Eva asked Rebecca Brooks:

Hi! I really want to know if the H in make me yours stayed celibate during the separation? as it wasn't clear but the h was celibate for 5 years so it's only fair that he was too!

Rebecca Brooks Hi Eva! I actually never *explicitly* wrote that Claire was celibate—I wanted to keep it a little vague and open-ended. Ryan says that he knows he was her first, but he doesn't assume she hasn't been with anyone since him—and he still wants to be the best she's ever had, no matter what. So FWIW he didn't go into things thinking that she was celibate, even if he never asks for the details of her dating history. (It was important to me to write a hero who would NOT expect his ex to never be with anyone else again, and who wouldn't be weird or aggressive about her personal life and her choices.) Claire talks about how hard it is to date as a single mom who works full time, which to me also suggests that she has some experience trying to make that work. I didn't think it was fair to either character to assume that they wouldn't be with anyone else for 5 years...but I also know that since they were busy with their own lives and ups and downs, neither of them would have a ton of time or energy to invest in dating. So definitely no serious relationships! I agree completely that it wouldn't be fair to assume that the woman isn't dating while the guy is sleeping with whomever he wants.

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