He smiled a little. “Are you seeing anyone else?”

I snorted. “No, of course not.” The idea was almost laughable. Me? Dating? Besides, I liked him way too much to look at other options. But Jason looked…relieved, maybe?

“I would like it if you and I only dated each other,” he said, looking at me intently.

I shrugged. “Okay.”

“You agree?”

“Yes. I won’t see anyone else. Just you.”

He gazed at me for a moment, something soft playing around the edges of his smile. Then he leaned over and kissed me. It was a gentle, closed-mouthed kiss, and when it was over, he stroked my cheek with his thumb, looking in my eyes. My heart fluttered. Then my cell phone vibrated in my lap and we both looked down, reading the text at the same time.

Kristen: Tomorrow. Get here by 5:00. I want help with the sides. BRING HIM.

I groaned.

“What?” Jason asked.

“Kristen is conspiring to meet you. It’s her birthday tomorrow, and Josh is grilling steaks. She wants me to bring you.”

“Sure,” he said.

I shook my head. “No. It’ll be awful. They’ll make you so uncomfortable. They’re shameless. No.”

“So you’re just going to hide me from your best friend? Forever?”

“Yes. That’s the plan. You don’t understand, I can’t even let her know you’re over here right now. She’ll show up just to show you pictures of me at my eighth-grade dance.”

He laughed. “What time should I pick you up?”

“You really want to do this? It may test our relationship.”

“So you admit it’s a relationship,” he said, smiling at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him, suspecting a trap. “Well, what would you call it?”

“That’s exactly what I’d call it. But you have a tendency to rob me of the titles I’m due.”

“Like what?”

“Like calling our first date an appointment.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. We’re in…a relationship,” I said, forcing out the last word. It was way early for that, but it kind of was one, I guess. He wasn’t wrong.

“A monogamous relationship,” he added.

“Yes, we’re not dating anyone else, so I suppose that’s also true.”

“So that makes you my girlfriend.”

I choked. “Jason!”

“What? What else would you call it?” He looked completely amused at how flustered I was.

“I don’t know? We’re seeing each other, exclusively. That’s how I’d say it.”

“And that would make me your boyfriend,” he said, his eyes dancing.

He was right. And I was terrified.

“We’ve only known each other for two weeks,” I said. “This is only our third date.”

He shook his head. “I don’t care.”

I bit my lip. “Jason, I take that status really seriously.”

“I hope so, because so do I. Look, I don’t care what the rule books say we should be doing right now. I like you. You like me. We agree that we’re exclusively seeing each other. And I want you to be able to tell random a cappella groups that hit on you that you have a boyfriend.”

Then he leaned in and kissed me. “And your boyfriend should definitely know your best friend.”

Chapter 17

Jason

? I Feel It | Avid Dancer

I could have written a love song about that chicken Sloan made for dinner. Hell, maybe I should write a love song about that chicken Sloan made for dinner. It would be better than the shit my label sent over, even in my current state of writer’s block.

When it came time for me to go home, I wanted to stay again. I even considered asking this time if I could spend the night on the couch, but I figured if she wanted me there, she wouldn’t be kicking me out, so I sucked it up and left. Stepping out onto the porch that evening, kissing her good night, and driving off in my truck felt as counterintuitive to me as anything I’d ever done, like leaving my guitar behind on a sidewalk.

No guy in his right mind ever did anything to fuck up a chance like this.

I was getting this shot with her on a technicality. I’d slipped in under some wire. She’d been isolated and grieving so no other man had gotten to her. I knew how lucky I was. And every moment I spent with her, I was more and more aware of it.

I wanted to do things for her. Bring her gifts that made her smile, hold her doors open. Take out the damn trash in her kitchen, watch her paint. I wanted to be useful to her and see what she looked like before she went to bed and watch her laugh at something on TV.

I definitely didn’t want to go home without her, that was for damn sure.

When I got back to my trailer, it felt hollow and cold. I sighed and tossed my keys on the kitchen counter, taking off my jacket. I looked around and felt no attachment to any of it. It was my place, filled with my things, but it didn’t feel like home. Oddly enough, Sloan’s place did, and I had a feeling it had more to do with the company than the house.

Tucker, the Panty Bandit, jumped on the bed, and I let him. No crate for him tonight. We were in this together. Why make him any more miserable than he had to be, stuck here, with me instead of with Sloan, sniffing around my laundry basket instead of hers?