Page 303 of Mad Girl

“Why?”

“Because you’ve just had a head injury.”

“So?”

“So no one’s having a wank while you’re recovering, Elliot.”

“It was a week ago, and there’s nothing at all the matter with my hand.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” you muttered, briefly tossing your head back.

“Is it possible for a girl to even be wanked?”

You suppressed a smile. “To be wanked off? Yes.”

“Want something else true?”

“Strangely,” you said, peering past me, “I’m afraid to say yes again.”

“That time I was sick, and you were all sprawled out on my bed in those thin black joggers you have? Oh my God. They’re very revealing, you know.”

You lifted a brow. “So it wasn’t the fever talking.”

I shook my head. “And the little black swim trunks you wear every summer? They make me hot and tingly all over.”

“Yeah?” It had come out breathless.

“Yeah. I frequently wank off to the memory of you in those shorts.”

“Jesus Christ.” You squeezed your eyes shut. Made a deep, rumbly sound in the back of your throat. Swallowed hard. “It’s time for us to stop talking and go to sleep now.”

“Not nice of you to get a girl going, then tell her to go to sleep.”

“Hush,” you said, laying your fingers over my lips, “before I pick you up and carry you back to your sofa.”

“Sounds hot.”

“You think I’m joking, but I’m—Elliot, I’m actually quite serious.” The way you stumbled over those words, Casey, made me think I had some power after all. “You’re making it exceedingly difficult for me to behave right now.”

“That’s kind of the point.”

You brushed your thumb across my lips. “This mouth.”

“Merry Christmas, Casey,” I said with a smile.

“Happy Christmas, darling,” you said, lowering your head for a kiss.

I pushed you back as something bright and warm settled inside my chest, filling me full. “Darling?”

“Yes,” you said, voice especially deep, your rapidly beating heart pressing against my palm. You leaned forward again, fingers sliding across my leggings, gripping my hip. “Don’t make a thing of it, okay? Let me call you darling.”

“I’m not making it a thing. It’s just…no one’s ever called me that before.”

“Good.” You nipped at my jaw, your day-old stubble scraping my skin. “That’s the way I prefer it. I can be the first. The only one.”

The rough, possessive tone of your voice made my heart skip as I captured your mouth with mine and kissed you back, hard enough to make you groan.

When you broke the kiss, I shimmied down the sofa, tucking my head underneath your chin and tossing my leg over your hip.