“After I finish up here, which will probably take me a while, since I’m short-staffed today, I was going to swim. You have tennis tonight, right?”

“I do, and then we were planning on going out for pizza and a few beers after that, since it’s the last night this league meets. Is that OK?”

“That’s fine.” And it was fine, although I’d sort of hoped for some alone time with him tonight. Not because I missed him, but frankly I was a little wound up with sexual tension. A good hard bang sounded pretty damn good. Didn’t he feel the same way? “But I’d like to see you tonight. Maybe we could meet up later.”

“I’m not sure how late I’ll be.”

“Oh.” Damn. If I was the kind of girl who had sex toys, I’d pull them out tonight. At least I didn’t have to feel bad about seeing Miles…but I did have to tell Dan about it. Crossing my fingers it wouldn’t cause a fight, I said, “My old friend Miles Haas is in town. You remember him?”

“Who?”

“Miles Haas.”

“The sex maniac?”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s not a maniac, he’s a writer. He blogs for—”

“I know who he is. I still can’t believe that pipsqueak asshole gets all those girls. He’s gotta be lying, or making shit up.” Dan sounded mad about it.

“I have no clue. Maybe he does.” I doubted it, but I didn’t feel like arguing.

“So what’s the deal? Are you meeting up with him?”

“Maybe.”

“Where?”

“No plans yet.” I took a breath. “Do you have a problem with my seeing him?”

A pause. “No.”

“We’re just friends. That’s all we’ve ever been.”

“I know.” His voice had softened. “You’d never be interested in a guy like that.”

“A guy like what?”

“A sleazebag.”

“He’s not a sleazebag. He’s just a guy having a good time and writing about it.”

“As long as he’s not having a good time with you, I don’t care what he does.”

I smiled. “I’ll make sure he has a terrible time. We’ll probably just grab dinner or something. Catch up a little.”

“All right. I’ll see you tomorrow night. We have reservations at eight, right?”

“Yes. Skylar made them. Have fun tonight. Love you,” I added, hating how rote it sounded. It felt kind of rote, too.

He hung up without another word.

Skylar was right. We are boring.

But what could I do about it? The truth was, we both had things we wanted to do tonight more than we wanted to see each other, and that happened a lot these days.

Oh well. I’d worry about that tomorrow. Tonight I’d just have some fun with an old friend.

I sat there a minute longer, realizing that I hadn’t told Dan about Miles being at the coffee shop this morning when I’d arrived, or that he’d stayed half the day. I don’t know why I didn’t; it wasn’t as if anything had happened. We hadn’t kissed. We hadn’t even almost.

It wasn’t on purpose. You just forgot to mention it, said a sweet little voice in my head.

But deep down, I knew that wasn’t true.

• • •

When I’d finished prepping food for the next day and closing up the shop, I sat at the counter again and called Miles. “Hi.”

“Hey you.” He sounded sleepy.

“Did I wake you?” I pictured him, hair tousled and chest bare, reaching for his glasses on the nightstand.

What? What are you doing? Stop that—put some clothes on him this instant!

“Yes,” he said, clearing his throat, “but I’m glad you called. I was just having a dream about you.”

I slammed my eyes shut, my mind immediately taking off his pants.

“We were at your shop, and I was eating a bagel.”

“A bagel?” Relieved it wasn’t a sex dream, I smiled. “Don’t even have those here.” Wait, was there something sexual about a bagel?

“Yes, a bagel, and you wanted to take my picture but you couldn’t find your camera. And then you turned into a bear.”

I burst out laughing. “A bear? Seriously? Not even a bunny or a cat or something sweet and cute?”

“Nope. A big old bear.”

“And then what?”

“Then you called me.”

“I saved you from the bear that was myself.”

“Yes.” He made a sound like he was stretching, and my mind drifted back into dangerous territory. “So what’s up?”

“Well, I was going to go for a swim and then see if you wanted to meet.”

“Oh yeah? Where do you swim?”

“At the gym.”

“Come over here and swim.”

I hesitated. “At your house?”

“Yeah. We have a pool here, remember? In which I repeatedly kicked your sorry state champ ass?”

“Ha! You never!”

“So you owe me another chance then. Come see if I’ve been practicing.”

For a moment, I considered it. It would be fun, and the pool behind the Haas family’s home was beautiful. But it just didn’t feel right, going swimming alone with Miles at night. Other than the almost night, I had never been tempted to cheat on Dan, but there was some kind of spark between Miles and me that I worried could ignite if we were alone and close, especially the way I was feeling today. Better to avoid the situation entirely. “I don’t think so, Miles. I’ll just run over to the gym, get my laps done, and meet you later. OK?”

“Scared I’ll be too tempting in my swim trunks?”

I laughed. “Yeah. That’s it.”

“I knew it. Plus there’s no water in the pool here yet.”

“Miles! What were you going to do if I said yes and showed up in my bathing suit?”

“Try to get you out of it.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “I’ll meet you at seven thirty. Jolly Pumpkin?”

“Sounds good.”

• • •

Miles was sitting at the bar when I entered the restaurant, a little late because I’d gone back and forth so many times about what to wear. I wanted to look cute but casual, not too sexy but not too demure. Eventually I went with jeans and a sleeveless white top. Skylar probably would have added a necklace or something to look more trying-but-not-trying, but I didn’t have time to hunt for the perfect thing, not that I would recognize it. The colorful flowers inked on my upper arm were usually enough ornamentation for me anyway. I did wear the shiny gold sandals Jillian had given me for my birthday last month, but only because they were flat and I knew I could walk quickly in them.

“Hi.” I slid onto the seat next to him, a little out of breath from rushing. “Sorry I’m late.”

“You’re fine, I just got here.” He reached up and mussed my shoulder-length hair, which was still damp from the shower. “How was the swim?”

“Good.” I set my bag near my feet. “How was your afternoon?”

“Excellent. I napped a little more and then I took a run.”

The bartender set a glass of beer down in front of Miles. “What can I get for you?” he asked me.

“I’ll have the same.” I gestured to Miles’s drink.

“A Bam Bière? You got it.”

“Could we get the pulled pork nachos?” Miles asked, looking at the menu. “And the truffle french fries?”

“Sure thing.” The bartender glanced at me. “Are you sharing? Or would you like something else?”

“Um…” I glanced at Miles.

“I’ll always share my pork with you, Natalie,” he said tenderly. “I’ll even let you pull it.”

I sighed and looked at the bartender. “I’ll share with him.”

“Is this new?” Miles ran his fingertips over my tattoo, and the way I felt the effects of his touch between my legs made me shift in my chair. “It’s beautiful.”

“Not too new. I got it last year, when I turned twenty-five. A gift to myself.” I shrugged, trying to ignore the way my female parts were tingling. “I’d always wanted it and finally worked up the nerve.”

“What were you nervous about? The pain?”

I slugged his shoulder. “Come on, you know me better than that. I guess just the commitment. It is permanent, after all. Tattoos shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

Miles raised his eyebrows. “Well, for being nervous, you didn’t hold back. How many sessions did that take?”

“Several. I figured if I was gonna do it, I was gonna be all in.” I tilted my head. “I’m like that with a lot of things, actually.”