Page 22 of Praised
“We need to talk about all the reasons we aren’t ever going to do that—” He paused and pointed at the bed. “Again.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
Of all the things I’d expected out of this terribly unexpected man, that wasn’t anywhere near the top of the list.
“We can’t do that again,” he said.
“And why not?”
Rose pointed at himself. “Serious.” Then me. “Casual.”
“Seriously casual,” I repeated the lie from earlier. The ruse I’d spun to get him into bed in the first place. “But why not casually serious?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “What does that even mean?”
I didn’t have an answer, but I wasn’t ready to give up on the fight. I had talked my way into and out of more serious deals and situations than a stranger’s bed. There was no reason I couldn’t talk my way into his life now. My interest in Rose was giving me whiplash, but only because I kept trying to convince myself Ididn’twant him. When I quietly admitted the truth to myself, everything felt easier. Like it made more sense. There were a lot of pieces of it that I didn’t understand, but I was a smart man.
I could learn.
“It means you make things that I thought were hard limits feel not so rigid.”
He swallowed, watching me thoughtfully.
“I’ve never had a boyfriend,” I admitted. “Never done anything serious in my life, to be honest.”
“That’s probably the least surprising thing about you,” he said.
“But not because the situation never presented itself. Just because I’ve never wanted to.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that…saying…I could see myself maybe trying with you. For you.”
“That’s oddly touching,” he said, angling himself toward me more. “But I don’t want you to change on my account.”
“So, we can’t be together because I don’t want anything serious, and when I tell you I would be willing to give serious a try for you, you tell me no?”
“I’m telling you that I don’t want to be serious with a man who changesforme.”
“I would have thought that could be the biggest compliment someone could give you.”
“I want to be with a man who changes himself because he wants to be a better person whether or not I’m in the picture. If you change for me and things don’t work out between us, what was the point of it in the first place?”
Now it was my turn to gesture to the bed. “More of that.”
“That was casual.” Rose stood and sighed. “That was some of the best sex I’ve ever had too, for what it’s worth. And I think that you could be a real special person for me, but I just got cheated on by a man I thought loved me, and I’m done settling for less than I deserve.”
“That’s why I’m asking you for a chance.”
“I know and, for some reason, I believe you’re being sincere, and that’s why I’m not going to walk out of this hotel room and turn my back on you forever.”
“No?” A spark of hope flared at the base of my spine and I stood too, reaching for him.
Rose took a step back, holding up a hand to stop me and shaking his head.
“You have my number in your phone already,” he said. “And if you figure out how to be the kind of man I deserve, then I hope you use it.”
CHAPTER8
