“Thank you,” she sighs.
A chuckle escapes me. “No one’s ever thanked me for sex before.”
“It’s not just that,” she hums, sounding satisfied. “For all of it. For today. Just…thank you.”
She buries her face deeper into my chest as she says it, and I feel an explosion of butterflies in my stomach at the softness of her tone. It’s the same feeling when I’ve scored a winning goal, when I’ve made Dee smile—it’s a pure happiness that comes from doing somethingright.
I think to myself then that if she would let me hold her like this forever, that might not be so bad.
“We could do it again,” I tell her.
She snorts. “You’re going to have to give me a little recovery time there, bed buddy.”
“No,” I laugh. “I meant all of it. We could…We could go somewhere. Together.”
She leans back, meeting my eyes. “More friend outings?”
“Or…like a date,” I try, those butterflies in my stomach mutating into something more violent as my heart starts to thud.
“A date,” she echoes.
“Sure,” I say with more confidence than I feel. “People do that. Movies, dinner, et cetera…It might be fun.”
“And you want to do that…with me?”
“I told you, I—” I swallow thickly, gathering my courage. “I…like you, Abby. I’d like to see where this goes. If you’ll let me.”
She studies me for a long moment, one where it’s near impossible to tell what she’s thinking, and with every second I feel my anxiety ratcheting higher, suddenly worried I’ve pushed her too far.
So it’s an utter relief when her lips tilt into a soft smile, one that’s almost shy.
“We could do that,” she says quietly. “If you want.”
I can feel my cheeks growing tight with the strength of my answering smile. “I want.”
“Since youlikeme,” she teases.
“Mm.” I slide my lips against hers, still smiling. “You like me too.”
“I plead the Fifth.”
“That’s fine,” I tell her. “I’ll just have to force it out of you.”
“And how do you think you’ll do that?”
I roll our bodies until mine covers hers, propping up on my forearms to grin down at her. I tilt my hips to rub my spent cock between her legs, feeling it twitch with renewed interest.
“I have my ways,” I say.
Her smile is sweet, but her eyes spark with challenge.
“We’ll see about that.”
I don’t even mind that she won’t admit it.
I’ve got plenty of time to get it out of her.
Twenty-Three
