The Burning Point by Mary Jo Putney

Maybe we can get together." Curls bouncing, she led him toward the kitchen.
    "I'm afraid there have been some...unexpected developments." In the past he would have gone straight to the soup pot for a sample. Instead, he halted in the doorway. "I've come to return my key."
    Val paled until her freckles stood out like copper haze. "Oh?"
    Feeling like a heel, he said, "I'm sorry, I should have been more tactful."
    "There is no tactful way to say good-bye. Why?"
    He concentrated on removing Val's key from his ring. "Sam's will specified that Kate and Tom get most of his money and I get PDI, but only if Kate and I will live in my house for a year. She's decided to give it a try."
    "I see." Val dropped onto a chair, her voice brittle. "Well, it isn't as if our relationship was going anywhere, Donovan. It's basically been a mutual convenience. A healthy sleeping partner with no strings attached."
    That hurt. "Don't cheapen what has been between us, Val. We've been good friends. I hope we still are."
    "If we hadn't been sharing a bed, we'd never have seen each other. That's not my definition of friendship."
    She was probably right. He'd first met Val as one of Kate's bridesmaids. They'd always liked each other, but since she was one of Kate's closest friends, they'd lost touch after the divorce.
    Then they ran into each other one Saturday in a local bookstore, had a cup of coffee together, and drifted into a relationship. "There's no question that sex always adds interest, but we wouldn't have been sharing a bed if there wasn't more than sex."
    "I suppose not." She toyed with a dangling bead earring. "But you're certainly right that we can't see each other when you're living with Kate. Too much like adultery."
    "Kate and I are going to have a strictly platonic relationship."
    "If you say so." Her hazel eyes were troubled. "Does Kate know that you and I have been...involved?"
    "I just said that I'd been seeing someone. Not who."
    "Good. Kate and I have been friends for a long time. I don't think she'd be thrilled to find out that I've been sleeping with her ex-husband. It's against the Good Girlfriends Code."
    "Isn't there some kind of statute of limitations on that? After all, until this week Kate and I hadn't seen each other in almost ten years."
    "It was okay while she was in California. Not when we're all in the same city."
    He reached out and stroked her hair. It was red and springy and crackled with vitality, like Val. There had been no passionate highs and lows, but they'd been good company for each other. Especially in bed. "You'll have to wait to get together with Kate. She's returning to California tomorrow, and won't be back for at least a couple of weeks."
    Val swiveled away from his caressing hand. "Don't tell me--the subliminal message here is one of those guy things. 'Let's have sex one last time.' No dice. I'm not into maudlin partings."
    He winced. "Did it seem like that's what I was doing? Sorry."
    He'd never made any attempt to learn what made Val tick, and he'd certainly never considered sharing his darkest secrets with her. Might there have been a deeper relationship possible between them? Maybe, maybe not.
    But he would never know. It had been easier to stay on the surface. Safer. "I'm going to miss you, Val. More than I realized."
    "Yeah. I'm going to miss you, too, big guy."
    "You'll probably find someone better long before I'm free to date again."
    "You say that like a joke, but it's not." Her voice was serious. "You're a catch, Donovan. Smart, funny, a hunk, pleasantly prosperous, and a nice guy. Yet you always act as if you can't believe anyone could care for you. Is that why you and Kate split up?"
    Abruptly he remembered why he preferred staying on the surface. "If you want to know the whole story, ask Kate. Maybe she'll tell you."
    "Not her. Kate has never said word one about why she left you. She's a poster child for ladylike discretion. Most females would have poured out the whole story so I could have