Casey’s jaw dropped. “You haven’t had sex in three years?”
“Could you shout that a little louder, please? I don’t think they heard you on the other side of the lake.”
“No one should go without sex for three years. It can’t be good for you.”
“Wait a minute. You’ve been divorced for a couple of years now, so who are you having sex with?”
Casey went back to tapping on her computer. “None of your business.”
“Oh, no you don’t. This isn’t a one-way street. Spill!” A memory of a sexy smile across the hotel’s kitchen hit her. “It’s Dax, right? I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“Absolutely not.” Casey frowned. “I’d never sleep with an employee. And he doesn’t look at me any particular way.”
“He does too, but if it’s not him, then who?”
Huffing out a breath, she said, “Beau Bailey. But don’t you tell anyone or I will kill you. Neither of us is looking for another relationship right now so we’re keeping it quiet.”
“Beau Bailey? He’s hot, I’ll give you that. And built. But kinda old.”
“He’s only two years older than me, brat!”
Megan flopped down on the corner of her sister’s desk, amazed they’d been able to keep their relationship a secret in their nosy town. “So . . . you guys meet at some seedy motel down the highway, have hot monkey sex, then say see you next Tuesday, same time, same place?”
Casey struggled to keep a straight face. “We have hot monkey sex, but never in seedy motels. Why would we do that when I have perfectly good rooms here?”
“You do it here? Oh my God, Casey. Dad would kill you if he found out!” Meg had a whole new kind of respect for her sister.
Casey beamed a smug smile. “That’s why it’s handy Beau is a general contractor. If people see him here, they just think he’s fixing the plumbing or something.”
“Well he’s fixing your pipes, that’s for sure! Wow. This is too much for my traumatized brain to absorb. My sister, Miss Straight As, Miss Perfect, Miss ‘why can’t you be more like Casey, Megan,’ is a ho. And I love it!”
Casey rolled her eyes. “I’m not a ho. I’m a woman with normal needs. The hot monkey sex is just a bonus.”
“Stop!” Holding her sides in laughter, Megan said, “As it is I’m not going to be able to look him in the eye the next time I see him.”
“The point is, Meg, it’s dangerous to scratch your itch with Josh. He’s hurt you. Toby has wanted you since the tenth grade. You should put him out of his misery. It’ll help you separate sex and co-parenting.”
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she said, “News flash. Toby and I have had sex plenty of times and it was just okay. Josh, on the other hand, was stellar. It’s made it hard for me to want anyone else.”
Casey’s eyes narrowed. “It was after your junior prom, wasn’t it? When you and Toby came home with those guilty looks on your faces? I knew I shouldn’t have let you stay out that long past your curfew.”
“Yep. And then we hooked up a lot when I was home in the summers from college. Sometimes we’d go out on the boat and—”
“I don’t want to know—he’s an employee too. And while Josh has a smokin’ hot body—he looks damned good in just his boxers, anyway—you need to figure out if the attraction is just physical or if there are still real feelings involved.”
Just his boxers? A hot surge of jealousy stiffened her spine. But Casey would never betray her like that. Would she?
Meg slapped her hands on the desk. “Why have you seen Josh in his underwear?”
“It was an accident. But your reaction told me what I wanted to know. You still have feelings for him, don’t you?”
Meg sat beside the computer on the floor again as she pondered her answer. It was her turn to close her eyes and rub her temples, but not because she was disappointed in her sister. “I honestly don’t know, Casey. He’s changed so much from what he was before, but in some ways he’s just the same. He said he realized he needed to switch his priorities and it seems he has. And the way he looked at Haley yesterday was so sweet it melted my heart. Maybe it’s because when he smiles I see Haley’s smile? I don’t know. I’m just so confused.”
When Meg opened her eyes again, Casey was sitting right next to her on the floor.
“Sleep with him, then. It’s probably the only way you’ll know for sure. And if it turns out to be nothing more than fantastic sex, then you deserve some. Just don’t hand him your heart until you’re sure.” Casey pulled her into a hard hug. “But you’d better warn him—if he hurts you again, Grandma told me she’s aiming to kill the next time.”