She sighed. He’d asked her for honesty, right? “Well, yeah. This is not what I came here for.”
“I will point out again that you came on to me.”
She pulled on her panties and bra. His gaze kept raking over her body, so he was a little distracted. But she sighed. “If your plan is to make me fall in love with you again, it won’t work. I can’t. I’m not putting myself through that again.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“I don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I sincerely only wanted to talk tonight. Great sex was a bonus. You’re hot, and I like you a lot despite the fact that you are the most stubborn, cynical woman I have ever met. I had no ulterior motive here. Don’t put one on me.”
“You want to get back together, though.”
“The thought crossed my mind.”
Lindsay shook her head.
“Do you disagree that the sex was good?”
Lindsay grunted and pulled on her jeans. “Sex was never the problem with us.”
Brad got out of bed, seemingly unaware that he was naked. He crossed the room just as she was pulling on her shirt. “I’m not asking you for anything,” he said, “except to maybe stop avoiding me.”
“I’m not avoiding you.”
“You are 100 percent avoiding me. Monique at the café told me you were a regular, but you haven’t come by at all since I started working there, except for the interviews and tonight.”
She slid her feet into her shoes. “What’s your point?”
“You don’t want to get back together, fine. I respect that. But even you have to admit we have fun together sometimes, and for a few minutes there, you actually seemed to like me, so maybe you could turn down your ire a couple of notches and trust that we can be in the same space every now and then without stabbing each other.”
“Or fucking each other.”
He had the balls to grin at that. “Or that.”
“Don’t look so smug.”
He walked past her out of the bedroom. She glanced at the street-facing windows, which all had heavy curtains hanging from them. Lindsay could picture Brad walking around this space naked all the time. She hated that she found the image so exciting.
He slipped into the bathroom for a moment, then emerged wearing a robe. He grabbed her handbag from where she’d left it near the sofa and handed it to her.
“Go ahead and think about things,” he said. “I’m here if you want to talk.”
Ugh. Why was he so stupid perfect? She heard in his tone that he was being genuine. It wasn’t so much that she wanted to go as that she didn’t trust herself if she stayed. “I’m going,” she said. “Tonight was not completely terrible.”
Then she made herself leave before Brad’s open, earnest face made her change her mind.
Chapter 10
Lindsay sat at a table near the front window of Pop and ordered a martini as the waitress walked by. Pop was best known for its extensive martini menu, and most of the drinks were really just sugary ingredients with a splash of alcohol, but they were all tasty. Her personal favorite was called the Dirrrty Martini, which was, well, a dirty martini, but with a little citrus added to brighten up the brininess of the olive juice.
Lauren and Paige were both working the late shift at the café, so they wouldn’t be along for a bit. Evan had texted that he was running late because something had gone terribly awry on the subway. So Lindsay sat alone and nursed her martini and played a puzzle game on her phone while she waited.
And who should walk in but Brad.
He looked around, spotted her, walked to her table, and helped himself to a seat.
“What are you doing here?”
