“But you can turn it off with Jake?” He didn’t say it with any rancor in his voice, but he seemed annoyed.

“It’s because I know how he feels about me. And I know how I feel about him. And he’s always protecting me. Even from myself. Which is annoying. But also makes me feel like I can push things with him.” I shivered again, this time from the cool air in the room. Saxon handed me my sweater. “I guess I’m playing Jake’s role with you,” I explained. “I’m stopping you before things go too far.”

“That is so damn unfair,” Saxon muttered, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling while I pulled my sweater down over my head. “So, why are you stopping me again? Because, I don’t want to upset you, Bren, but I have a confession; I’m not a virgin.” The sarcasm dripped off of his last words.

“Exactly.” I adjusted my sweater. “So having sex with me probably wouldn’t be any kind of big deal for you.”

He rolled to his side and propped his head with one hand. “Didn’t say that.”

“But it wouldn’t,” I pressed. “And I don’t know when a good stopping point would be.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “I would never force you, Brenna. I know I’ve been a dirtbag, but come on. I care about you. If you just want to kiss, that’s fine. I mean, I kind of want to show off for you a little, but I’ll take whatever. Gladly.”

“That sounds good.” I moved closer to him. He was so handsome. I pushed him back on the bed, off his side and on his back. I straddled his hips gingerly.

“Wait, I thought we were being prudes?” He smiled and his teeth gleamed.

I pushed against his chest to get off. “If you’re not happy with it…” I started, but he caught my hips in his hands and pulled me back.

“Stop putting words in my mouth. You’re dead wrong. One hundred percent of the time. I’m too complicated for you to try to understand.” He moved his hands up to my ribs, then up higher. “You didn’t put your bra back on.”

“No, I didn’t.” I leaned over and kissed him on the mouth experimentally. He stayed perfectly still. I kissed his cheek bones, way too nice for a guy. I kissed the stubble breaking out over his wide jaw and his black eyebrows.

I kissed his mouth softly, then licked a little at it until he opened to me and put his hands on my hips. He moved his hand up under my sweater and he pressed at my breasts. Soon my sweater was off again, and this time, when his mouth dipped down to kiss me, I didn’t back away. He sucked on my nipple, and I felt the familiar warm heat between my legs. He flipped me on my back and kissed down along my stomach, down to the top of my jeans. He flipped the button open and pulled the zipper down, his lips kissing a line down from my bellybutton to the top of my underwear.

“It’s not Tuesday, Blix.” He grinned.

I sat up on my elbows and looked down. I was wearing Tuesday underwear. But they were neon pink and green with stars on them, so they were also super cute.

“They’re ironic underwear.” My body rioted.

“I like them.” Saxon fished his fingers under the scalloped waistband. I put a hand on his wrist.

“What time is is?” I asked.

He craned his neck and glanced at his alarm clock. “Almost three.”

I sat up, pulled my sweater over my head, grabbed my bra, and put it on under. “I have to go. Now. Come on.”

He groaned. “Seriously? Now? C’mon, Bren. Ten more minutes, and you would have been mine forever.”

I laughed, then kissed him again. He smiled. “C’mon. Mom will be home soon, and I don’t want to freak her out.”

“Gotcha.” He grabbed his coat and keys and put his boots on. “If I’m going to have a chance at more action, I need to stay in your parents’ good graces.”

“At least we’re both clear about what this is all about,” I said evenly.

He smiled and took my shoulders, ran his hand down to my elbows and back up, then shook me a little. “Joking. I mean, I want in your pants, but I like you.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I really do. Promise.”

“Let’s go. I hate you when you’re being sentimental.” We walked to the Charger and he took out his cigarettes.

“Smoke out the window, please. I don’t want to smell like cigarettes and sex.”

“Why not?” Saxon asked, but he rolled the window down. “If you’re going to come to the dark side, why not come all the way?”

“This alliance is on my terms. No cigarette smoke.” I opened his glove compartment.

I watched him watch me. It was a kind of ballsy thing to do. If I was just some girl he liked. But if we were tenuously together, that changed things. I rifled around until I found a little container of TicTacs, orange of course, and ate some. He held his hand out and I put some in his palm.

“Thanks.” The car was started, but he sat and looked at me for a long minute.

“What?” I felt a slow burn crawl over my skin.

“Nothing. I don’t want to get too sentimental. I just like you. That’s all.” He pulled out, and I watched him drive without worrying about if he noticed me looking or not. I was making an effort to stop thinking while I was with Saxon. In Paris every minute with Saxon had been a betrayal of Jake’s trust. Back home, Saxon was that incredibly complicated guy again, and I was back to my old habit of thinking and double thinking every move I made when he was around.

But I could break that habit. Or I could give it a decent try.

I fiddled with the radio stations, not finding anything I liked. He pointed his thumb to the back seat. “There’s a CD case there. Lots of good stuff.”

I unbuckled my seat belt for a minute to get it, nervous about his crazy driving. When I turned my head to make sure we were still on a road, I caught him checking my butt out in the review mirror. He smiled at me and shrugged.

“You don’t expect me to look? It’s a good view.”

I would have kicked him, but I didn’t want to make an already precarious driving experience worse. I slid back into my seat, fastened the belt quickly and plopped the case in my lap. It was filled with burned CDs.

“What’s good?” Some of them had song names scrawled on them, but most were just weird titles, like Saxon had made his own mixes and named them. I flipped through the pages. “ Unbelievable Orgasm Mix,” I read. “Is that a good one?”

“Doesn’t the title speak for itself? But considering that’s just wishful thinking at this point, why don’t you spare me the torture?”

“ Driving in a Car with a Boy,” I read.

“That one’s great. A friend of my mom’s, Nessa, recorded some of the tracks with her band. They do this kind of modern Celtic shit. I know, it sounds weird, but it’s wild.”

“Sounds good.” When I popped it in, his bizarre explanation made sense. Her voice was sexy and infectious. And because Saxon was Saxon, I wondered if he had had a crush on this Nessa woman. Or if he had slept with her. “I love it,” I said. And didn’t mention my other musings.

“So, what are you doing Friday night?” he asked casually.

“Um, nothing.” My first Friday night back in the States should have been all about me and Jake. But that…wasn’t going to be.

“Do you want to go on a date with me? I’ll dress nice, pick you up. Take you wherever.”

“That sounds good.” I looked over at him, curious. “What do you want to do?”

“How about dinner and a movie?” he suggested. “I don’t want to get too wild.”

“Alright. I really want to go out for sushi. There’s a new place in Vernon. Thorsten said it’s supposed to be really good.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He smiled around his cigarette. “Since you picked the food, are we going to be all equitable and let me pick the movie?”

“Alright.” I loved movies. Just going was great. And there wasn’t really any genre I hated. Except slasher-type horror movies.

“There’s a new zombie movie playing. I think it’s supposed to be good.”

Why did he have to pick the only type of movie that would freak me out? I made a face.