“I’m wearing what I wear to teach yoga. Which I was just doing.”

“So no problem with the heat?”

“Nope, toasty warm, thanks.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want you to be cold up here. All by yourself.”

“I appreciate that. But I’ve got ways to stay warm.”

“Right.”

There was a pause. “Okay, so, you have the sweater.”

“Yep.”

No one was moving. They were definitely still standing outside the bathroom door.

“So I’ll see you at the festival maybe.”

“And you can’t stop over tonight and help the kids?”

“Sorry. I’ve got stuff to do.”

“You don’t look like you’re getting ready to go out.”

“I didn’t say I was going out.”

Finally, Amanda sighed. “Okay. Thanks for the sweater.”

“No problem.”

Wow. Mitch had to admit, Paige was good at holding her ground.

He listened to them move to the apartment door and say goodbye. He heard the door shut but waited for Paige to come give him the all clear.

“You can come out,” she finally called.

He pulled the door open. She was leaning against the back of the sofa facing him.

“When I came back over here, I meant to tell you that I’m sorry I tried to tell you how to handle your family earlier,” he said from the doorway. He needed to tell her this before he got closer to her. Because then he’d touch her. And once he touched her, he’d kiss her. And once he kissed her, he’d be done talking except for telling her to take her clothes off and bend over.

And he really did want to tell her this.

He also really wanted to ask her on a date to the festival, but he was going to resist that urge, dammit. Neither of them wanted to date. Even if there wasn’t a thousand miles between them making dating pretty much impossible.

They wanted to have a hot I’m-only-in-town-for-a-couple-of-days hookup. Maybe they would call it friends with benefits, if he could come up with other reasons to come to Iowa from time to time. But other than accompanying Tori on her trips home to see her family, he couldn’t really think of anything. And he wasn’t sure that tagging along with Josh and Tori for the next twenty years or so made a lot of sense.

Paige crossed her arms and watched him. “What do you mean?”

“Earlier I told you that you needed to maybe give your family a break because they care about you. That was not my place. I don’t know your family. I don’t know how things work with your family. I don’t get to tell you how to act or react with them. I’m sorry about that.”

Her eyebrows were up by the time he finished.

She dropped her arms. “Wow.”

He stepped out of the bathroom. “I was going to go over and check in at the town square but I had to come over and tell you that first. And then…”

“You kissed me.” She gave him a little smile.

He nodded. “Well, that was your fault.”

“My fault? You started it.”

“No. You opened the door.”

“I let you in.”

He took a step closer. “Yeah, but that meant you were within reach. And whenever you’re within reach, I kind of forget about everything else but touching you.”

She took a little breath, her smile fading. But she was still watching him intently. “Now, see, usually when guys say stuff like that, I find it pretty intense and consider it a red flag and immediately want to get some space.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets and nodded.

“But with you… I don’t want space.”

Mitch felt his chest tighten. “You pushed me out of this apartment pretty quick when you found out I hadn’t been with any other women.”

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

“You didn’t think that was pretty intense?”

She nodded again.

“And it made you want space, right?”

She took a breath. “I pushed you out before I could tell you that I haven’t been with anyone since we were together either.” She paused. “That made me want space.”

Mitch let that sink in.

She hadn’t been with anyone else either.

She hadn’t been with anyone else either.

She hadn’t fucking been with anyone else either.

He felt a little like beating his chest and shouting, Yes!

But he simply cleared his throat and said, “I’m not going to say I’m sorry.”

One corner of her mouth curled up. “What would you be sorry for?”

“Ruining you for all other men.”

The other corner of her mouth tipped up and she shook her head. “That’s not what I said.”

He nodded. “But that’s what happened.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite that way.”

“I would.”

She lifted a brow. “Well, you would be wrong.”

“I don’t think so.”

“So I ruined you for all other women?” she asked, crossing her arms again.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure.”

Her eyes widened. “Now that makes me want space.”

He shook his head and stepped toward her. “You can’t ruin me and then push me away.”

“Oh, I think I can.”

“That’s just cruel.”

He stopped right in front of her. He didn’t touch her. But he saw her take a quick breath in. Her arms were still crossed, but she was watching him with wide eyes, her pupils dilated.

“This can’t get serious,” she said quietly.

“I know.”

“We live too far apart.”

“I know.”

“And I’m… too young to be serious.”

“I know.”

“And I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t have a real job and collects cats.”

Yeah, all of those life choices that made her happy that everyone had been judging and questioning and being concerned about. “I know.”

“I just want to do my own thing. How I want to. When I want to. I don’t like explaining everything I do, and I don’t like defending my choices that don’t really have anything to do with anyone else and don’t hurt anyone.”

Mitch felt his chest tighten again. A woman had never done that to him. Well, a woman he wanted to sleep with anyway. The women he loved—his cousins and aunts and grandmother—made him feel protective and like he wanted to fix things. But he’d never felt that way over a woman he was dating. Certainly not a woman he’d had a one-night stand with. Which was what Paige Asher was essentially.

“I know,” he said again. “You shouldn’t have to explain yourself or defend your choices.”

“So a long-distance relationship would be difficult,” she said. “You’d wonder what I was doing when we weren’t together. You might not like it if I went out with another guy. And I wouldn’t want to explain any of that either.”

No, he really fucking wouldn’t like it if she went out with another guy. And no, it really wouldn’t be his damned business.

He nodded. “You’re right about that too.”