“You’ve said that one too. Why the hell would we have to pretend that we don’t know each other?”
She stiffened her resolve in the face of his outrage. “Same reason we can’t date. No dates, no dinners out, no acknowledgement of any sort of relationship between us.”
This was becoming ridiculous! “Just sex,” he spat out.
Naya hesitated. It was one thing when she said those words, it felt really horrible when he said them back to her. And she didn’t understand why.
But they were her rules. She couldn’t exactly disagree with them now. “Right. Just sex.”
“How often does this ‘just sex’ happen?” he demanded.
That was a good question. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an answer for him. “Friday nights only,” she blurted out, thinking one night a week would more than satisfy her. She could handle one night a week.
“No.”
Naya blinked and narrowed her eyes. “No?”
He shook his head. “No. Not one night a week only.” Not going to happen, beautiful, he thought silently. Hell, he wanted her every day of the week. And every morning. And all day long. “Every other night.”
She shook her head. “No. I have too many evening obligations. I can’t do every other night.”
She had a point there. He thought quickly, trying to figure out an alternative. “Fine. What nights do you have activities now?”
She rubbed her forehead. Naya knew that she was in way over her head but she wasn’t sure how to swim back to shore. Or even where the shore was any longer. “I don’t have a set schedule. My clients normally can’t take off work to view homes so I show them in the evenings.”
He clenched his teeth. “Fine. Are there any nights when you generally don’t have clients?”
“Mondays and Tuesdays. The new houses go online Wednesday morning, so some call that day and ask to see a particular house.”
“I get Mondays and Tuesdays then.” He lifted a hand to stop her from arguing. “Unless a client calls and asks to see a house. I promise I won’t interfere with your career, Naya. What other nights?”
She thought about her schedule, her routines. Shrugging, she looked down at her hands. “Isn’t Mondays and Tuesdays enough?”
He watched her, wondering what was going through her mind. Two nights a week? No way. Not enough. “How about Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays?”
He knew she was holding her breath as she thought about that suggestion. “Four nights a week?”
“Yes.”
She licked her lips again, stunned at the idea of spending four out of seven nights with Luke. “Four nights?”
He moved closer. “If you can handle it. I won’t make you come here if you’re not in the mood for…sex.” He almost spat out that last word. He hated this! He wanted to pull her into his arms and demand to know why she was pulling this crap! It was ridiculous! What happened to spontaneity? What happened to just wanting to be with someone because they enjoyed each other’s company? What happened to sitting on a couch, watching a movie or spending a relaxing Sunday afternoon reading, just sitting next to a woman?
No, he’d never wanted that with the other women he’d dated in the past, but Naya…she was different! Damn it, he wanted those movie nights! He wanted Sunday afternoons!
Slow down, he told himself. “Four nights. If you don’t want to come over, just call me and tell me no.”
She thought about that for a moment and nodded. “Fine. But what are the gossip columnists going to say when you stop hitting all of the social happenings and charity events that happen on Friday and Saturday nights?”
He shrugged his shoulder, completely unconcerned with what others might think. “I don’t give a damn what they think. Let them make their own assumptions.”
Naya didn’t like the sound of that. “No. You have to date other women,” she said, choking on the words. “You have to be seen around town with someone else.”
“No.” He wasn’t doing that. “I won’t do that to another woman.”
She sighed and rubbed her fingers, realizing what she was proposing and knowing it wasn’t ethical. “You’re right. That wouldn’t be kind.”