Page 35 of Not You Again
“Does he have a sex dungeon?”
I snort. “Heidi, really?”
“Because that never works like it does in books.” She shrugs.
“No.” I shake my head. “Well … I haven’t seen his place yet, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure he doesn’t have a sex dungeon.”
“It’s always the ones you’d never expect.”
“Trust me.” I scrub my hands down my face. “Kit and I have dated before.”
“What?” Heidi smacks her hands on my workbench, leaning forward with the appropriate amount of shock.
It’s my turn to shrug. “It was a long time ago.”
“What did the producers say when they found out?”
“They think it’ll make for good TV.”
“Oh.” She sits up and primly smooths her skirt. “Well. Are you sure about the sex dungeon?”
I give her a look. “I’m sure.”
“Damn.” She wrinkles her nose. “That could have been fun.”
I toss another strip of scrap muslin at her.
“I guess …” Heidi hesitates, tying the strip of muslin into a knot and pulling it tight. “Can you see yourself falling in love with him?” Her intonation lifts at the end, and her eyes are locked on me, ready to catch any slip in my façade.
I scoff to cover the way my heart lunges against my rib cage. Kit was so easy to love, the first time. He was open and honest and passionate and ambitious and attentive and—
I thought I saw a glimpse of that man during our salsa lesson, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe none of it was true in the first place. I don’t know anymore.
“No.” My fingers fuss with a pin that’s rolling around on the table. “I don’t think I’ll be falling in love with him.”
“Good,” she says with finality, bringing her palms to the table with a smack. “Then your divorce money is safe.”
I swallow. I’m not sure how I momentarily forgot why I was willing to marry a stranger in the first place. This is why my heart isn’t in charge of things around here.
“But Andie.” Heidi’s eyes twinkle with something mischievous. “You don’t have to be in love with him to treat yourself to a little dose of fun, if you catch my drift.”
My thin wedding band suddenly feels as heavy as an anvil, and I rest my shaking hand on the table. Could I enjoy sex with Kit without letting him into the softer parts of me, the ones he’d left broken and bruised the last time? We were always good together in bed. But then, maybe sex with him had always been good because I didn’t feel like I had to hide from him.
I give my head one firm shake. “That’s what vibrators are for.” I make a mental note to stealthily pack one to bring to the shared apartment we were moving into later today. Just because I wouldn’t be having sex with Kit didn’t mean I couldn’t think about having sex with him. And if he kept wandering around in towels like he did in hotel rooms, well. A girl can only hold out for so long before she needs to take care of a few things.
Heidi snorts. “You can show him how to use one.”
“How to use one what?” Kit’s voice startles me. I flinch so hard I knock my scissors to the floor with a clatter that only punctuates the silence that follows.
He’s in slacks and a button-down, a leather messenger bag slung across his chest. Every bit the business casual catalog model. I forgot he was going to meet me here for filming. When I see the camera crew behind him, a part of me winds tighter.
I blush a little when I realize he’s holding a couple of iced coffees too.
Choosing to ignore that I haven’t answered his question, he gives me a half grin. “You didn’t sleep much last night, so I thought you could use this.” He raises one iced coffee in a mock toast. “But it seems you’re fine without me.”
Heidi looks him up and down, a playful grin on her face. Cassidy takes the moment to clip a mic to me. When Kit sets the coffees on the workbench next to her, she says, “Hi, I’m Heidi.”
“The wedding planner.” He shakes her hand. “I remember.”