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wife curled up on his brown couch. What a trio we’d be.”
    Lo giggled. “Kinky…”
    “Shut up! You always have to go there!” she laughed, swatting at her friend.
    “You okay?” Lo got serious again.
    “Yeah. I’m okay. Really,” she checked out her mascara in the mirror she kept in her drawer.
    “So?”
    “No, I’m still not going out with Toph,” she laughed, and Lo stuck out her tongue at her before walking out of her office.

    * * *
    “ U nmerciful Vengeance ? Again?” Cass whined as Maddox clicked the controller.
    “It’s Rodrigo’s best, and I wouldn’t offer anything but the best for your punishment,” Maddox grinned.
    “You suck,” she moaned, grabbing the popcorn and plopping down the couch.
    He sat next to her and pressed play, reaching in for a handful of popcorn.
    “C’mon? Really? A machine gun flies through the air and miraculously clicks onto his hand, firing as soon as it connects?”
    “Watch and learn, little grasshopper,” he grinned, setting the popcorn back on the table. He leaned into her and laid his head in her lap. “Hair,” he demanded, placing her hand on his head.
    She sighed, but ran her fingers through his silky locks as they watched the movie in silence. His fingers played along the bottom part of her leg, and she bemoaned the fact that she couldn’t hide the trail of goosebumps he left behind.
    Her thoughts went to her conversation with Lo as she watched how his hair spilled over her fingers and how the soft hair on his ear felt along her knuckle. His soft sigh as his entire body relaxed into her pulled at her heart. Was she really using him?
    She loved these moments. Just the two of them. She looked forward to them, and she felt their loss when he’d left her for San Francisco.
    But did they keep her from being with another man?
    Cass thought of her recent incident with Toph. At no point did she think of Maddox when she was talking to Toph, dancing with Toph, or telling the idiot off. When Toph leaned in to kiss her, she thought only of how his lips felt on hers. When he tried to talk her into going home with him, she didn’t balk because of Mad. She balked because of what she knew sex with Toph would mean.
    Maddox had nothing to do with it.
    Did he?
    Sitting there with Maddox took the sting out of it, sure. He was easy to talk to. He took the edge off when she was feeling lonely. When she needed someone to boost her ego by flirting with her, she went to Maddox. Did that keep her from flirting with anyone else? She didn’t think so.
    Lo had planted that doubt, and now she wondered.
    She glanced down at Maddox, his soft, breathy sounds of sleep caressing her ears. He was so beautiful, it made her heart clench. Of course she loved him. She tried to tell everyone it was like a brother or like a friend, but it was more. She wasn’t sure what it was. She most certainly wasn’t in love with him. She was old and experienced enough to know that difference. She found him insanely attractive, and she loved having him in her life. She relished the comfort he gave her, and she valued his friendship above all else. But being in love was something different. If she was in love with him, she never would have considered Toph. Guilt was an old friend who would have kept her from kissing someone else, from even considering going home with him.
    No, she wasn’t in love with Maddox. But she was something, and in that sense, Lo was right. Maddox was a bit of a crutch, but the small mewl he made in his sleep when she ran her finger along the outer ridge of his good ear told her she was okay with it. One day she’d have to give all this up. One day he’d find someone serious, and she’d have to hand him over to this other woman. She wasn’t ready to give that up yet.
    “Maddox,” she whispered, running her hand along his cheek. “Mad, the movie is over,” she shook him a bit, and he stretched out.
    “What? Oh, damn. Did I miss it?”
    “Oh, yeah. You did. Not that you