Page 42 of Just This Once

I can’t help it. I laugh. He does too.

“And, I don’t know… I really do think sexuality is a spectrum, and we’re all fluid in some respect.”

“I’ve never been with a woman or have even wanted to try.”

He hums curiously, his eyes roaming over my face as if in search of an answer, but I don’t know what the question is. “Never wondered what pussy tastes like?”

My skin heats, my cheeks on fire, and the way he licks his lips lets me knowhe knows.

“I feel bad for all the people who’ve never tasted yours. Sweet like honey. Hot like fresh coffee.”

Before I can stop myself, I admit, “That’s the entire world, except for two.”

He inhales sharply and turns to fully face me. “You’re telling me I’m one of two people who have ever had the pleasure of eating you out?”

When I nod, he goes positively wolfish, baring his teeth like he might bite my neck. I might let him.

“Fuck me, Taryn. I shouldn’t like that so much, but I do. I really fucking do.”

I ignore how blood pools between my legs, my core tingling with desire. “You were saying you did some experimenting…?”

He moves to stand in front of me, caging me in with his hands on the table on either side of me. I briefly worry about the kids seeing us, but we’re mostly hidden by whatever he’s building. Besides, I can’t concentrate on much of anything other than what it feels like to be the center of his attention.

I think I’m starting to crave it.

The moment when his pupils expand.

The way he watches me so closely.

His gaze is a phantom touch everywhere it glides over me.

I’d always worried about addiction running in the family. Who knew it would be the way this man makes me feel—wanton and lustful—that is my new habit?

“I used to hang out with this guy who was in my one community college class,” Dante tells me, forcing my attention to his voice and away from the painful way my nipples have pebbled beneath my shirt, how my blood has pooled between my legs.

“It was this required writing course, and I was failing, of course. So, he said he’d help me out, and…” Dante lifts a careless shoulder, even though his gaze is set on my mouth. “One night, one thing led to another, and he gave me a blow job. I liked it, so I returned the favor, but I’ve never really thought too hard about what that makes me. I’ve never felt the need to label myself.”

He shifts, his hands slipping under my coat to my waist, hips pressing against mine. “An orgasm is an orgasm, right? Does it matter how you get it or who gives it to you?”

I swallow thickly. I’ve never thought about it like that. Although I have no time to answer, because he goes on, his lips grazing my ear. “Unless it’s the best orgasm you’ve ever had. Then it matters, huh? When you’ve had a taste of heaven, you want it again.” His thumb finds my bare skin under my shirt. “I want to taste heaven again, duchess. Let me taste it.”

I almost—almost—let him. But as much as I want to say yes, I have to say no. I need to provide dinner for my children and then have a discussion with Jake.

I have my whole life to consider.

He doesn’t have the same constraints, and it’s easy for him to play it off as only sex.

I can’t do that.

Before I even speak, Dante knows my answer. He backs away, his fingers trailing my hips until they completely fall away. “If you need anything, I’m here for you.” With a glance to the house, he adds, “And the kids.”

“I appreciate you,” I say, avoiding touching him as I pass by, heading for the back door, when I remember his bandanna that I have stuffed in my coat pocket. I lift it, ready to throw it to him, but he holds up his hand.

“Keep it. I’ve got, like, seventeen of them.”

“Of course you do,” I say more to myself than him, chewing on the inside of my cheek to refrain from smiling.

Inside, I order a few cheeseburgers and fries from Benny’sthen head upstairs to Jake’s room, where I knock on the door. His voice is weary. “Yeah?”

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