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He remembered what Summer had said. And suddenly he hated that Darcy thought she wasn’t good. “You’re different,” he said. “Unique. Anyway, it only took one date for me to realize the ‘good woman’ thing wasn’t going to work for me.”

“Poor Diana.” But she sounded far from sympathetic. “Just let her down easy and hopefully she won’t resign.”

Christ, he hadn’t even thought of that. He’d lost a couple of former nannies because they’d decided they wanted more than a professional relationship from him. But he reckoned Diana was far too sensible to take offense. Wasn’t she? He was coming to realize that he knew nothing about women. He pushed the worry aside—he’d address the problem if it arose. He had enough real ones without anticipating issues.

“After the dance Saturday night, I dropped her off. She invited me to stay.”

“Aw, it must be hard, being so much in demand.”

“Will you stop being so pissy and let me finish?”

She bared her teeth in a smile and gave a little nod. “Go ahead.”

“I just wanted to get home, even if I wasn’t ready to admit why. And there you were, asleep on my couch. Fucking hottest thing I have ever seen.”

“You know it’s creepy to watch people sleep.”

Christ, she had a smart mouth. He knew only one way to stop that. He put down his beer, leaned across the space between them, fisted the material of her shirt, and dragged her to him. Then he pressed his lips against hers. For a second, she pulled against him, and then she was kissing him back. He kissed her until the tension oozed from her taut figure, then he kissed her some more, loving the taste of her, the feel of her warm, velvet tongue stroking along the length of his. He kissed her until his dick was hard and his balls ached.

Finally, he released his hold on her and sat back.

She stared into his eyes, raised one brow. “You were saying?”

“Hottest fucking thing ever.” He picked up his beer and swallowed the rest in one go. He studied her for a moment. She might make out she was hard as nails, but that wasn’t who she was. And she was at least listening to him. “The thing is, Lulu forms a bond between us. That means we can’t afford to fall out or even just walk away if things get tough, or we piss each other off, or you get bored of me and want to move on to someone else.”

“Hey, you’re the one who went out on a date with another woman last night.”

“And you went on the pickup the night before.”

“I didn’t pick anyone up, though.”

“No, and that means something, because I’m sure you had plenty of offers.”

“Maybe.”

“But you wanted me.”

“Maybe.”

“And you can have me. We can have each other. I’ve been around enough to know that this sort of…connection isn’t normal. It’s hot as hell and it’s special. Why deny ourselves? We both know it won’t last, and we’re not going to get all freaked out when it’s over. Afterward, we can continue as friends, with Lulu between us.”

“Sounds easy.”

He had a funny idea that nothing with this woman would ever be easy. That he was maybe deluding himself because he wanted her so badly, needed to convince her that this could work.

She scrubbed a hand through her hair, so it stood on end, then rubbed her finger across her lower lip, something she did when she was thinking. “Okay,” she said. “Apology accepted.”

He’d actually forgotten what he was apologizing for. Oh, yeah, being a dick. “Good.”

“But I think you should take Lulu and go now. I need a little…space.”

What did that mean? That she hadn’t forgiven him? “Can I see you?”

“When?”

“My parents arrive tomorrow, so I’ll have to spend some time with them—get them settled. Tuesday night? After Lulu has gone to sleep. We could meet somewhere.”

“You can come here if you like.”