Page 53 of Nothing to Tell

And if she’d needed a slap to get back to reality, talking about Damon was it.Did Bastian really need to go there?

“Yeah,” she grumbled.

“Everyone thinks we’ve been seeing each other for four months.”

“Or thereabouts.”

“Hypothetically…” he said.“If you’ve been seeing a guy for four months, you’ve met his family, and he’s met yours.You’ve just been on a date, drinking, dancing.You’ve teased him with that dress all night, got him thinking about what’s underneath… It’s the end of the date, he’s got you in his car… what would happen next?”

Hmm… The usual goodnight kiss on the doorstep phase would be over by four months.

“You think we’d be having sex,” she said, but couldn’t subscribe to the assumption.“We would be over the ‘screwing like bunnies’ phase.”

“By four months?”he asked, taking his eyes from the road.“Are you sure about that?”

Yes, she was damn sure about it.That phase never lasted long.She and Bastian were too invested in business to be distracted by anything like sex for too long.

“We only see each other once a week,” she said.“And last week I was injured so I doubt that would’ve included anything adventurous…” Truth was, she was pragmatic about sex.“It’s what I said the night we met, people settle for respect, cohabitation.A partner.”

Bastian didn’t agree.“Indifference,” he said.“Like you had with Damon, you think our relationship would be like that?”

She twisted the wrist strap of her clutch around.They were trapped in a confined space again.Just like the night he’d brought her back from the hospital, claustrophobia closed in.Their choice of conversation wasn’t helping alleviate the growing humidity.Was it all in her head?Maybe she was sick.

In this car and nowhere else?Other than in Bastian’s arms on the dance floor.Any time she was up close it got hotter and a little squirmy.

“Not to be rude but… I don’t see how it could be any different.”

“I’d be faithful for one thing,” he said.

Shit, she hadn’t meant to offend him.Being compared to Damon could sour anyone’s mood.Though, in fairness, she hadn’t been the one to bring up her ex.It wasn’t like she was making a direct comparison anyway, that should be obvious given the difference between the two men.

“Of course,” she said.“What I meant was the feeling, the emotion involved, the general day-to-day goings on of any relationship will be similar.”

“After four months with Damon you’d stopped having sex?”

Embarrassment chilled her.What was it with this guy that she kept walking into these conversational cul-de-sacs?

“This is mortifying,” she whispered to herself.

“I want to know,” Bastian said.“Are you telling me that after four months of access this guy could keep his hands off you?”

Seemed the conversation was happening no matter what, with or without her.Bastian was perfectly at ease.Good for him.What kind of gentleman asked questions like this of a woman with a few glasses of champagne—and maybe three or four cocktails—in her.

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe it.”

She scoffed.“It’s true,” she said, happy to be offended if that was where he wanted to drive her.“I have no reason to lie.”

“What was wrong with him?”

What was that supposed to mean?

“Nothing,” she said.“There was nothing wrong with him.”

“There had to be if he was passing up a night in bed with you.”

Okay, uh… another surprise.Being kind when there was no one around was one thing, but deconstructing her relationship with Damon wouldn’t achieve anything.Then again, Damon hadn’t made the best first impression on Bastian.She guessed that fostered negative feelings.Damon upset Adara the same night the two men met.As a brother himself, Bastian could probably identify with how it felt to have someone insult a sibling.