“Continue,” I said.
“What if we extended our deal. You know, we’re already living together, which makes it very convenient. We’re both always home at night, so it’s not like we’re seeing anyone else. Unless you are and you aren’t telling me?”
“When would I be doing that? Of course I’m not.” I shrugged, keeping my voice even, though my heart rate spiked at the suggestion to extend our deal.
It shocked me that she wondered if I was hooking up with anyone else. It was obvious that she didn’t have a clue howfucking difficult it had been for me to be sleeping across the hall from her, wanting her the way I did.
“So we could maybe agree to continuing with Operation Exploration,” she said, her cheeks turning a darker shade of pink than usual. “And if you decide you want to see other women, we just end the agreement immediately, because that’s where we’d run into problems.”
Other women?
When I was with Gracie, no one else even existed. I didn’t think about anyone else. Only her.
“Let me make sure I’m understanding the agreement. We can fool around, like a friends-with-benefits type of thing, as long as neither of us are seeing other people? Because that works both ways.”
“That’s not a problem for me. You’re the one with a shorter attention span.” Her eyebrows shot up playfully, but I wasn’t paying attention to her teasing at the moment.
“I assure you my attention is focused on you right now. And that means I’m all in. And for you? No other men,” I said, voice low, deliberate. “Not while I have this time with you. When I’m with you, I want all of you—every kiss, every touch, every taste, every inch. You’re mine…for now.”
My God, even saying it didn’t quiet the image of her in my mind.
Her lips parted, her chest rising and falling. “So we could do this for as long as we feel like it’s working, and when I move away, we just pretend it never happened and go back to being besties without the benefits.”
“Fair enough. But I have some stipulations,” I said, reaching for the whip on the table and running it along the inside of her thigh as she sucked in a breath.
“Tell me,” she whispered.
“Tits and lips. I want both.” My eyes roved over her chest, trailing slowly up to her mouth.
“What does that mean?” she asked, words strained and breathless.
“It means that I want to kiss you. I can’t fool around without kissing. It’s not intimate.” My hands flexed as I fought the urge to pull her close and kiss her right here, right now.
“I thought that was the point?” she asked as she bit her bottom lip.
“Well, we’re changing the rules. And this is a deal-breaker for me.” I met her gaze head-on. “I get to kiss you when we’re together.”
I moved the point of the whip higher up beneath her denim skirt and stroked along her core as she gasped. “Okay. We can kiss when you want to. As long as you don’t think it will make things weird between us.”
“Gracie. We’re in an antiques store, negotiating our friends-with-benefits contract, while I’m stroking a whip between your thighs. I’d say we passed ‘weird’ when we walked through the door.”
“Fair enough. So kissing is on the table. And what is it that you want with my boobs?” she asked, a little moan escaping her lips when I used the edge of the whip to stroke her clit.
I already knew the answer to that question.
Because I’d be eating Gracie Reynolds’s pussy for dinner if we could get these terms ironed out.
“It’s open season with your tits. I get to see them. Kiss them. Lick them. Fuck them.” I pulled the whip from between her thighs and moved it to her breasts, where I circled each of her perfect tits.
Again, with her mouth dropping open.
And she clearly noted the expression on my face, because she clamped it closed immediately.
“Okay. Deal. But I think we should keep sex off the table. That might be pushing things too far. But maybe we decide as we go on that one?” she asked, her voice husky and laced with need.
“We can leave it off the table for now. We’ve got plenty to work with.” I leaned forward, speaking against her ear. “Let’s go.”
She nodded, her gaze lingering on my hand when I set the whip down.
