Hidden Summit

off if I say soon?”
    “I don’t scare easy. Want me to sleep with you tonight?” he asked, running a hand down her spine.
    She nodded. “I’ll make us dinner. I’ll even buy a six-pack to keep in my refrigerator.”
    “What if you make me too comfortable?” he asked. “Could be as bad as feeding a stray cat.”
    “If you’re worried about getting too involved…”
    He shook his head. “I don’t think we can get too involved—we’re both in this weird place, trying to overcome having been in even weirder places. But I’m not worried about it. When I first saw you, I knew you were special.”
    “You thought I was involved with a married man!”
    “I’m jaded. Cynical sometimes. I apologized for that, didn’t I?”
    “Yes, quite nicely, I think. So…? Dinner?”
    “Yes, tonight. I have to get up now.”
    She slid a leg over his hip, wiggling closer. “It doesn’t feel like you want to leave me yet.”
    He smiled and gave her a kiss. “I didn’t dare ask. Now lie back and let me make you really late for work....”
    The next night, very unlike the way a typical man thinks, Conner was relieved that they made love only once. Superbly, but once. He had serious reasons to be suspicious of a woman who would take it to the obsessive level.
    And a few nights later, because she had mentioned she liked it, he found himself stopping in Fortuna for Thai takeout to bring for dinner to her house. It was Conner’s intention to have a serious talk with Leslie over dinner—
    But he was barely in the door before that plan changed. She was standing in the doorway wearing a pair of snug jeans, a blue chambray shirt opened almost to her waist with a little white tank under it. He caught that scent—soap and flowers. Her hair was all those dark blond, streaky curls that made her look so cute, and her cheeks were flushed, which made her look already ravished, and he said, “Oh, my Jesus…”
    “What?” she asked.
    “God, you turn me on. Just seeing you.”
    “Is that the same as hello?” she asked with a smile.
    “I don’t know. How fast can you get naked?”
    “Conner,” she said and laughed. “Wanna tell me what’s in the bag?”
    “Thai. It’s for dessert....”
    “And the main course?”
    “I’m thinking mustache rides.”
    “I guess that means you missed me,” she said. And she took the bag off his hands, and no sooner had she deposited it in the kitchen, than she headed straight for her bedroom. He caught her there, spun her around and fell with her on the bed, covering her mouth in a searing kiss.
    It was an hour before they could get to the Thai takeout, and when they finally did, they sat on her sofa. He had pulled on his jeans and T-shirt, and she wore a robe. She put the cartons on a tray between them, and they ate directly out of them—she using chopsticks while he had to have a fork.
    “I can teach you to use chopsticks,” she offered.
    “Why would I do that? Nah. But I wanted us to talk.”
    “The talk?” she asked, digging into the Nam Sod—minced chicken with ginger, peanut and onions. “About expectations and stuff?”
    His eyebrows lifted curiously. “You want to give me the talk?”
    “I know how men think. You think that if I’ve slept with you, I’ll expect you to marry me. And you want to be sure I don’t.”
    He tilted his head and thought about this. She was damn close. “Well, not exactly. Being with you is good—but I’m afraid I’m going to let you down. I have serious baggage. Things to overcome, work through, you know.”
    “I know.”
    “I should tell you about my ex-wife....”
    “Only if you feel like it. I don’t think she has anything to do with me. With us.”
    “Well, she might. You’re trying to get over a divorce after what you thought was a good eight-year marriage. My marriage lasted a year. I only knew Samantha for six months before we got married. And she cheated, too, but with something like a hundred guys....”
    Leslie coughed and choked. Conner slapped her back until she recovered.
    “I know. It’s a lot to swallow, no pun intended. I thought I had a great marriage, too. It worked for me. But my wife cheated, we had a confrontation and she said she was…” He paused. It was still hard to say. He cleared his throat. “She said she was a sex addict.”
    Leslie’s eyes grew very large. “Is that so?” she asked cautiously.
    He gave a nod. Then a shrug. “Maybe that’s correct, that’s what her problem was. My