Red Lily

kissing and flirting with another woman. And I don’t find that unreasonable.”
    He took another pull, slowly, thoughtfully. “You know if you’d put it that way to begin with, you wouldn’t have insulted me, or pissed me off. I’m going to repeat that I was flirting with Dory, but not the way you mean.”
    “If you come on to all women the way—”
    “Or coming on to her. And be careful or you’ll piss me off again. If you want to know what was going on, why don’t you ask?”
    “I don’t like being in this position.”
    “Well, neither do I. If that’s the way you want to leave it, I need to throw something together for dinner. I missed lunch.”
    “Fine.” She started to bend down for Lily, then stopped. “Why are you so hard?”
    “Why are you so mistrustful?”
    “I saw you. She had her arms around you. She put her hands in your damn pockets and felt your ass. You weren’t exactly fighting her off, Harper.”
    “Okay, you’ve got a point. It was something she used to do, and I didn’t think much about it when she did it today. I was thinking more how I was going to tell her I couldn’t pick things up with her, couldn’t see her beyond the friendship thing because I was with somebody else.”
    “How long does it take to say that?”
    “A little longer than it might otherwise if a woman’s got her hands on your ass.” She opened her mouth, but the way his eyebrows shot up had her closing it again, and waiting. “Right or wrong, Hayley. But I did tell her, before you came through the door.”

    “Before? But . . . you didn’t even miss a beat, Harper. And the two of you were all . . .” She waved a hand, trying to find the phrase. “Touchy. And you kissed her when you went out to the car.”
    His eyes narrowed. “You were watching us.”
    “No. Yes. So what?”
    “Too bad you didn’t manage to slip a listening device on me, then this conversation wouldn’t be necessary.”
    She folded her arms and met his insult straight-on. “I’m not apologizing for my behavior either.”
    “Fine. First, why should I have missed a beat? I wasn’t doing anything to feel guilty about. Next, Dory’s a touchy kind of person. She makes contact with people, which is probably why she’s good in PR. And yeah, I kissed her before she left. I’ll probably kiss her next time I see her. I like her. We have a history. We met in high school, ended up in college together—and ended up being an item for about a year. In college, Hayley, for Christ’s sake. When we stopped being an item, we stayed friends. If you can manage to whip some of the green out of your vision, you’d probably end up being friends with her, too.”
    “I don’t like being jealous. I’ve never really been jealous before, and I don’t like it.”
    “If you’d heard our conversation out by her car, you’d have heard her tell me that she hoped you and I would come into the city, have drinks, so she could get to know you. She said it was good to see me, and good to see me happy. I said pretty much the same, and I kissed her goodbye.”
    “It’s just . . . you looked like a couple.”
    “We’re not. That’s what you and I are. That’s what I feel,” he said when she only stared at him. “That’s what I want. I don’t know what I’ve done to make you doubt me, or that.”
    “You’ve never actually said . . .”

    He stepped to her, caught her face in his hands. “I don’t want to be with anyone but you. You’re the only one, Hayley. Is that clear enough?”
    “Yeah.” She laid her hand on his, turned her head so that her lips pressed to his palm.
    “So we’re good now?”
    “It looks like. Um, you told her you were seeing someone. I mean me?”
    “I didn’t have to. When you walked back out, she punched me in the arm. She said, ‘She’s taller than me, she’s thinner than me, and she’s got better hair.’ What is it about your breed and hair?”
    “Never mind that. What else did she say?”
    “That it was bad enough I was blowing her off, but it had to be over somebody who looked like you. I figured it for some sort of twisted girl compliment.”
    “A nice one. Now I feel guilty. I bet I would like her, and that’s just a little bit irritating.” She brooded a minute, then beamed. “But I’ll get over it. I’m not going to apologize, exactly, because—hey, hands on your ass. But I’ll offer to cook you dinner.”
    “Sold,” he said without hesitation.
    “Got anything in