Page 65 of Doing It for Love

I shake my head and wave an apology, quickening my pace.

I am in engagement hell. If only I could convince Landon to cheat just a little bit, then maybe I could erase at least some of the tension. Even if it won’t solve a damn thing, I’d at least get my clitoris to stop yelling at me every time he says something romantic. Or smiles. Or exists.

Yeah, a little finger action should be doable. It’s not like we’re havingsexsex. Just making it so we both get through hell with our heads.

I get to the elevator, talking to myself again, coming up with a way to say, “I need a trip to Chocolateville” without completely giving up on the bet. My mind is still blank by the time I reach my floor.

There’s a light mumbling as I open the door and Landon snaps his lips shut as if he’s been talking to himself too. His hair is a mess. A good mess. I want to mess it up more. Sweet Georgia pie, I’m never going to make it.

And damn I want pie.

“How…how was your walk?” he asks. The tension is so thick in the room I have to push myself a step forward.

“Fine. Yep, fine. Cold, but I’m fine.” I shiver, just realizing I forgot to bring a coat.

Landon nods. Scratches his elbow. His hair is wet from a shower, and a tiny suspicious thought flies through my head that he cheated in there, but the tension in his back, the flex of his jaw, the short, tight movements he makes chase that thought away.

“Are you still mad at me?” I blurt. He stops looking past me and looks right at me, taking cautious breaths, and he shakes his head.

“I just…damn it.”

He tears at his hair and starts pacing. Pacing, pacing, pacing, and I’m trying not to give in, trying not to attack, trying not to grab him and give him the ride of his life, all while yelling “Yee-haw!”

Then he looks at me, fire blazing in his eyes and shouts, “I just want to touch something!”

I’m struck dumb, watching him take two steps toward me, two steps back, and repeat it. My fingers twitch at my sides, and my brain tells them to stop it.

He lets out a long breath, drops his head, and starts talking to the floor. “Can I…can I have a hypothetical conversation with you?”

I nod.

“If we get back to the real reason why you want to take this break, it’s because you want our wedding night to be special, right?”

I nod.

“I do, too. But as it sits, if we make it, the night will be special for about ten seconds.”

My eyes flick to the hard line in his shorts, then back to his face when he looks up at me. My heart feels like it’s thumping in my nethers, and it’s like the answer to my frustrated ramblings, so I gulp and say, “That makes complete sense.”

Landon’s gray eyes widen. “I’m not saying we do it.”

“Neither am I.”

“But maybe just help each other out…once a week until the wedding.”

“Once a month.”

“Once every two weeks.”

“A month.”

He hesitates, but I hold my ground. Any more than a month and I’ll be caving by week two. And then our love life will be stale like it was right before the bet.

No, not stale. Just…not askapow!

“Reasonable,” he says.

“Harmless.”

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