Page 73 of Ink & Desire

I want to argue with her and tell her that I don’t walk or talk any differently than she does. But I know she’s right. I was taught that a lady moves deliberately and carefully. It had been one of the hardest things to relearn after my accident. Not that my mom had cared about any of that by then. She’d just been happy I was alive. But for me, it was important that things go back to the way they were before my brain got scrambled. And that meant doing all the proper things I’d been taught as a child. Even if they no longer seemed to matter to my mom. They suddenly mattered to me.

“You’re probably right,” I say. “You’re good at reading people, aren’t you?”

Jessie huffs out a laugh before taking a big drink from her beer. “Took me long enough,” she mutters.

“What’s that mean?”

She shakes her head, smiling. “Nothing. Just that I wasn’t always so good at reading people. I had to learn, though.”

“Want to talk about it?”

She shakes her head. “Ancient history. Let’s just say, I trusted the wrong guy and it didn’t end well.”

I get the feeling there’s more to this story than she’s telling me. I also get the feeling that she’s not going to tell me anything unless she wants to. No amount of prying is going to change her mind. I raise my glass in a toast.

“To us,” I say. “Who needs men?”

“Cheers,” Jessie says, touching her glass to mine.

We both drink and she gives me a look through narrowed eyes.

“What?”

“Just wondering how long you and Corbin think you’re going to be able to hide the fact that you’re hooking up.”

My drink takes a wrong turn and I end up in a coughing fit with my eyes watering as I try to clear my windpipe. Jessie hands me a napkin and waits with an amused expression on her face.

“What?” I say with a voice hoarse from coughing. “We’re not.”

Jessie just shakes her head. “Don’t worry,” she says. “I don’t think Noah knows. You’re not being obvious or anything. I forgot my earbuds the other night and came back for them. I heard some interesting sounds coming from the boss’s office.”

My face gets hot, and I know I’m blushing bright red right now. How could we have been so careless? I knew we shouldn’t have done it in the shop again. It’s too easy for someone to catch us in the act.

“Oh, my god,” I groan from behind my hands.

Jessie laughs. “Look, I think it’s a good thing. He needed to cut loose a little. And you seem like you’re good for him. I hope it works out.”

I shake my head. I need to set her straight before she gets the wrong idea. Corbin and I aren’t a couple.

“That’s not what this is,” I say. “We’re just hooking up. We’re not dating or anything.”

She nods. “I see.”

“What’s that mean?”

She shrugs. “Just that you don’t seem like the type to have a casual, fuck-buddy type of fling.”

I shake my head, laughing. “I don’t like the term ‘fuck-buddy’, but that’s exactly what we’re doing. No feelings. No strings.”

“Of course,” Jessie says. “Let me know how that works out for you two.”

“It’s working just fine,” I say. “We both know what this is.”

“I’m sure you both do.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Why do I get the feeling you’re saying more than you’re saying right now?”

She shrugs and reaches for another fry. “I have no idea what you mean.”