She looked down at her phone. “Yeah. I, uh, better get going.”

I ended up calling her an Uber.

After she left that night, I took our dirty teacups to the sink and noticed the red lipstick mark on hers. And my dick twitched.

Now I’d resorted to getting turned on by a lipstick mark? It was definitely time to get laid again. Just not with Sadie.

I repeat. Not with Sadie.

CHAPTER 14

SADIE

“So what’s going on in Birdie Land? I feel like you’ve clammed up ever since you started going back to the Maxwell household again.” Devin plopped down in a guest chair on the other side of my desk with her coffee in hand. She wiggled her eyebrows. “Better yet, what’s going on with Hot Dad?”

I had been pretty quiet on that front lately. While I’d shared all the crazy antics with her since the very first letter, something changed after I’d come clean and Sebastian let me resume my visits. I wasn’t pretending to be someone I wasn’t anymore, so things sort of became . . . I don’t know . . . real. And that made it feel private, like something I shouldn’t be gossiping about.

But after the other night when I went to pick up my iPad, and Sebastian and I spent some time talking, I did feel the need to talk about things right now. God knows I’d overanalyzed that evening enough already and still couldn’t make heads or tails of what had gone wrong.

“Actually . . . I spent some time alone with Sebastian a few nights ago.”

Devin’s eyes widened. “Oh my God! And you are telling me this now? Why didn’t I get the play-by-play the day after it happened?”

I smiled. “It’s not what you think. I forgot my iPad, and Sebastian called me to tell me. I was in the middle of a bad date, so I used his call as an excuse to end it early and went over there to pick it up. We wound up having tea and talking for a long time. I thought we were having a great conversation, very heartfelt, yet we were still able to poke fun and share a few laughs. At one point, I could’ve sworn I noticed him watching my lips with that look . . . you know the one . . . where you’re paying attention to the conversation and then all of a sudden your body takes over for the brain and starts to focus on what that mouth might feel like if you pressed your lips up against it.”

“Oh wow. That kind of a look. Yeah, I totally get it.”

“Right. Well, shortly after what I thought might’ve been him giving me that look, he got up and abruptly ended the conversation. Next thing I knew, I was suddenly in the back of a smelly Uber with a driver eating curried goat as he drove.”

“Mm . . . did you find out where he got the curry? I love it, and the place I used to go to closed down.”

“Uhh. No, sorry.”

Devin shrugged. “Anywho . . . back to Hot Dad. It’s obvious he’s into you and that freaked him out a bit.”

“But why? He’s been with women before. He as much as admitted that to me when I told him his daughter was listening to him talk to women at night. So his problem isn’t celibacy.”

Devin frowned. “You’re looking for Mr. Right, Sadie. Anyone can see that pretty quickly. It’s why you haven’t really had a long-term relationship of more than a few months. You don’t want Mr. Right Now or just some random guy to take care of business. I’m sure Sebastian senses that about you.”

I sighed. “I wouldn’t mind Sebastian taking care of my business.”

My friend’s eyes sparkled. “Now you’re talking. So why not put that out there? You’re both adults. He’s attracted to you, we’re attracted to him.”

I laughed at how she’d said we’re attracted to him. But I wasn’t so sure about proposing to Sebastian that we get it on. “What if I misread the entire situation, and I had a piece of salad from dinner between my teeth that he was staring at?”

“Do some testing. Bend to tie your shoe when he’s behind you, and see if you find his eyes glued to your ass. Better yet, show him that red-and-black lacy bra and underwear set you bought at that Victoria’s Secret sale we went to last month.”

“Sure . . . I’ll just whip off my top and jeans while I’m training a Great Dane. That’s a great plan.”

Devin stood. “You’ll figure out something. I’m pretty sure you can easily get the reassurance you’re looking for to feel certain that Sebastian is attracted to you. That’s not the issue.”

My brows drew together. “It’s not?”

“Nope. The issue is you’ll be too chicken to act on it even once you’re sure he wants to bang your brains out. You don’t do that type of thing.”

“I’ve had casual sex before. You know that.”

She sipped her coffee. “Yes, but that’s when you knew the guy was all wrong for you. In your mind, it could only ever be casual sex. But with Sebastian, I think you see him as real potential. You’ll be too chicken to jump into the fire—no matter how hot and sweaty that fire might be—because you’ll be too concerned about getting burned.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Devin walked to the door of my office. “Prove me wrong. I’d love to see it.”

Friday night, I had a forty-five-minute yoga class at five thirty in the evening and then I was scheduled to go train Marmaduke at seven thirty. I figured I’d have time to run home, take a quick shower, and throw my hair into a ponytail before heading uptown. But I considered altering those plans after walking out of the studio. I hadn’t changed out of my yoga outfit, and a really cute guy looked my way while I stood out front checking my cell phone messages. His eyes were so glued to me that he actually tripped over his own two feet.

I looked at him on the ground. “Are you okay?”

The man looked embarrassed. He stood, wiped dirt from his pants, and offered a crooked smile. “Yeah. Though you really shouldn’t walk around the streets in that. People could get hurt.”

I blushed a little, and after he walked away, I looked down to check out my outfit. I had on a deep-purple Lululemon cropped top and a pair of matching leggings with a swirl of mesh cutouts running down each leg. It fit like a second skin, which was why it was perfect for yoga. I had a matching zip-up sweatshirt, but it was stuffed into my gym bag, since it was almost seventy degrees out still, even though it was late October. The last two days had been a real Indian summer. But the man’s reaction gave me an idea. Or rather it was Devin’s idea. Perhaps I should skip going home to change and head over to the Maxwell house dressed like this.

I picked up my phone and debated texting Sebastian to see if I could come a little early, but after a minute, I rolled my eyes at what I’d been considering. What the hell is wrong with me? I didn’t need to resort to tactics like this to get a man’s attention. Any man who wasn’t interested in me without me being half-naked wasn’t really interested in me. Wow . . . I really just sounded like my dad.

Blowing out a stream of hot air, I headed for the subway. Once I got on my train, I noticed another man looking my way. This outfit definitely caught attention. It made me wonder about what Sebastian would do if I actually showed up wearing it. Would I be disappointed that he didn’t even notice, or would he trip over his own two feet?