My heart took a slow free fall. He set this up. Was helping me. Asking for nothing in return. Yet the look in his eyes when I left tonight was serious. I could run, but he wouldn’t let me hide. Which was what I wanted to do. Needed to do before things got even more complicated, and more feelings got involved.

My phone pinged again.

Cal: It’s just a simple lunch, Kitten. Don’t think yourself out of an easy win.

Cal was right. This lunch was something I needed, and I needed a win. I just needed to be careful and maintain a friendship level barrier. Somehow, I’d figure out how to do that with Cal. Though friends didn’t typically stick their hands down your pants. But I had to make whatever was happening between us stop, though everything in me was cursing the thought. Because he felt good. So damn good. But that kind of good led down a path I didn’t want to be on again. It led to needy. Led to vulnerability. Led to loss.

Friends. I could keep Cal as a friend.

Me: Thursday is great. I’ll be ready at noon. Thank you.

There. Simple. To the point. I’d have this interview, revise my thesis proposal, and that would be it.

Yet, somehow, nothing seemed that simple.

~

I sat in Cal’s truck as he turned off Main Street and wove a few miles around a residential area. Golden wasn’t too big, which was largely appealing to me.

The sun was shining bright, burning off last night’s inch of fluffy snow that had fallen. The sound of the truck tires spinning along wet pavement kicked up the smell of afternoon dew and autumn. I loved my town. Every once in a while, when I remembered to stop and really appreciate the calmness, I found myself enjoying the still light. It was amazing what a little sunshine could get you excited for.

However, the thing I wasn’t overly excited about was Cal’s silent treatment. He just stared straight ahead, saying nothing. Which made looking at his mouth worse, since I knew how it moved. And that was something I was trying not to focus on, yet the only image my brain churned out.

“How have your last few days been?” I asked. He hadn’t reached out since the text letting me know his aunt would meet with me, which was where we were going now.

“Pretty good. Had three on and now four off, so can’t complain. Been quieter now that we’re out of summer fire season.”

“No more running after wild fires?” I asked.

“Not for a while.”

The conversation was tight, forced. His hand on the steering wheel looked casual, but the white in his knuckles showed he was gripping it pretty hard. Was he upset from the other night?

Was I upset?

I wasn’t exactly beaming sunshine, but I had no idea what to say or where to go. Keeping things casual with Cal was a better idea than starting any kind of relationship with him. Physical

or otherwise. Mostly because I wasn’t a woman who separated physical and emotional easily, and also because I loved being touched and taken over. I also loved getting a taste of power. Which was exactly what I’d gotten the other night with Cal.

The few times I’d taken over in the bedroom with Jack, I’d either gotten spanked, which I actually liked, or he “allowed” me to take over first and only in small, brief ways. Jack needed his control and I’d understood, enjoyed everything we did. But I was not with Jack anymore.

Nope. Cal was in casual in jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt that clung to his muscles and made my mouth water like a dehydrated nympho. Because all I could think about was touching those muscles again. Feeling them.

My one saving grace was that we hadn’t crossed a line that we couldn’t cross back from. At least I hoped not. If I could figure out how to maintain “friend status” and not want to throw myself into his arms, maybe I could continue down this path of self-preservation.

“Thinking about something over there,” he said, glancing at me. I was working my bottom lip and realized I was frowning in his direction. Whoops.

“I was just thinking about a conversation I had with Harper.”

He nodded. But didn’t ask for more. Maybe because I got irritated the last time he tried and I’d compared his verbiage to Jack’s? Suddenly, I felt shitty about that. I felt shitty about a lot of things. And, for whatever reason, I continued as if he’d asked for more detail anyway.

“She was telling me for the thousandth time that I need to really move on from both Jack and my family.”

“Has your step-brother caused any more problems since showing up at your school?” he asked quickly.

“No. And I’m not scared of him.” Not in the way I use to be at least. He couldn’t impact my world if I didn’t let him. “It’s hard letting go of certain things, even when the good moments you’re holding on to aren’t worth the pain they cause now.”

“Jack,” Cal said, like that one word summed up my entire problem.

Tags: Joya Ryan Reign Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net