Page 66 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

“I thought you were going to transform into a wolf there for a minute,” he went on. “I mean, it was a possibility. There’s a sexy werewolf book on your nightstand, and youdobite.”

“Shut up.” She was fully laughing now and tried to playfully hit him again, but he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles.

“The whole thing was hot as hell, Eli,” he said, sitting up. “You can bite me anytime. But right now, it’s ice cream o’clock.”

After they both got dressed, he followed her out to the kitchen where she procured two pints of cookie-dough ice cream. She handed him one of the pints and a spoon.

“Straight from the container. I like your style, Eli.”

“I’m no amateur. Plus, I’m not sharing.” She hugged the pint to her chest.

They settled back on the couch, the blanket over both of them, and watched the rest of the movie, gorging on ice cream.

When it was time to leave, she walked him to the door and gave him a hug. Friend zone reinstated. “Tonight was…great.”

“It was,” he agreed. “I told you we could friend with benefit the hell out of each other.”

She laughed softly. “We certainly did that.”

“Thanks…for everything.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She opened her lips and then shut them again.

He narrowed his gaze. “What?”

She tilted her head, all innocence. “What what?”

“Don’t give me that. You want to say something else.” He cocked his chin at her. “Go ’head.”

She sighed and crossed her arms. “I guess I just need to know what the rules are here.”

“Rules?” he asked, wary. He’d never been a big fan of those.

“Well, first, I assume this might happen again. If the opportunity presents itself,” she said in an almost businesslike tone.

He smiled. “I am definitely open to that if you are.”

“Right. I am, but then how do we…handle it with your friends and such?” Her forehead wrinkled. “Do we, like, hide that this happened? That it may happen again?”

“From Will, you mean,” he said, finally catching her meaning.

She dipped her head a little. “Yeah, I guess so. And with your other friends if I go to more get-togethers or whatever.”

Beckham sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Normally, I’d say feel free to be an open book. My friends aren’t the judgy type about relationships or hookups or anything in between. But I’ve never donethis…not with someone who was going to go on a date with one of them. It’s a…unique situation.”

“So…a secret.” Her tone was careful, like she was weighing the words to see how they felt.

He sighed, not loving adding another secret to his list but not seeing a better path forward. “For now, I think that’s for the best. If things go well with Will, then…we won’t…do this.”

She nodded and hugged her elbows like she’d caught a chill. “Yeah, if things get serious with anyone—with Will or anyone else I may go on dates with through this analog experiment—this will need to stop. Us hooking up would be…counterproductive, I think.”

“Agreed.” He really, really didn’t want to think about her sleeping with other guys. Especially his friend. Selfish thought, sure. But it was what it was and it wasn’t going away. “How about this? If you think things are moving into the physical place with a new guy, you tell me, we stop. And I–I won’t sleep with anyone else while we’re doing this.”

Her brows arched. “I wasn’t asking you to be exclusive.”

He leaned forward as if telling her a secret. “News flash, Eli, I’m askingyouto be exclusive. I’m only returning the favor.”

She blinked. “Oh.”