Page 77 of Cautious Love

A knock on my window startles me from my thoughts and I sigh. Sterling is grinning and staring at me.

He pulls the door open and I roll myself out. “Why are you sitting in the car?” he asks me.

“I was thinking,” I mumble, kicking a piece of gravel.

“I could see the smoke coming out of your giant ears. You’re going to hurt yourself doing that one day,” he says.

This is probably a terrible idea. My best friend gets around. He has since we were in high school, and I don’t recall a single long-term relationship he’s ever been in, but he is a good guy, and he knows how to treat a woman right.

“Can I ask you something?”

He spins on his heel before he climbs the front steps with a sigh. “No, officer I’m not drunk. I had one beer about…” he trails off checking his watch. “About twenty minutes ago.”

I scowl. It would take a lot more to get this man drunk, but I still don’t like the thought of him or anyone having even one and driving.

“That’s not okay, but I need your … opinion.”

Sterling grins, laying his hand over his chest. “Me? What did I do to deserve the honor?” he says in a terrible slow southern drawl.

“You’re the worst. But I’m being serious.”

He drops the grin and waits for me to speak. “I, uh, Shiloh and I…” I take a deep breath a little thrown that I can’t seem to speak. “I asked her out on a date. And without telling you everything — because I can’t — I’m wondering if I should take her to the next town over so—”

“So the whole town doesn’t watch you crash and burn?” Sterling says, with his brow ticked up.

Asshole.

“No, it would give usprivacy, but there are some things going on with work, and being thirty-plus minutes away could be a bad thing. So I wondered if maybe something at home would work, but it doesn’t seem good enough for her.”

“Oh man, you’re down bad for your wife, aren’t you?” he asks, and there’s not a lick of sarcasm in his voice.

I don’t answer him. But he’s not wrong. The more time Shiloh and I spend together, the less I consider why we shouldn’t give this thing a shot, and instead find myself asking, why not?

“Maybe I missed something, but she’s your wife. Shouldn’t you know this?” he asks.

I puff out a breath. “We’re still getting to know each other,” I mutter.

Sterling nods and crosses his arms. “That’s fair, but I’m sure whatever you come up with, she would enjoy. Again, otherwise she wouldn’t have married you.”

I thoroughly doubt that.

“Maybe my question should be why did you get married, and why all the secrecy?” he asks.

I puff out a breath. “It’s complicated.”

“That’s obvious, but it doesn’t answer my question,” he mutters.

“We happened fast and just want it to be us for a little while, which also means we’re still learning about each other. Does that answer your question, officer?”

Sterling huffs and runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, man, sure.”

“I thought about asking her what she wanted but…” I say.

“You want to take care of it like you always do,” he says, rubbing his chin.

I shrug.

“Look, I think because it’s a special circumstance, she’ll understand. Right?” he asks.