“I just need— I think we should— Maybe this isn’t a good idea?”
It took a minute but a shadow of understanding slowly moved across his features. “What, precisely, isn’t a good idea?”
I set a hand on his broad chest, selfishly letting my fingers spread out over the solid plane. “Maybe the physical stuff?” I pushed against his chest, and after a moment he shifted to his knees, taking all his delicious heat and pressure with him. “Boundaries might be good. And maybe some rules too?”
The muscle in his cheek pulsed and his brow lifted. “You don’t sound too sure about that.”
“I—I am.” I wasn’t. I desperately wanted to drag him back to me and let someone else worry about what would happen when this marriage ended. I wanted to hook a leg around his waist and see how he performed on a squishy sofa. “It’s just that I don’t want us to get hurt. Later on.”
He glanced away and I knew those words had hit the intended target. He didn’t want a messy ending any more than I did. Climbing off the sofa, he cleared his throat and pushed a hand through his hair. “Yeah. No problem.”
For better or worse, I stayed stretched out on the sofa, one leg dangling to the floor, the other bent at a sharp angle to give Ryan the room he’d needed between my thighs. Though he marched into the kitchen and didn’t look back at me. Guess he didn’t want to look our new boundaries in the eye.
I heard the refrigerator open and then, “Muggsy?”
I tucked my hair over my ears. “Yeah?”
“You’re never flying without me again.”
Since that seemed like the only thing we’d agree on tonight, I called, “Okay. Maybe we give that ferry Bowen mentioned a try. That sounded pretty nonconfrontational.”
I heard the refrigerator shut and then the pop of a beer bottle. “I’ll think about it.”
chapter twenty-five
Emme
Today’s Learning Objective:
Students will draw lines and define limits.
It tookme a minute to realize it but everything in this house was white. There was a little blue, a little gray, but overwhelmingly white. And now there was also some pink in that palette from the blush that’d rubbed off my face and onto the crisp white duvet cover from flopping onto the huge, fluffy bed in my room.
Once I scrubbed makeup from my skin and made a half-assed attempt at organizing my looks for tomorrow, I opened my laptop to work on my lesson plans but quickly gave up on being productive to watch a cooking competition.
I figured I deserved a minute to recover from the day. From the whole damn week.
The competition was almost over when Ryan knocked on my door. I didn’t know which of the remaining five bedrooms he’d selected for himself or why he’d rented such a large house for the two of us, but I knew I had to get up and go to the door. I couldn’t stay in bed and invite him inside. Unless I wanted toinvite him inside.
I shuffled across the extra-plush white rug, regretting my threadbare sleep shorts, equally thin henley shirt, and no bra as I went. None of it saidLet’s keep it in the friend zone.
I opened the door to find Ryan leaning there, his arms braced on either side of the doorframe and his head ducked between his shoulders, like he was doing some sort of standing push-ups. He shifted his jaw, his cheek hollowing with the movement. He didn’t look at me when I asked, “What’s up?”
“Everything good in here?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. No need to involve the nipples in this. “Yep.”
He glimpsed up before returning to his study of the floor. “And you like this room?”
“Yeah. It’s great.” He nodded but didn’t say anything else. After a tense minute, I said, “Listen, if it’s going to be weird between us because I?—”
“Let me help you,” he said, his voice low. “I know how serious you are about getting that orgasm a day. You missed it this morning and the government took your toy so, fuck it. Use me.”
“Ex…cuse me?”
“Use me,” he repeated, finally dragging his eyes up to my face. No, to my mouth. “It’s worked well for you before. Do it again.”
“Wh-what does that mean?”
