Page 54 of Faking Ties

I grab the dish back from her. “That’s not how it works.”

“What are you talking about?” She grabs the dish from me again. “Of course, that’s how it works.”

“It’s not.” I steal the soap, and she spins toward me.

“Give that back,” she demands, hands on her hips.

“Make me.” I hold it out of her reach and wave it from side to side.

Instead of going for the soap, she grabs the back of my head and slams her lips to mine. The second our lips touch, all thoughts of dishes and soap disappear and all I can focus on is her. I’m so lost in our kiss that when she pulls back, I’m confused. That is until I see her smile, wide and bright, and the soap in her hand.

She bursts into laughter at whatever expression is on my face.

“You play dirty.” I tickle her ribs and she shrieks and wiggles, trying to get out of my hold. I grab her hips to keep her in place. “You thief—” We both freeze at the same time. My hands aren’t touching her shirt anymore, but bare skin. Which means she isn’t wearing any underwear. The breath whooshes out of me and I give her a heated look. “Do you sleep naked?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Yes, yes, I would.” I should stop, pull away and pretend like this never happened. But my hands are having a difficult time getting the memo. Instead, they’re glued to her hips, my thumbs making small circles that send a shiver through her.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she says, but she doesn’t pull away.

“Because it’s fake?” I ask.

She nods. “And it blurs the lines between us.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t know…probably?”

I move to pull away from her, but she places her hands on top of mine, keeping them on her hips.

“That wasn’t a no,” she says, spreading her legs a little more.

“But it also wasn’t a yes.” I trail my fingers across her hips to her front, right above her clit. “What’s your plan here?”

“I…” She trails off, her previous confidence disappearing between one breath and the next. Her wide eyes are full of a plea, but one I don’t understand. “I just need some stress relief. Is that a problem?”

Is it? I’m not sure. It implies that she wants to keep what’s between us fake, but it also doesn’t match her earlier statement that being intimate blurs the lines or the fact that she wants my hands on her. It’s confusing, and I’m not sure what to do. Of course, I’m dying to touch her again, to have her for real. But she’s also more than a one-night stand for me, and until she understands that, I don’t want to have sex. Either way, we’re going to have a conversation about that status of our relationship tomorrow morning after we both get some sleep.

“I’ll happily provide you relief,” I say. “Anytime, anywhere. But you’ll only get my fingers tonight.” I slide my fingers between her legs and swirl them through her wetness. “Is this all for me?” She moans when I add a second finger inside of her.

She nods and grips the edge of the counter. When Iadd a third finger and scissor them, she makes a garbled sound.

“Does this feel fake?” She nods and I bite her neck. Squeezing her breast with my free hand, I pump my fingers inside her. “How about now?”

She moans and I tug at her nipple. “Or now?”

I suck on her neck, and she detonates in record time. Stella orgasming is my new favorite sight in the world.

When her body stops shuddering, she turns in my arms and kisses me. Kisses me like she’s ready for more. Kisses me like maybe she likes me.

“What about you?” She places her hand on my dick, and it jumps, as if trying to get closer to her.

“I don’t care about me.” I place my hands on hers and bring them to my lips, kissing her palms. “You’re not a random hookup, you’re more.”

“What does that mean?”

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow, once we’ve slept.”

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