Page 63 of Stay

“Lots of dirty, dirty things, I hope, Mr. Landmark,” she says.

Yeah, my dick really goes crazy with that.

“You…I—” I groan, holding the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “You’re not playing fair,” I finally say, laughing again.

“If that’s what it takes,” she says, shrugging.

My eyes narrow on her and she presses her lips together, trying to keep a straight face.

“I’m trying to do the right thing here,” I say hoarsely.

“The right thing would be to show me a little fun,” she says. She runs her finger over her lips and I watch spellbound. “And since it’d only be in private anyway,” she lifts her shoulder again, “what could it hurt?”

“I don’t want to hurtyou,” I tell her.

Her eyes flash in defiance. “What makes you think I can’t handle myself? I’ll remind you again, Sutton—I’m not a child. We’re both adults here. We can decide what this is and keep it just that.”

What she’s saying sounds fucking fantastic in theory, but it’s just that, conjecture. Feeling all keyed up the way I do over a kiss? It could get sketchy real fast. And she’s young and it could get confusing once sex is involved.

There I go again thinking about her age, butfuck, I’ve got thirteen years and a lot of life on her.

“You could do that?” I ask.

“Couldyou?” she asks, putting it back on me.

And dammit, part of me is not sure if I could, but I want her bad enough that I’m willing to try.

“Yes,” I say.

Her eyes brighten and her lips lift in a grin so seductive, I almost take back my answer.

This is probably a really bad idea.

But something tells me we’ll be right back here repeatedly until we try this out.

“I’ll put Owen to bed and make sure he’s out. We’ll have to be careful. He can’t think there’s anything going on between us.” I look at her pointedly and she nods.

“I agree.”

“Okay. If you still want to do this, stay, and if not, I’ll know your answer.”

“You already know my answer. I’ll be back in half an hour,” she says, moving toward the back door.

I race up the stairs, heart pounding in anticipation. Are we really doing this? Owen is in his room, picking out pajamas.

“Did you brush your teeth yet?” I pick up his wet towel and give him the parentalwhat was this doing on the floor?look.

He grins and takes it, passing me to hang it in the bathroom.

“I brushed my teeth,” he says over his shoulder. “Can I have cake for breakfast?”

I laugh and motion for him to get in bed. When he does, I tuck him in and lean over to pat his cheek and kiss him on the forehead. “I’m gonna say yes because I really want cake for breakfast too.” I start to laugh again.

He loves that, his face crinkling into his full-body laugh that is the best sound on earth.

“I love that cake and I love Felicity,” he says.

I nod solemnly. I could say the very same thing.

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