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“You smell good,” she murmured, and I wished my heart would stop racing.

“Thanks,” I said.

Tenley let out a sweet little noise that made me ache and then she stood up.

“I think we’ve done enough for tonight,” she said, holding out her hand to help pull me up.

She yanked me, hard, so I crashed into her and we fell, both of us laughing.

“Sorry,” she said.

“No you’re not,” I said. She had absolutely intended for that to happen.

“You’re right, I’m not,” she said, grinning. “Come on, let’s go have some croissants.”

I guess that was our post fake-date ritual now. Going back to Tenley’s and having tea and croissants and talking about books. It had been a long time since the lobster dinner and there was no food at the beach, so I was starving.

“You did really good tonight,” Tenley said when we got in the car. “I know you don’t have to do this for me, and I’m still not really sure why you are, but thank you.”

I nodded, fiddling with my seatbelt. “Yeah, of course. Guess I just felt like doing a good deed. Make up for all my bad ones.” Not that I really had any, but she didn’t know that.

“How bad have you been, Mia?” Tenley asked, the flirt still in her voice, even though there was no one else around.

I could put a stop to it, but I didn’t.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I said, leaning back in my seat and looking over at her.

“It’s always the sweet ones that you have to watch out for,” she said, backing out of the parking space and driving back to her house for tea and croissants and book talk into the wee hours of the morning.

* * *

When I finally forced myself to go home and get in bed, I couldn’t stop thinking about Tenley. Thinking about her lips on mine. Thinking about how she’d felt next to me on the driftwood. I missed being with someone. It hadn’t struck me until recently how much I longed for romantic companionship. My friends, especially Lark, were wonderful, but I wanted someone to share everything with. To snuggle in bed with. For sex, yes, but also for silliness and sick days and sunsets.

Once everything was done with Tenley, I was going to give dating a try again. I’d been on the apps before but hadn’t had much luck making a connection. Casual stuff wasn’t what I was after. Hookups could be fun, and a great way to scratch that physical itch, but I wanted deep intimacy.

Sometimes I thought about Sydney, who was so determined that she was never going to fall in love and was absolutely happy with her hookups, and then she let Lark move in and that was it. She didn’t fall in love so much as was dragged kicking and screaming toward it.

Could something like that happen for me?

I wasn’t sure.

What I did know was that I eventually gave up trying not to think of Tenley and got out my favorite vibrator to take care of it. Three times.

Chapter Six

Over the following week, Tenley and I sort of settled into a comfortable routine. She would tease me at work, sometimes asking for a kiss. Sometimes I’d give it to her. She’d hang with me on my breaks and we’d have lunch together too. Hanging out with her felt an awful lot like dating, and I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t real. I was only doing this until she got back with Shane and then she wouldn’t be hanging out with me at lunch. She’d be calling him and making me sick by telling him how much she loved him.

Most of the time, Tenley didn’t talk about Shane. Sometimes I would hear her almost bring him up, and then she’d stop herself. I appreciated it, but Shane was always there, hanging over my head like some kind of jock ghost. I hated it.

On Saturday I went over to Ingrid’s to work on some more orders and I finally poured a practice piece for my new mold. After it cured and I removed it from the mold and made sure it looked good, I could take some pictures and add it to my store. I checked on some new glowing reviews on my site and couldn’t stop the rush of satisfaction that I had. There was something so powerful about making something that helped someone else have an orgasm. It was a huge rush. The thank you emails I got from some of my customers were graphic, but I didn’t mind. I was happy to help.

I had dinner with Ingrid and Athena before going home and putting on my outfit for the party. The night was chilly, so I put on jeans and a sweatshirt in case I got cold but had a cute top on underneath if I got warm.

Tenley didn’t answer the door right away when I knocked so I waited. The door flew open and she was in the middle of brushing her teeth.

“Sorry, running late,” she said around the toothbrush. Or at least that was what I thought she said.

Tenley dashed back to the bathroom as toothpaste dribbled down her chin and I told her I was just going to hang in her living room. I’d also brought the book back to return to her in pristine condition. As a thank you, I’d slipped one of my nicer bookmarks in between the pages.