Page 54 of Just This Once

She smiles.

So do I.

Then I stand and reach for a small folded towel. Taryn gets herself dressed as I open my fly, cleaning myself up to her snickers. “You really did come in yourpants.”

“Yeah, well, I love the taste of your pussy, and your moans are hotter than any porn I’ve ever seen. So… It’s your fault.”

She huffs, although she sounds quite pleased with herself, and takes the dirty towel from me when I finish, tossing it into a bucket with other dirty rags. “You’re a hazard to my work environment.”

“Absolute terror,” I agree, pulling her to me with my hands on her waist. “Should keep me locked up.”

“Not a bad idea.”

“In your basement.”

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”

I cluck my tongue. “Kinda hot thinking about you keeping me tied up except for when you want to come sit on my face.”

She turns away from me, mumbling, “I don’t know why the fuck I ever said yes.”

Me either. But she’s stuck with me now.

And I remember why I’m here in the first place. “Wait, hold on a sec. I gotta talk to you about something.”

She pivots to lean against the door. “I have to get back out there.”

“I know, but I wanted to give you a heads-up. I told Clara about us.”

Taryn freezes, the whites of her eyes huge. “What do you mean, youtoldher about us?”

“We had lunch today, and she figured it out. That we hooked up.”

“She already knew.”

“Yeah, but…I told her we did again.” I motion to the floor, where I’d been on my knees to fuck her with my tongue. I plan on doing it again. And again.

Taryn dips her chin, jaw working back and forth. “What exactly did you say?”

I rub my hands on my jeans, keeping it light and casual so Idon’t scare her away. “Nothing really, but you know her. It sorta slipped out when she was giving me shit about me smiling.”

She inhales an audible breath that makes me think she’s mentally counting to ten. Like I’m an annoying child. Then she opens her eyes to me, the playfulness from a minute ago completely gone. “You’realwayssmiling.”

I flop my hands out at my sides, trying for a joke. “Maybe I’m smiling differently.”

She rolls her eyes and swipes her hand over her face, grumbling my name. “Dante.Why? Why would you tell her?”

“She’s my friend. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because,” she growls. “It’s not… This isn’t…”

The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It is. This definitely is… “What?” I ask, forcing her to spit out the lies I know she tells herself. “What is it?”

“Nothing!” She mashes her lips together and closes her eyes like she didn’t mean to say it, but she did. I know she did. But I also know it’s not true.

What I felt—feel—transpire between us is real. It’s honest. The most basic truth between us.

“Nothing?”

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