CHAPTER 115

Her brow furrowed. “But you said this is who you are. What you are. How can you never have asked another woman for these things? I doubt you’ve been celibate forever.”

He laughed. “No, indeed not. The women I’ve been with all knew the score. What I expected and what I’d take. But I never considered those actual relationships, because going in, she and I both knew it was very temporary. Hardly what I’d call an actual relationship.”

“So I wouldn’t be temporary?” she asked, voicing perhaps her biggest fear. That he’d grow tired of her in a week’s time and simply move on to someone else.

But then what was she expecting? What was she even asking for? Something long-term? How could she ask that of him when she wasn’t sure she wanted something more permanent? It was a huge leap to be making. It was possible that she wouldn’t be able to handle the demands he made. And yet, the idea of him only wanting a temporary fling unsettled her.

“I can’t say with any authority what you’ll be, Josie,” he