“Okay.” I cross my ankle over the opposite knee and shift to face her fully.
“I want to heal while I’m home. Completely heal.”
“Right. I agree. You deserve that.”
She nods. “So…one way I need to heal is physically.” She pauses. “Sexually.”
I stare at her. “Okay. I’m not sure…”
“Will you help me?” she says so fast those four words almost sound like one.
I freeze. “Help you how?”
“Help me to enjoy sex again.” Her cheeks go pink as she keeps her eyes fastened to mine. “To feel safe being with someone. To be touched. Everywhere.”
And…my dick twitches.
But I keep my expression blank. “You haven’t been with anyone since…”
She shakes her head. “I’ve felt completely asexual since it happened. Until I saw you.”
I reach for her hand. “Princess, you’re going to need to spell this out for me—what exactly do you want me to do?”
“I want you to fuck me.”
Chapter 13
The air on the porch just got a hell of a lot thicker.
I tug at the neck of my sweatshirt like I can somehow cool myself off.
“Do you want to date? Because I—”Suck at that. Can’t imagine doing that with you and then watching you leave for New York in six months—“I don’t normally do that.”
“No. I just want to have sex. No strings attached, hot, sweaty sex. As much as possible.”
Jesus Christ. She’s going to kill me.
I run my thumb over her soft palm. “I’ll do anything for you, Winter. But this? This is a big deal. I don’t know that we can do what you’re asking and not get in too deep.”
“Because…”
“Because it’s us, Win. We’re two people with history. A lot of history. And we’ve never tried a friends-with-benefits arrangement before. Is that what this would be?”
“I guess so.” Her face flashes with vulnerability, and for the first time, she looks totally unsure. “I’m not really sure what it would be. I just know that you’re literally the only man on the planet I can imagine getting naked with right now. And that has to mean something, right?”
Right. I don’t want to dip too far into what exactly that could mean.
So, I stand up.
“Let’s get ready to go to Liam’s for our night with Lulu,” I say. “If you still feel the same way later, we’ll talk some more.”
“Are you—”
I know where she’s going with this, and I cut her off at the pass. “Not turning you down.” I lean in and give her a firm kiss on the lips. “I just want you to be sure, Win. Because once we…” I lock eyes with her. Her blue eyes are swimming with emotion. “Once we take that step, it will change everything between us. Even if it’s just sex.”
Just sex.
I nearly scoff at the very concept. I already know without a shadow of a doubt that sex with Winter is going to alter my universe. Permanently.
