Page 48 of Reckless
His mouth moved once.“Fine.”
“No public chest-beating.No random male territorialism.No making every man I talk to sound like a threat to national security.”
“That’s specific.”
“Interesting theory.”
“Rule five.”I ignored him.“No declarations.”
He leaned back.“Meaning?”
“Meaning you are not allowed to improvise anything dramatic about love, forever, fate, soulmates, feelings too strong to contain, or some other rich-person emotional catastrophe in front of your family.”
Something genuinely amused flashed through his expression.“Rich-person emotional catastrophe?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“I really don’t.”He folded his hands loosely in front of him.“And if someone asks how we met?”
“We answer like sane adults and I’m part of the story.”
“Which is what exactly.”
“We like each other.We’ve been seeing where it goes and we’ve been friends for a long time.And we kept it quiet because we didn’t want the whole family in our business.”
His eyes stayed on my face.“That part, at least, is true.”
My pulse did one ugly little kick.I ignored it on purpose.
“Rule six,” I said.“You do not come to my apartment uninvited.”
“Agreed.I like being invited in.”
I rolled my eyes.Why did he make everything sound so easy.“Rule seven.Hard stop after graduation weekend.”
Something in his face changed.I saw it and I sharpened in response because I was learning him just enough to know when stillness meant resistance.
His gaze met mine.“If we do this, I’m not going to insult you by pretending four days is enough time to guarantee no complications.”
My stomach tightened.
I sat back in my chair and folded my arms.“You don’t get to say ominous things and call them realism.”
“It’s not ominous.”
“It is when you say it.”
One side of his mouth twitched.“Fine.Hard stop after the weekend unless we agree to more time.”
I flipped the page on the legal pad and wrote:
COVER STORY
Then I looked up.“We need facts.”
“Agreed.We knew each other a long time already and I finally asked you out a few weeks ago.”
I made a face.“Too vague.”
