He backed up a little his forehead creasing a bit. “Yeah, you can ask me anything.”

“What exactly is your relationship with Rita?”

Even though Noah made great effort to appear indifferent to her question, it clearly hit a nerve. His already hard body tensed up immediately at the very mention of Rita’s name, sending out a very bad vibe that made Veronica almost regret asking.

CHAPTER 21

A test is what this felt like and Noah always sucked at tests. She’d let him kiss her and then she dropped this on him. His mind raced to try and figure this out. He searched for the perfect answer but there was no two ways around it. Rita was exactly as Roni had once put it—his drive-by one night stand. But in Rita’s case it’d been far more than one time.

He stood his ground trying to stay cool as Roni’s eyes sought something in his. “She’s just someone I hang with—well hung with,” he amended quickly. “Not anymore, in the past.” He shrugged trying to make as little of it as possible. “We were both single and neither of us was looking for anything deep.”

“Why not anymore?”

The fact that she’d even ask that pissed him off a little. “Because it doesn’t feel right anymore.”

“But it did the day after Thanksgiving?”

God, he could kill Hector. “That wasn’t planned, Roni. Actually nothing with her ever was. For the last few years me and her—”

“Years?”

Shit! She nudged away from him but he refused to let her out of his hold. “Yeah, but she only comes down a few times a year.”

She lifted her purse over her shoulder in a move to put some distance between them. “So you just sleep with her no strings attached? That’s the extent of your relationship?”

“It used to be. Not anymore. And yes that was the extent of it.”

Roni’s eyes bounced around obviously not wanting to make contact with his any longer. She shivered now that his body wasn’t keeping her warm. “But she’s Gio’s cousin; you never talk to her or stay in touch when she’s gone?”

“Let’s get you inside, Roni,” he said reaching for her hand. “It’s freezing out here.”

They started toward the back door of her house. “You know what, never mind,” she said as they reached her back door. “It’s none of my business anyway.”

“Yes it is,” Noah said feeling a little panicked about the sudden shift in mood.

“No it’s not. What you do in your personal life—”

“You are my personal life now.” Noah stepped in front of her. “I told you I’m in love with you and I meant it. I’ll go along with whatever you say—follow your rules. I’ll go as slow as you need me too, and if you wanna know about my personal life I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know.” He wanted to make this perfectly clear because he sure as hell wanted to know about hers. He couldn’t demand anything yet but he’d set the example right now. “Rita was convenient okay? That’s all she’s ever been. We never made any plans. She never even calls to tell me she’s in town. Like the day after Thanksgiving, I didn’t know she was going to be there.”

“Why wouldn’t you know? She’s here every holiday right?”

“But she usually leaves right away, so I was caught off guard and what happened that day…” He was saying too much and he knew it but her accusatory tone made him panic. “That’s not why I went to Gio’s if that’s what you’re implying but I will say in all fairness, back then I had no reason to even hope for anything between you and me. You made it seem so impossible. Things are different now. Everything changed after New Year’s. Shit, my feelings had changed weeks before that. That’s why I spent the entire holidays with you. But even the day after Thanksgiving, Roni. After I saw her there, I wasn’t shooting for anything to happen, I swear. But it just did.”

She shook her head and walked around the kitchen island setting her bag and keys down on the counter. “Boggles the mind,” she muttered.

“What does?” he asked, following her like a puppy dog.

“How something like that just happens. What did she do just suddenly hop on your lap?”

Noah nearly choked at how closely her explanation came to the truth. She turned to face him when he didn’t respond then rolled her eyes in disgust. “Ugh!”

“The point is, even she gets it now. That was the last time for me and her. That’s one of the best things about her. I’ve never had to worry about her being clingy or wanting more.”

There was a sharp change in the way she stared at him and he knew that last statement might cost him. “Is that what you worry about, Noah? Clingy girls wanting more?”

“Only the ones I don’t have feelings for.” He took a step closer to her. “I’m not looking to hurt anyone. And I didn’t have to worry about that with her. That’s all I meant.”

To his relief her expression softened a bit. “And you only ever got together with her on the holidays?”

A smile nearly escaped but he kept it stifled and nodded instead. This was exactly what he wanted. For her to ask questions—set the playing field.

Her expression was now curious and she crossed her arms in front of her. “So you mean to tell me, that in all the years you two have been doing this, outside of the times she showed up for your holiday trysts you two never stayed in touch any other way? No phones calls, emailing, ever?”