Page 26 of All This Time

“You sure? You looked flustered when I walked up.” She nudges my shoulder playfully. “In fact, your cheeks are still red.”

Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’m beginning to accept that I severely underestimated how much he still affects me.”

“Your hard nipples agree.”

“Oh my God.” Stomping across the lawn, I head for the main building, ducking inside a hallway where I can take a moment to gather myself, but Dilynne is hot on my heels.

She places her hand on my shoulder as I lean against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. “Okay, the nipple thing was a bit far. I’ll admit that. But what’s going on? You seemed to handle last night okay. Why are you panicking now?”

I lower my chin and meet her eyes. “Because I could avoid him last night. There were other people to talk to, and Ellis is the perfect distraction.”

Dilynne folds in her lips as she fights her laugh. “God, she had me rolling when she screamed she wanted to be a stripper.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, just one more thing to thank Fletcher for.”

“Okay, so you’ll actually have to talk to him now while you guys handle the wedding shenanigans.” She shrugs. “You already knew this, so what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is I have no idea how to act around him. Like, what am I supposed to say to him? We haven’t had a conversation inyears. And then he shows up tonight and asks Elliot to move our meeting here so he can watch the movie with Ellis?”

Dilynne tsks. “Damn. Well played, Adams.” She lets out a heavy sigh. “Well, I say you just try to keep things casual, very PG. Only talk about the weather, your business, and the winery. But if he asks you about your dating life, tell him you bang a new guy every week.”

“What? Why?”

“So he knows you’re not sitting around still pining after him, or worse, full of cobwebs down there.” She dips her eyes down to my crotch and then back to my face. “Now that I think about it, when’s the last time you got any?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “God, I’m so glad that you’re concerned about my sex life right now. Truly.”

“I appreciate your sarcasm, and I think that’s why we’re such good friends. But my point is, if Spencer was the last guy to go down under”—she points to the juncture between my legs—“then we need to get you laid. All the pent-up sexual frustration is probably why Fletcher is having such an effect on you.”

I can’t deny that she may have a point. “Yeah, maybe.”

She snaps her fingers. “Then that settles it. We go out next Friday and you don’t come home until you’ve seen a dickandfelt it in your vagina.”

I stare at her, blinking slowly. “You’d think, given how long we’ve been friends, that nothing you say could shock me, yet here we are.”

“It’s a gift.”

“When’s the last timeyouhad sex?”

Staring up at the ceiling, she thinks for a second before answering. “Last weekend.”

“What? With who?”

“Jeremy.”

“Asheville guy? You’re still seeing him?”

Holding a finger up in the air, she replies, “Correction, we’re notseeingeach other. We have sex. There’s a difference.”

Jeremy is a guy Dilynne met at a car show last year. He’s been her unofficial fuck buddy ever since. Part of me wonders why she doesn’t want more with him, but I know my best friend better than that. Dilynne has never really been interested in relationships. She’s had a hard enough time with men given the industry she’s in, and most guys she’s dated can’t handle her outsmarting them when it comes to cars, or the fact that she’s not the type of girl that will change who she is to make them happy.

Those are the qualities that I love most about her, but I know she struggles with that when it comes to relationships.

“Well, you know I have no experience with casual, and I’m kind of busy being a girl boss in my life right now.”

She sighs. “Yes, but this is the time to try something new. You need to enjoy your single status while waiting for Mr. Right.”

“Hey, I’ve been on a few dates recently.”