I do. I raise my eyebrows smugly, daring her to make me prove it.
But she doesn’t. I haven’t agreed to her terms, after all. Because I can read between the lines. I know Beth, and I know what she’s doing hinting at friends-with-benefits—where she’s going with all this I liked it, but if you’re going to let my brother dictate your sex life, if you can’t handle it, bullshit.
I know what Beth is demanding of me. She’s issuing a challenge—man up, or back off.
But all I’ve ever done with this girl is back off. And now I’m supposed to just watch her flirt with Bogart, or be with Falco, or whatever guy she finds next? Because there will be another guy. There will always be another guy. They will flock to her for her beautiful face and tempting body, and they will stay for her smartass mouth and generous heart. Better guys than Brian-fucking-Falco. Guys that went to business school, and have high-paying salaries, and can buy her a pretty mansion like the one she grew up in.
Guys who are willing to make her promises. Guys capable of keeping them.
And I will have to stand by, and watch it all happen.
Well, fuck that.
I’m not agreeing to Beth’s fucking terms, period. Having her once was not fucking enough. And I wasn’t even fully sober, or in my right mind, for that matter. I didn’t have the chance to fully appreciate the experience—to savor it. Brody could get arrested any day, and then Beth will move back to her dorm, and I’ll go back to just being her friend. So if Beth wants this, too, why shouldn’t I agree?
But I have my own terms.
My fingers trace the delicate bumps and grooves of her collarbone, teasing the goose bumps they elicit. “You’re right,” I murmur, and Beth’s eyes grow impossibly wider. “It isn’t Cap’s business.”
“No?” she breathes.
I shake my head. No. It isn’t, but Cap doesn’t agree, at least not where I’m concerned, and I’m still not willing to openly fight him on it if it means I risk losing my oldest friend. No matter how incredible Beth’s body felt, or how sweet her lips taste. “But he still can’t know.” It’s a stipulation, and I wonder when the hell this became a negotiation.
Beth blinks at me.
“He wouldn’t forgive me,” I remind her.
For a moment she looks like she wants to argue, but thinks better of it. She may not approve of Cap’s line in the sand, but she can’t deny it was drawn a long time ago, even if she doesn’t know just how clearly.
“Like I said, it’s none of his business,” Beth says softly in agreement.
“Just while you’re staying here, yeah? We can’t let things get out of hand and risk getting caught…” And I can’t risk either of us getting attached.
Her mouth parts, but no words come out. She nods slowly instead.
And just like that, we have a fucking deal. Friends with benefits. No hiding like a fucking pussy. No telling Cap. Expires when she moves out.
Yeah, I’m on fucking board. And right now, with her beautiful ocean blues glazed with desire, and my dick just about ready to burst through my jeans, I don’t even feel guilty about it.
My hand slides up to fist the pretty blond knot in her hair, and I tilt her face up to mine so my lips can seal our fate. There’s nothing unsure about them as they cover Beth’s, and the moment her sweet taste infiltrates my senses, I’m fucking done for.
I don’t stop for air until she’s breathless, and I pull her gently by that silky, golden knot, guiding her back flat down onto the couch as I climb over her.
“So, friends with benefits, eh?” The needy rasp in my voice makes it hard to sound light and playful. “What kind of benefits?”
Beth breathes out a short laugh. “I think I already thoroughly demonstrated what kind of benefits, David,” she counters, her mouth slightly turned up at one corner, its corresponding dimple peeking out as she tries to fight that mischievous little smirk that always manages to hit me right in the chest.
I grin wolfishly. “My favorite kind, then.” My mouth crashes back to hers, and I run my hands over every inch of her enticing silhouette, taking full advantage of their newly upgraded security clearance. They travel every weaving, winding path of her body from her chest to her ass and every place in between, claiming every hill and valley, every groove and contour—exploring the tantalizing, forbidden curves I’ve just risked my oldest friendship for a taste of. And my fuck are they worth it.
Beth’s legs open to cradle my hips between her thighs, and her hands delve into the hair at my nape, grasping it hard enough to sting. I feel it right in my throbbing cock, which grinds against her of its own volition.
Fuck, she kisses like everyone should. Wild, unbridled—no thought, all feeling. Suddenly the need to feel her skin-to-skin becomes desperate and urgent, and I’m peeling her top—and its built-in sports bra—up and over her head barely a second after my own shirt hits the floor.
Her breasts are absolutely magnificent, and they keep my hands and mouth busy for several minutes, before my lips close around her nipple, drawing a moan that has my dick demanding out. Beth seems to be having the same thought, because her hands go to my belt buckle, slipping just barely beneath the waistline of my jeans and brushing teasingly back and forth. But instead of taking the hint, I reach for her waistline instead, and it isn’t until I get her fully naked and take almost a full minute to admire the utter perfection of her body that I come back to my own.
She watches with rapt interest as I finish undressing, and blushes again when I smirk at her. God, I love the way her body gives me a response even when her words don’t.
Beth’s deep blue eyes travel my body shamelessly before returning to mine, and the fire they meet me with emboldens me. My mouth takes hers violently, desperately, and her hands find my hair again—something I’m learning is a major fucking turn-on—as she wraps her legs around me. My throbbing hard-on slides against the softness between her legs, and we gasp together at the sensation.
