"It's precisely because we are adults that I think we're going to have a hard time living together and not sleeping together."
"Jake, are you trying to say I can break your willpower?"
"Sweetheart, do you really want to start a battle over this?"
"Why, don't you think I could win?"
"Not if I put my mind to it."
"It's not your mind that tempts me, Jake."
He threw his head back and laughed. Her heart clenched and her entire body ached. She wanted to be in his arms again. But she knew better than anyone did what a relationship based on a child was like. She also knew that when it came to lasting relationships, the odds of her and Jake making it work were very slim.
Her only chance at sanity was to make sure he stayed out of her bed and her heart.
Three
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Jake knew there was no way he'd be able to live under the same roof as Larissa and keep his hands to himself. But if she wanted to pretend a platonic relationship was all she wanted, he'd let her. Passion and proximity were two things that couldn't be ignored.
He'd been celibate for a while now. Though he still casually dated, sleeping with women he hardly knew had lost some of the excitement it had held. And his business took most of his time. Becoming a millionaire in his own right before he turned thirty had taken all of his concentration.
The spark that had been kindled at their college reunion almost four years ago hadn't died after one night together. This morning had proved that the fire between them still burned strongly. But he was willing to bide his time until they had everything settled between them before he made any moves toward Larissa.
He knew that in time she'd be in his bed. Everything else about the future seemed uncertain, but there was a sense of rightness in his soul when he thought of the two of them together. Just to be certain that he never lost his son again, he made a mental note to call Marcus, his cousin and family lawyer.
"You can move in today. Do you need my help to get your stuff?"
Larissa got to her feet and paced around the patio. Peter was still playing by the soccer net Jake had set up. Larissa watched her son for a few minutes, then turned back to him. "Not today. Let me think about this."
Jake moved near to her. She crossed her arms over her chest and stepped back from him. What was she afraid of? "What's to think about? No sex and we'll live here."
She bit her lip. "For how long?"
Jake shrugged. His experience with relationships said that most didn't last longer than it took to get your stuff settled, but Peter guaranteed they'd be together longer. "I don't know. Why?"
"What if one of us falls in love with someone else?" Larissa asked. The wind caught a strand of her hair, which brushed across her face. Larissa reached up and tucked it behind her ear.
Love was the one thing he'd never really found with any woman. It seemed elusive to him somehow. He wondered sometimes if love and happiness were going to be forever out of his reach. He was jaded enough to know that he wasn't going to find love through the intense desire that he felt for Larissa. "I doubt that would happen."
"Why not?" she asked, holding herself tighter while she waited for his answer.
He didn't like the barrier she'd built between them. Didn't like that she was comforting herself and that she was still hiding something from him. So he said the one thing sure to needle her. He remembered her soft heart and belief in happily-ever-after.
"Because love is part of the game that people play when they are searching for themselves. We're both secure in our place in the world."
She fisted her hands and put them on her hips. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
This was the Larissa he remembered. Eyes shooting sparks when he pushed her buttons. She'd been so sure she was a plain Jane who no jock would ever look at twice. But she'd caught his eye and held it longer than any of her peers back then. "Surely, you don't believe in love?"
"Of course I do. And I'm raising our son to believe in it, too," she said, gesturing to Peter.
"You're just preparing him for heartache."
"Is that what love means to you?" she asked. Despite her argument, he didn't think she believed in love, either. Because any woman who had a romantic look on life would have contacted her baby's father.
He didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. "I don't know what love means to me. I can honestly say I've never really experienced it. Have you?"
"No."
"I don't think we'll have a problem with either of us falling in love. You're down-to-earth and so am I."
"I don't want to be a burden to you, Jake. I don't want to wake up one morning and find out you don't want us anymore."