Down on Her Knees by Christine Bell Page B

criminals. His whole career is a tribute to Monica. They went to school out in Texas, so I only got to meet her a few times, but she was a sweet girl. He’s never been the same. He keeps to himself a lot, and has told Shane and Galen more than once that he’ll never allow himself to feel that way about another woman again.” She wiped her eyes on her napkin and sucked in a deep breath. “Anyway, that’s the story. I do think you can help each other in ways neither of you has even considered, but you need to be careful. I love you both, and I don’t want either of you getting hurt. Promise me?”
    Courtney nodded. “I promise.”
    “Okay.” Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Cat snatched up her phone and peered down, all business again. “Now back to the survey. Is there anything you think he should know about your sexual history?”
    It took Courtney longer to switch gears, and she was silent for a long moment, still thinking about Rafe and his college sweetheart. How terrible that must have been for him. No wonder he was so adamant about not getting close to anyone. She thought she had a good reason for being guarded. What she’d gone through with Wes had been a walk in the park compared to the pain Rafe had suffered.
    “Courtney?”
    She folded her arms to ward off the sudden chill and focused her attention back on Cat. “Sorry, what was the question?”
    “Anything else about your sexual history that he should know?”
    She mulled that over for a long time before shaking her head. “Nope. Nothing.”
    Her friend looked at her like she’d spoken in tongues. “Uhm, how’s about the juicy nugget you shared with me a few minutes ago? About your ill-fated attempts to get to O-ville? Surely that’s worth mentioning.”
    “It’s pretty personal…”
    “As opposed to telling him whether you like”—she glanced at the survey again—“pony play?”
    She had her there. “Well, that’s a specific question and has a specific answer. Besides,” Courtney added with a sniff, “it would put too much pressure on him to re-create the miracle. I don’t want to make him feel bad if it doesn’t happen again when this is an issue I had long before him.”
    “Okay, if you’re sure.” Her reluctant shrug was enough to make Courtney second-guess herself, but the idea of Rafe knowing that he was the first guy to ring her bell made her about break out in hives.
    “I’m sure.”
    Cat nodded. “Okay. Looks good so far, then. Oh! We forgot to fill out number eleven on page one. What did you say your feelings were on dog leashes again?”
    Courtney groaned and slumped forward to rest her head on the cool Formica while Cat huffed a sigh and called to the waitress.
    “Can you grab us two coffees? And might as well keep ’em coming. I think we’re going to be a while.”
    …
    Nine days.
    Courtney blew the lock of hair obscuring her vision from her eye and gripped the steering wheel tighter.
    Nine frigging days without a single word from him. After all that fuss, all those hours of waiting, anticipating, planning…
    She’d filled out the survey about hard limits and safe words; they’d exchanged medical history forms. Hell, she’d even given him a key to her house once they’d put a system in place to let him know whether or not she wanted him to use it on a given day. All that, and then?
    Nada.
    It was like Indecent Proposal without any of the indecency. Granted, she’d balked at some of the truly outrageous stuff on the questionnaire, but there was plenty left on the table to work with, and he’d seemed more than satisfied at her sense of adventure. Still, maybe it wasn’t enough for him…
    Whatever. She refused to let it shake her confidence. He probably decided—much like she did half the times she thought about it—that this whole thing was a terrible idea and had opted out. Fine. But it would’ve been nice if he’d given her a call so she could stop thinking that he’d let himself into her house