone who isn’t even dating,” she murmured, picking up the envelopes and flipping through them. “Well, not real dating.” No matter how much she wanted him to, Duncan didn’t count.