Page 23 of Friends with Benefits (Club Risqué)

Had he pushed, she would have found it very much easier to deny him, but since he simply stood there, quietly, those soulful hazel eyes serious, with a tiny hint of puppy dog, but not enough to make her think he was hamming it up, she found herself all the more torn.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, Christian," she sighed honestly.

"Just give it a chance, Taryn, please? Give it until the weekend. Three days. After that, if you still think it's not going to work, we’ll ask Micah to alter things next week. In the interim, we can take everything just as slowly as you like."

Trinity felt unbelievably awkward. She’d known this man better than anybody else who’d ever entered her life, but the man—or the Dom—he had become was an unknown quantity.

Things were the same and yet completely different, and that unsettled her. She couldn't quite work out where she stood. It was like being in the room with a stranger and yet one she knew intimately.

Trinity didn't automatically recognise how to interact with him, and that made her nervous because she couldn't identify what to do for the best.

If she refused his request, would she end up regretting it for the rest of her life? Because this surely would be the last time either of them made any kind of effort. Or would agreeing to the few days he asked for just dredge up the past in the worst possible way?

Then there was the million-dollar question—could she trust herself?

Was it possible for her to have any realistic kind of interaction with Christian without falling right back under his spell?

She had never really gotten over him; that was the real issue here.

Whether she still loved him or not, Trinity wasn't quite sure, but she feared that if she spent any kind of quality time with him, there was a significant danger that she might find herself right back where she started. And she really didn't want to go through all that heartbreak again.

That was when reality struck her square between the eyes with the force of a physical blow.

Bianca!

When she turned to look at him, her expression was deliberately blank once again. "I'm sorry, Christian, but I do have certain standards. While I realise a lot of couples within the lifestyle swing and share, I'm afraid I refuse to scene with a married man without the express approval of his spouse… And maybe not even then," she said stiffly, reaching for the intercom once more.

This time, Christian's hand covered hers gently, stilling it before she could hit the button.

He sucked in an audible breath before he hit her with the bombshell. "I'm not married anymore," he grated out through a clenched jaw. "I haven't been for over four years."

Trinity stood stock still, taking in everything he’d just said, her head spinning in confusion. A multitude of emotions coursed through her mind, one after another, but tripping over themselves for prominence.

She tried to sift through them.

If he had been divorced that long, then he couldn't have been married even a full year. Things must have fallen apart within months of her return to the south coast.

Did that even matter? It didn't change anything that happened before; it just meant he had no ties for her to worry about right now.

In fact, maybe it was worse; it meant he'd thrown away years of friendship over a flash-in-the-pan relationship which had lasted a matter of months.

Pulling her hand away from the intercom and using it to pull her around to face him, Christian used his other hand to tip her chin, so she was forced to look him straight in the eye.

This time, he did touch her, his fingertips and his palm chasing across the sensitive skin of her face until his fingers sifted through the short strands of her hair and his palm cupped her cheek.

Right then and there, Trinity knew she was in danger.

Her skin started to tingle at his barest touch, and she couldn't stop the shudder that skittered down her spine.

It had always been this way. One touch was all it had ever taken.

Closing her eyes, she screwed them up tight, not wanting to look at him as her breaths began to come in short, sharp pants. He dropped her hand then, but only so he could pull her closer until there was no space between them at all, and the heat of his body fairly scorched her.

"Look at me," Christian demanded, his voice deepening in command and his breath hot against her cheek.

Trinity found her eyes flying open with the innate, inbred desire to obey. As soon as she did, she found herself falling into those dark, unique eyes she’d always adored.

Christian rubbed his thumb across her lower lip and instinctively she opened to him, drowning in bittersweet desire, even while she felt torn in two opposing directions.

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