“Why not?” Jenna asked.

Back off, missy. You may be his current roomie, but I’ve known him my whole life.

Except did Brynn know him? Really? Everyone but her seemed to be on to something that she wasn’t seeing. Or that you’re not letting yourself see.

“I’m nothing but a game to him,” Brynn said quietly. “He’s disliked me since high school, and that dislike has only been fueled by the fact that I’m one of the few women that wouldn’t let him into my pants.”

Except that one time…

“What if he did care?” Sophie said casually. “Hypothetically.”

Brynn shook her head. It didn’t even compute. “Has he had a serious girlfriend ever? Or even a woman he’s been faithful to for more than a couple weeks?”

Sophie became suddenly fascinated with the dip, and Brynn pounced on her. “See? You know exactly why someone like me would never be with someone like him. I want a ring, and babies, and a white picket fence. He wants none of those things.”

“And yet he moved to the suburbs,” Jenna emphasized.

“Next door to you,” Sophie added more quietly. “There’s got to be a reason for that.”

Brynn rotated her shoulders in irritation. “Yeah, and I’m sure there was, but not in the romantic way you guys are trying to make it out to be. He and I started this game back when we were fifteen. He’s come back because it’s time to finish it.”

“I wonder who wins,” Jenna added thoughtfully.

Brynn swallowed around what felt suspiciously like a lump in her throat. “I’m beginning to think neither of us.”

* * *

Brynn was somehow unsurprised to find Will rummaging around in her kitchen at the crack of dawn on Monday morning.

She blinked sleepily at him, gratefully accepting the mug of coffee he handed over.

“How’d you get in? I moved my key.”

Will grabbed a plastic brown blob off the counter and waved it at her. “The fake-dog-poop key holder? Really?”

“What? No burglar is going to risk picking up a pile of poop to see if it’s fake.”

“He doesn’t have to, he can just give it a whack with a stick and hear metal rattling against plastic.”

“Damn,” Brynn said, slumping into her kitchen chair as she tried to blink off the fog of sleep.

“Maybe you should just forgo the spare-key route,” Will said as he rummaged in her cupboards for a box of cereal. “Something tells me you’ve never forgotten your key in your life.”

She didn’t deny it. “I like to be prepared.”

“Shocker.” Will held up the box of cereal. “Whole grain, organic, no sugar?”

“It’s healthy,” Brynn said.

Will shook his head and poured some into a cereal bowl before pulling the milk out of the fridge. “Wow, nonfat. Really living on the edge.”

Will unceremoniously handed her the bowl, and her gaze caught on the fine hairs of his forearm before traveling up to where his navy T-shirt strained around his bicep.

She tore her eyes away and accepted the cereal even though she wasn’t hungry. At least not for food.

“You know, I had high hopes for you when you first started on this kick,” he said, grabbing his own coffee mug and joining her at the table. “You were all leather and dark hair dye and tattoos. But I’ve gotta say, you’re totally posing.”

Brynn munched on her cereal. “What were you expecting? Motorcycles and genital piercings?”

His coffee cup paused halfway to his mouth. “Keep talkin’.”

She ignored this and jabbed her spoon at him. “A vacation from oneself is entirely relative. For some people, ‘edgy’ might be skydiving. For others, it’s something as simple as going to a restaurant and dining alone.”

“And for you, it’s what…skipping a day of flossing?”

Brynn made a face and scooped up another spoonful of cereal. “Please. I would never skip flossing. But I did go rock climbing the other day.”

She heard the smugness in her tone, and didn’t care. It had been exhilarating, and completely unlike the safety of yoga.

Will raised an eyebrow. “Really? Where?”

She shifted slightly. “Nearby.”

“I’ve gone rock climbing a few times with a friend. I might know the spot.”

She purposefully ate a too big bite of cereal so she wouldn’t have to answer.

“Brynn…” Will said in a low voice, leaning toward her. “Was this ‘rock climbing’…indoors?”

She gazed back at him, stubbornly refusing to answer.

Will sighed. “You went to the flagship REI store and did it there, didn’t you? You know, scaling a fake rock at a sporting-goods store is meant to be training for rock climbing, not actual rock climbing.”

Brynn waved this away. “It’s like I said…it’s all relative.”

He shook his head in exasperation. “Hurry up and finish that, would you. We need to get on the road.”

Brynn froze. Get on the road? “Could you be more specific?”

“Not without ruining the entire point.”

“What point?”

He reached over and ruffled her already mussed hair. “Furthering your understanding of spontaneity. You’ve come along nicely from your previous paralyzed self, but you have miles to go before we can remove ‘uptight’ and ‘rigid’ from your personality profile.”

“I have plans today,” she said, scowling up at him.

“Exactly the problem. You have absolutely no idea how to take even the most tepid of getaways. Screw the plans.” He stood and rinsed his coffee mug before putting it in the sink. “Where do you keep your luggage? And no proper suitcase. I want your oldest, ugliest duffel bag.”

“But I don’t have an old duffel bag,” she said in confusion. “They’re bad for your back. The wheeled suitcases are really much better—”

He threw up his hands. “Fine. Where’s your fancy suitcase?”

She was apparently still addled by sleep, because she heard herself directing him to her luggage as she finished her cereal and coffee and tried to figure out what he was up to.

Brynn frowned when she realized he hadn’t come back into the kitchen. “Will?”

She went looking for him and she walked in on her worst nightmare. “What are you doing?” she wailed, dashing toward her suitcase. “Everything will be a wrinkled mess.”

“Kind of the point,” he said with a grin, elbowing her out of the way and dropping a wadded-up pair of jeans into her designer suitcase. “Get some socks. The warmish kind, it’s supposed to be rainy and cool.”

“Just my kind of vacation,” she muttered. Still, she did as instructed, pulling out a few pairs of her comfiest socks. She started to reach for her more comfortable bras and panties, but he stopped her.

“Uh-uh. The sexy stuff.”

Brynn narrowed her eyes. “You’re packing my oldest jeans, rattiest sweatshirts, and tennis shoes, yet you want me to bring silk and lace?”

He dropped a baggy sweater into the suitcase—unfolded—before advancing on her, backing her into the dresser. He backed her into things a lot. She liked it.

“Actually, how about we forget the silk and stockings,” he said, dipping his head to nuzzle her neck. “Let’s go with…nothing at all.”

“Ah, so it’s that kind of vacation,” she said, letting her head dip back so he could have better access to her collarbone.

His thumbs grazed over the center of her breasts, finding her nipples hard and aching beneath the silk of her nightgown. “Definitely that kind of vacation,” he agreed.

He moved his mouth to hers, but she ducked before he could make contact.

“Haven’t brushed yet,” she muttered.

Will paused and let out a soft laugh. “My little wild child. Fine, go brush. But no flossing. We’ve got to get going.”

“Going where? And you said this was a spontaneous trip. Surely it can be delayed a few minutes.”