Page 28 of Beach Cottage Kisses

A simpleI’m grateful for our friendshipcould have done it.

An easy shrug, a shake of the head, a pretense that there’d been nothing behind any look he might have seen would have been best.

The warm look in his blue eyes almost undid her. Until he said, “Ditto,” and dived right into discussion about the most efficient way to finish the job they’d shown up to do.

She agreed with every suggestion he made. Added none of her own thoughts to the mix, and quickly went about completing tasks while keeping herself in rooms other than the ones Scott occupied.

She was happier when he was close.

Yet she didn’t want to be directly around him.

How was that combination ever going to work?

And yet…maybe it did.

When others were sharing space with them, she and Scott weren’tdirectlytogether.

Except…at the wedding…there’d been more others around them than would ever happen in their daily lives and none of them had been enough to keep the monster at bay.

Feeling as though she was running out of time, thoughts flew as she worked. By night’s end, if she didn’t find a way to rid herself of the appalling new reactions she was feeling around Scott Martin, her friendship with the lawyer could effectively be over.

Sex toys. Getting more desperate as one hour moved into two and she had her designated rooms emptied, with everything piled in the front foyer for the move down to Gray’s cottage, Iris actually thought about doing a phone search.

Producing her solution at zero hour. Only to herself of course.

Saving their world.

She didn’t even want to type the wordsexinto any browser associated with her name. Who knew what memory bank would store the search and throw it up on her in the future?

Adult toys were perfectly legal. Accepted in society. Much better solutions than sexual encounters that could lead to horrible things happening. They were used by couples, too, not just people without human partners.

Her mind duked it out. Back and forth.

With only one positive on the search-and-buy side.

If it would get her and Scott back to who they’d been…

She missed him.

More than she’d ever have thought possible.

You know I’m right here, in the next room, right?Her mind played his voice for her, as she imagined he’d playfully say were he to know what a tied-up little nit she was being.

But would he be there on Tuesday night? Or Wednesday?

Because…while yes, she’d been conscientiously choosing her spaces based on where he was not that evening, she hadn’t really had to make an effort at all to do so. Which told her he was doing the same.

All because of some ridiculous sexual awareness that had suddenly invaded their systems?

Claws of death seemed to be closing around her, soon to imprison her forever, locking her in solitary confinement from which there’d be no time of day for fresh air or conversation, ever.

A state far worse than the one she’d invented to keep her healthy in her new life.

As she stacked her last, smallest box on top of the rest, feeling her time in Sage’s home coming to an end forever, she was struck by the sudden realization that one ending could be mirroring another. Her time with Sage’s brother as she knew it could be ending, too.

Desperate, she barreled around, determined to fight the devil at her door. To win this time.

And ran straight into Scott.