Page 13 of Every Hidden Truth

“That’s really too bad,” I said, unable to stop myself from teasing him. “I bet we’d be pretty damn good at phone sex.”

“I, uh, I’ve never had phone sex.”

His innocent confession made me smile, and I dropped the sass. “That’s okay. I haven’t, either.”

“That’s really not why I called.”

“I know that. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

“I don’t wear panties.”

“Damn, maybe I like a boy in panties.”

“Not that I’m kink-shaming, but I don’t think I want to wear women’s underthings.”

I muffled my laugh in my pillow. “Underthings? Seriously? You’re such a nerd!”

“Come on.” The gravel in his voice made his laugh ridiculously sexy. “Pantiesis a terrible word! Likecurdledorphlegm.”

“Okay, note to self: don’t use the wordscurdled, phlegm,orpantieswhen I’m trying to seduce you.”

“And we’re back to phone sex.”

“Hey, you called me, mister.” I sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. “Don’t get cold feet now.”

An exaggerated sigh echoed in my ear. “Okay, well, I only called to see if you wanted to get breakfast, but now I’m rescinding the invitation.”

“Like a date?” I asked, trying to smother the nervous excitement bubbling in my chest.

A pregnant pause followed before he cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, like a date. If you want.”

“I’ve never been on a date,” I admitted.

“Well, then it’s about time that changed.” Sheets rustled on the other line as he shifted in his bed. “I’ll come pick you up in an hour, if you want.”

It took all my self-control not to do a victory jig in my bedroom as I kept my voice calm and collected. “Okay, cool.”

“I figured I owe you. You know, for keeping you up late making out.”

I bit my lip and dropped my voice to a purr. “Trust me, baby, I’m not opposed to you keeping me up late.”

“Stop trying to have phone sex with me!”

“Oh, it’s gonna happen. It’s practically expected of boyfriends.”

The moment the words left my mouth, my eyes widened, and I bit my tongue hard enough to hurt. I pulled the phone away from my ear and smacked myself on the forehead.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“Uh, I mean—erm…”

“Is it?” Ben said, voice a little shaky. “I’ll try not to disappoint then.”

Wait, what? My heartbeat kicked into high gear, but I tried to play it cool. “You wanna be my boyfriend?”

“Are you asking me to be your boyfriend?”

“I, uh.” My brain glitched, my throat closing up in panic. “I mean, we could, um, do that. If you want.”

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