Page 47 of The Rules

“Tell the truth.”

Fire trickled down her neck and between her breasts. Low in her belly. “Yes. I want you.”

He picked her hand up and brushed his lips over her knuckles, so sweetly that she almost swooned. “Did you have fun tonight?”

“Yes.”

His cheek ticked up playfully, that flicker of danger going out in favor of his Good Boy smile. “Me too. So what’s it matter what we said we were or weren’t going to do?”

She had no answer to that. She was sure there was some sort of articulable reason why she and Dylan spending time together outside of their arrangement was wrong, but she didn’t have it. Sonya would have it, maybe Cat, but she couldn’t tell them. She’d promised. She was on her own. Just her and Dylan making decisions together.

They were utterly screwed.

“I should go.” Dylan heard himself say the words, but his body made no attempt to make good on it. They hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights when they’d come back to Dani’s apartment, leaving a trail of formalwear from the front door to her bedroom, and it was too dark to see her expression, to tell if she was going to let him stay.

He put his hand on her back, feeling the way it rose and fell smoothly like she was near sleep. It was early morning now, a few hours until dawn. As they’d made their way out of the city, the humid air had materialized into a soft, late summer drizzle. Now the steady sound of rain beat against the window. Fuck, he didn’t want to move. Dani’s naked body was like a furnace beside him. He wanted to curl up next to her, bury his face in her hair. Breathe her in while he gave in to sleep.

She was right, what she’d said in the car about them spending time like this together. He’d been thinking the same thing outside on the terrace—how nothing about tonight had felt like a part of their deal, or her doing him a favor by playing a part. It felt fun and easy. Listening to her have his back with Mrs. Jansen had sent a ripple of pleasure down his spine that he usually only got from sex.

And this, falling asleep beside her, this felt good too.

But neither one of them had any business exploring that if this arrangement was going to work, and he wasn’t giving up the short time he had with Dani because she’d decided to go all analytical on him.

He smiled to himself at the way she’d been lying like dead weight beside him for half an hour, still in a daze. He was pretty sure he’d fixed that for now.

“Relax, Dylan,” she said into her pillow. “I’m not going to kick you out.”

“Isn’t staying over against the rules?” Even as he pretended to argue, he closed his eyes in relief and pulled the sheet up around them.

“This is all against the rules.”

He smiled, but something worried him on the heels of his victory. “I promise this wasn’t what I was trying for when I asked you to go with me tonight.” He let his lips brush the back of her shoulder. “I’ll go if you want me to. No hard feelings.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

The quickness of her answer settled it.

“All right, then. Let’s get rid of the no cuddling rule too. Just for tonight.”

She groaned a half-hearted protest as he wrapped his arm around her belly and tugged her back to his chest.

“Just for tonight,” she breathed, a soft sigh escaping when he rested his chin on her head. “And then we go back to normal.”

Eighteen

“You, Dani-pie, are missing out.”Dylan took a bite of the ginormous sub he’d ordered, moaning dramatically as he chewed.

She scrunched her nose. “How can you eat all that salty meat?”

“Capicola, salami, prosciutto. This isn’t just meat, it’s the food of the gods.”

She spread extra tzatziki sauce on her chicken gyro and pushed some lettuce back in that had fallen out onto the foil wrapper. “It’s going to give you a stomachache.”

It had been three weeks and two more of Dani’s soulmate dates since the Jansen party, and sharing a meal on Friday nights had become part of their routine. Incredible sex on some surface in her condo, then a new takeout choice and a bad movie. They both had to eat, and eating across from Dani in a pair of tiny cotton shorts and a tank top with no bra was quickly becoming his favorite way to dine.

Tonight, her hair was up in a tight little knot on the very top of her head, and her cheeks still glowed from exertion. It was adorable and hot as hell.

He took a pepperoncini from his sandwich and dropped it on the makeshift plate on her lap. She popped it into her mouth.

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