Which made this perfect.
Which made her safe.
He wouldn’t give her no-strings, because that wasn’t what it was. There were strings, but they were uncomplicated.
Him. Her.
A feel-good bit of escape that would last as long as the distraction continued to work for both of them. And then they’d go their separate ways. No hard feelings. No hassle. No heartbreak.
Nothing he had to worry about when he left this city behind.
So he’d indulged in a couple hours of warm-bodied, close-contact shut-eye with Elise.
And hell, he probably would have kept right on sleeping if it hadn’t been for the bed and the way it amplified every movement with the supports swaying precariously under the slightest shift in weight.
How this thing had stayed up through what they’d put it through he had no idea.
The tumble of curls tucked beneath his chin shifted, tickling his neck as the body they were attached to wriggled around. He could sense her tension rising and didn’t want to give up the comfort that had been between them.
“Thinking about the strings?” he asked into the top of her head.
Elise traced a light pattern over his chest with the tips of her fingers, brushing this way and that. “Probably should have clarified the issue before we …”
The corner of his mouth kicked up as he wondered which words she was trying out in her head.
“Had sex,” he offered, chivalrously.
“Yes.” Tilting her head back she peered up at him. “What is this? I mean, I don’t think I mind, whatever it is. I wanted it—want it. But for both our sakes, a little clarification would probably go a long way. This is a … sex thing, right?”
“Obviously the sex is a big part of it, but it’s not the only part. Yeah, I can’t keep my thoughts out of your panties, but I also just … like you.” Levi brushed his thumb over the fine hair at her temple. “Neither one of us is in a place where we can afford a real relationship. I’m leaving and you’re working like a dog to make your studio happen. But we’ve got this connection. Why fight it?”
“So you’re my boyfriend, but in the loosest sense of the word.”
Why didn’t he like the sound of that? “How about I’m your boyfriend in the exclusive, let’s-just-have-a-good-time-while-it-lasts sense of the word?”
Elise’s brow lifted with the corner of her mouth, and something inside Levi moved with it. Damn, he liked that smile.
“You really don’t want me going out with another guy.”
Not even a little bit. “Only child. What can I say? Never learned to share.”
The second the words left his mouth he about choked. Beyond the offer of the most cursory information, Levi didn’t talk about his life growing up. Hell, he didn’t even like to think about it. But that glib remark was just the kind of opening a dedicated family girl like Elise could jump on.
He didn’t want her to ask about his family. He didn’t want her to know about his mother. He didn’t want all those normally innocuous questions that polite people asked giving away the kind of life he’d led. The kind of man he was.
Only she didn’t seize the opportunity. A small furrow had dug its way between her eyes, and after a moment she asked, “And you? Will you be exclusive too?”
He didn’t blame her for needing to ask. There wasn’t any shortage of available women at his clubs, and nine times out of ten the publicity shots that made the paper pictured him with at least one model-beautiful woman per arm.
But that was PR. Truth was, the club bunnies, while convenient, weren’t particularly difficult to resist. Especially the regulars who put in enough hours to know the staff by name, hitting the lulls where they could strike up a conversation while pouring down their drinks.
“I won’t go out with any other women.”
Elise flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling, wearing an amused look of concentration. “So how does it work, then? I call you up when I want …”
Again she seemed at a loss for words, but the devil in him wouldn’t help her out of this one.
“… a distraction.”
Letting out a bark of laugher, Levi rolled over her and, catching her jaw in the cup of his palm, leaned in for a taste. “That’s one way to put it. Or you could say a date. Dinner maybe? I’m starting to feel cheap.”
She coughed a little, that sexy red blazing into her cheeks even as she lay naked beside him. “I—oh, no—I guess I didn’t mean—Darn it, stop laughing!”
He wanted to, but for some reason, whenever he was with Elise, he just couldn’t.
“YES, I get that it wasn’t much of an introduction to the family,” Elise assured, winding her way through the throngs of book lovers populating the annual Printer’s Row Lit Fest.
Ally huffed beside her, one hand resting lightly on Dexter’s head where it peaked above the front flap of his baby sling. “He hung up on me.”
Wrestling against the grin pushing at her lips, Elise offered an acknowledging nod. “Yes.”
“Called me. And then hung up,” she snapped, her diligently nurtured outrage at a high-polished shine. “How did he think I’d feel about that?”
“At the moment, I’m not sure the impression he was making was foremost in his mind.”
Stopping at a cozy booth beneath one of the enormous white tents running down the center of Dearborn, Elise scanned the bounty of titles on offer, once again wishing she had more than this single hour to spend at what was essentially the largest free outdoor book fair and literary event in the Midwest. But she had two classes that afternoon, with a few hours of working the club’s child daycare in between.
Ally cleared her throat in indication she was waiting for Elise’s full attention.
Getting it, she prompted, “He said he was your boyfriend.”
Pulling her mouth to the side, Elise wagged her head a bit. “We’re exclusive. But the kind of emotional connection and relationship potential you and I would normally associate with that word … it’s not really what he had in mind.”
Ally’s eyes went wide and she gently covered Dexter’s tiny pink ears. “You’re talking about that full-body meltdown thing again, aren’t you? Oh, my God, is this just about sex?”
“No.” Elise bristled, even knowing she’d asked the question herself. She thought about the call she’d gotten between classes the day before. Levi inquiring what she was wearing and just how tight it fit in certain places … but then segueing into questions about the various jobs she’d held. Wanting to know which had been the best, the worst, and why. And then he’d had her in stitches as he’d shared the same with her.
It wasn’t just sex. Only— “I don’t know exactly what it is, Ally. Except it’s fun and it feels good and I just couldn’t help myself.”
Ally cocked her head to the side, affection and concern shining in her eyes. “Be careful. I know you’re going into this with your eyes open and all, but this doesn’t really sound like you. And I don’t want to see you hurt.”