Merry cringed and covered her eyes. “Oh, God. I don’t mean like a decade or something. I wasn’t even having sex a decade ago. It’s only been two years. That’s a long time, right? But not freakishly long?”
“Two years?”
She peeked at him past her fingers. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head.
“Is that awful?”
“No! Not at all. Anyway, I just wanted to be sure you weren’t pissed off. If I made you uncomfortable or I was out of line last night, I’m sorry.”
“No big deal! We’ll do it again sometime. The pizza and a show. Not, you know, the benefits. Which would be lovely and all, but… Goodbye!”
She closed the door on his face, and Shane just stood there staring at the wood. Two years? He told himself not to think about how hard he could make her come, how tight she’d be, how much she must need it. And he failed miserably.
CHAPTER NINE
MERRY IS JUST A BUDDY.
Yes. Good. Thank God she’d stood in the window and eavesdropped on Shane and Cole. Rude, of course, but she was clear on their relationship now. She was a buddy, her normal position. She was used to that and she could deal with it. It was the uncertainty that had tormented her.
This morning she’d woken up confused by the kissing. The touching. She’d let herself wonder if she’d been wrong about him. Maybe she should’ve been braver and taken a chance. Maybe, despite Grace’s suspicions, Shane Harcourt really was interested in her and wanted something more with her.
But no. She was a buddy. What had thrown her off was the friends with benefits thing. It wasn’t some exotic phenomenon she’d never heard of, it had just never been something a man had wanted with her.
With Grace, certainly. And every other cute, cool girl she’d ever known. But Merry had always been a buddy in the truest sense of the word. Buddies didn’t have touchable breasts or intriguing vaginas. Buddies were people you burped around and bragged to about other women.
So this was a promotion, really! She was not just a friend, but also a sexual being. It felt nice. Or she told herself it felt nice. And it was an option if she really needed access to a friendly penis in the future. She could check that off her worry list.
“Whew,” she said out loud.
She heard the thunk of the pipes shutting off. Grace was done with her shower. There was another thing to be thankful for. Merry had managed to straighten out her relationship with Shane without inciting another lecture from Grace.
“I’m off to the museum!” she shouted toward the bathroom.
“Have fun!”
Fun. Right. A fund-raising party for the Jackson Historical Society. She’d be the youngest one there, aside from the kids dragged along by parents. And sadly, she would have fun. She’d always loved listening to stories from older generations, and she’d feel more comfortable than she would among her peers. But it was a really terrible way to meet men, unless you didn’t mind the forty-five-minute wait for Viagra to work.
But she turned out to be glad she’d worn tight jeans and her favorite black T-shirt for the party, not to mention some dangly earrings Grace had made her buy at some point, because as soon as she opened the apartment door, she ran into a tall, handsome cowboy. A new tall, handsome cowboy.
“Hi!” she chirped in surprise. He froze in the act of starting up the stairs. His boot hovered for a moment, and then he spun to face her, a smile spreading over his face. His neatly trimmed beard couldn’t dim the beauty of that grin.
“Hi yourself. I’m Walker. I’ve been meaning to introduce myself.” He took her hand in a firm grip and tipped his hat with the other. “I just rented a place upstairs.”
“Oh, welcome to the Stud Farm.” Rayleen certainly had damn good taste. Walker’s broad shoulders loomed so far above her that Merry felt a little woozy.
“Thanks. Are you Grace?”
“Sorry, no. I’m Merry. I’m staying with Grace for a while.”
“Ah. I thought you looked a little softer than the description Rayleen gave.”
“Oh, I’m definitely softer by about thirty pounds.”
“Yeah?” His eyes swept down her body. “Nothing wrong with that, Miss Merry.”
“No?” Merry found herself giggling, and couldn’t believe she’d actually managed to flirt with this adorable man. She hadn’t mentioned Star Wars, historical societies or her two-year drought. Amazing. “That’s good to know.”