Page 30 of Trials of a One Night Stand
“Don’t you dare think my client isn’t confident in their proof. Why bring the case otherwise?” Jayne’s angry breathing makes her chest rise and fall rapidly, which does nothing for my concentration.
“I’m sure they’ve managed to persuade you it’s all cut-and-dried, but I assure you, it isn’t.” Then a thought occurs to me. “Oliver isn’t from Sugar Valley, is he?”
“No. And who he is isn’t your business.” Her cheeks turn even pinker, and she rubs a hand along the back of her neck as if embarrassed.
“A half-naked man in your room is possibly my business.”
She rears back against the loveseat. “Why?”
“Because of our night together and because there’s clearly something between us.”
“We agreed to a hookup that wouldn’t lead to anything more.”
I bob my head from side to side, wanting to argue her point. “Hmm. We did say that, but that was before we had sex.” I lean closer and tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “You can’t deny we were electric. Best sex I’ve ever had probably.”
A twinge of guilt hits me. I don’t want to belittle what I had with Zelda, and our sex life had been great. We’d been insatiable for each other, even when we’d stopped communicating and were growing apart. We always managed to bring our relationship back for those fleeting moments in the bedroom. That was probably why we’d lasted as long as we did. The great sex made us think everything was okay.
Funnily enough, it was Ashton who’d noticed something was wrong way before Zelda or I did. We’d already been divorced but had become friends with benefits. Ashton figured we were having sex again because, according to him, my shit-eating grin told him I was getting my rocks off regularly with someone I cared about. In his words, “you were getting the sex, big brother, but not the hearts and flowers.”
I saw being FWBs as our way back to marriage, but it didn’t turn out like that. Ashton said something had changed when we stopped going around to his and Chloe’s place for game night. Apparently, if we did go, we barely spoke to each other about anything other than work. Even Chloe said she missed how we used to laugh together about stupid stuff. I missed it too.
Until meeting Jayne, I hadn’t found that same kind of company—no comradery. Even if it had only been one night, we clicked on every level, and I want to pursue that to see if it—we—can be something more.
“You weren’t supposed to want anything more than what we shared that night.” Jayne’s words bring me back to the present.
“Unfortunately, real life doesn’t always go according to plan. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you didn’t feel the same way or want more like I do.”
She opens her mouth and then presses her lips together, making me wonder what she was going to say. I want to hear that I’m right, but I don’t want to push her into admitting the truth.
I wait and wait some more.
“Anything can be great for a few hours,” she says finally.
I scoff. Her air of nonchalance doesn’t fool me. I inch closer. “True, but that’s why we need more time to see if there’s more there.”
“You already said there was.”
“Yes, but you’re a lawyer. I want to provide evidence. Isn’t that what you deal with?”
She nods. “And you’re a scientist. What do you need?”
“Data.”
“Data?”
“More kissing and sex would give me the additional data I need and the evidence to show you I’m right.”
Jayne’s breath hitches. She licks her lips, and her legs shift, telling me she’s getting turned on.
So am I. I move my lips within a whisper of hers. “Well?”
She hesitates again and then pulls away. “No. Not happening again. It was transient. My career isn’t.”
“You thought we were transitory?” I arch my brows, and she nods slowly. “Nothing was transitory about that night, Jayne. I have great stamina.”
“You know exactly what I mean. Us in general. Not your performance, Nathaniel.”
I smirk. I usually hate hearing my full name, but the way Jayne says it is sexy. She wraps her tongue around the letters, making it sound like she’s trying the name out before tasting me.
