Page 16

“I don’t know. You seem annoyed. Or pissed or—” He shrugged without continuing.

“I’m not pissed. This thing between us would have to be for real for me to be angry. And it’s not, so I’m not.”

“Okay.” He sounded doubtful.

“But if we were for real, I would definitely be pissed.”

“What about?”

“Your girlfriend.”

He glanced at her then back to the road. “I thought you were my girlfriend.”

“Tell that to Gwen.”

“Gwen?” he asked like he’d never heard of her.

“Yes, Gwen. The woman who was fawning all over you and using your arm as her boob rest.”

*

Nate turned his head to stare at her. What the hell? He pulled off the highway onto a dirt road and put the car in neutral, setting the parking brake. “Say that again.”

“You heard me.” She stuck her nose in the air and turned away from him.

“You’re jealous of Gwen?”

“Of course I’m not jealous,” she said, giving him a get real look. “But if you were my boyfriend for real, I’d have let her know to keep her hands—and boobs—to herself.”

He couldn’t help it. He grinned. “You are. You’re jealous.”

This time she gave him the stink eye. “I’m merely pointing out that if you want people to believe we’re together you’re going to have to discourage women like that.”

“I didn’t en-courage her. That’s just the way Gwen is. Nobody thinks anything of it.”

Damaris snorted but she didn’t say anything else. He started to put the car in gear when she said, “You’ve dated a lot of women.”

“Yeah. You should know. You set me up with a lot of them.”

“You’ve gone to bed with a lot of women.”

“Some. Not as many as you seem to think. It’s not like I take every woman I go out with to bed.”

“Oh, really? That’s not what your reputation says.”

“Can’t believe everything you hear.” What was she getting at? “Why the sudden interest in my sex life?” Of course, she didn’t know it, but he hadn’t had a sex life in months. Not since he realized his feelings for Damaris were not going away.

“I don’t want people to think you’re playing me for a fool.”

“Why would they think that?”

“If you go around flirting with other women that’s what they’ll think.”

“I wasn’t flirting with her. If anything, she was flirting with me. But if it bothers you, maybe you should be a little more demonstrative.”

“Maybe I should. But I’m not rubbing my boobs on your arm.”

He choked, then laughed. “Sacrifices must be made.”