Page 146 of Toxic Temptation
“Because we need… First, we needrules.Boundaries. This has to stay casual and practical. Practical most of all.”
“Practical,” I echo.
“Yes. We’re both adults with needs. This doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be simple.”
I push off from the door and walk toward her slowly. “What makes you thinkIwant to keep it simple?”
She takes another step back. “Because that’s what this is. It has to be. We’re not… We don’t have feelings for each other. This is just physical.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.” But her answer comes out too fast to tell the whole story. “And I need you to know that I don’t usually… I mean, I don’t do this kind of thing.”
“What kind of thing?”
“Casual sex. One-night stands.” Her cheeks flush. “Do… do you?”
I hide my grin. I know exactly what she wants to know, but the tremor, the hope warring with the hopelessness—it’s all part of the foreplay in my eyes. It’ll make it so much better when I give her everything she never knew she needed.
“Do I what?”
She stands defiantly. Bottomless, though, which undercuts her fire. I don’t mind. The tease is foreplay. The fire is foreplay. The shadows clustered where her thighs meet are foreplay, too.
It’s all foreplay. It’s all been foreplay from the very fucking beginning.
“How many women have you been with?” she demands.
“Does it matter?”
“I’d like to know what I’m getting into.”
I stop walking, crossing my arms. “I don’t keep count.”
“Ballpark it then.”
“Too many to remember.”
She flinches, and I see the hurt flash across her face before she covers it.
“Good,” she says. “That’s perfect. So you understand this is just… meaningless.”
“Meaningless.”
“Right. No emotions. No complications.” She lifts her chin. “Can you handle that?”
I stare at her for a long moment. She’s trying so hard to control this, to make it safe. To protect herself from getting hurt.
I’m not going to let her.
“Take off your shirt.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Her hands flutter to the hem of her scrub top, but she doesn’t move. “Maybe we should talk about this more first.”
“We’re done talking.” I take another step closer. “Take it off, or I’ll do it for you.”
