Page 71 of Mountain Dreams

He turned to her, but he kept his hands to himself. “Maddie.”

She held up a hand. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.”

He sighed and plunged his hands into his hair, afraid that no matter what he said, it wouldn’t be the right thing.

“I know this didn’t really mean anything.”

Her words sliced through him like an arrow.

“It was just sex. Really good sex, but still…”

“Maddie.”

“I wanted this, and I don’t regret it, but I don’t expect anything else from you. I want you to know that.”

“Maddie, listen.”

She held up her hand again. “I’m not some inexperienced teenager. I know how this works, and I’m okay with it. Really, I am.”

“I—”

“I don’t want this to ruin our friendship, because I would hate that…”

Her voice drifted off, and though he finally had a chance to speak, he was at a loss for words. He agreed with at least one thing, though. “You’re right. I would hate to lose our friendship too.”

“Good. Then we’re in agreement.”

His head moved, but he couldn’t be sure whether it was a shake, nod, or something in between. Something didn’t feel right, but damn if he could make sense of it right now.

“For the record, I wouldn’t mind having sex with you again because it was pretty awesome. But if we don’t, I’ll be okay with that too.”

“You will?” He frowned.

“Won’t you?”

He stared at her unblinkingly until she spoke again. “If somebody else comes along and you want to be with them…we can stop this at any time.”

Wait, what? This was not at all how he’d seen things going, especially after the intimacy they’d shared. Was this what she wanted, or was she pretending for his benefit?

“There’s nobody else I want to see,” he said for lack of a better response.

She seemed to relax, and the corners of her lips twitched, but she wasn’t fully smiling.

“Maddie, I—”

“You know what, I’m beat. I think I’ll go downstairs and get ready for bed.”

“But—”

“We can talk more tomorrow, okay?” Instead of waiting for an answer, she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss, one that wasn’t even worthy of his grandmother, God rest her soul.

She threw off the blanket, scrambled out of bed, and began gathering her clothes while he sat there helplessly and watched.

“You could sleep in here,” he blurted out.

A series of emotions flickered across her beautiful face as she considered it. Then she shook her head. “I’ll probably sleep better alone, and so will you.”

She didn’t even bother getting dressed. She simply held her clothes to her chest and started to walk away.