Page 124 of Vicious Temptation

His hands cup my face, and his mouth finds mine before I can tease him again.

Friends with benefits. It’s what we’re supposed to be, what we agreed to. What we need to be. Except right now, with his hands on me and the last of our laughter fading between kisses, it doesn’t feel nearly that simple.

I pop the button on his jeans and nip at the side of his throat. He laughs, and presses his forehead to mine, breathing hard.

“It’s just sex, Braga. Don’t overthink it.”

A rough laugh escapes him. “You have no idea how badly I want to fold you over this truck and fuck you until you cry for me, fera.”

I run my tongue across the corner of his mouth. “Do it.”

His eyes close briefly, then open again. “I don’t have a condom, baby,” he says against my lips. “So stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re trying to ruin me...ruin my self-control.”

I smile. “Maybe I am.”

His hand slides around my throat, his breathing unsteady.

Fuck.

“Don’t test me, Remi.”

“Why?”

“Because when it comes to you, I’m starting to realize I can’t say no.”

I should make a joke. Deflect. Turn this into something I know how to handle before either of us says anything we can’t take back. Instead, I reach for him, and he pulls me into his arms. I’ve spent most of my life making damn sure I never needed anyone to make me feel safe, but sitting here, wrapped around this man, I let myself feel it anyway.

“If you’re not going to fuck me, where’s that dinner you promised?”

His chest shakes with laughter. “I know just the place. And I am going to fuck you.”

I grin and let him pull me closer one last time before slipping from his grasp.

Dinner. Sex. No strings.

I can handle that. It’s everything else happening between us that I’m starting to worry about.

Thirty-Three

thiago

“Afood truck?”

“Is a food truck beneath you, Remi Isabel?” I ask as I throw the truck in park and turn toward her.

Her nose scrunches immediately. “Don’t you ever call me by my full name.”

I laugh. “Why not?”

“Because only my mom uses it when she’s pissed off or trying to prove a point. And the only other time a man should say it is when he’s on one knee, holding a pretty little box with a ring. So, basically, never.”

She keeps talking before I can respond, which is probably a good thing because I have absolutely no idea what the fuck I’d say to that.

“And to answer your first question, no, of course not. Val and I love trying different street vendors. It’s kind of our thing when she’s back home, and it’s sort of a running joke about my Uncle Derek.”