Page 39 of Friends with Benefits (Club Risqué)

She knew better than to think she could get anything past him. "I forgot you were coming over," she replied lamely to his unspoken question.

Micah grinned and the smile lit up his 'surfer dude' facade and made him look decidedly boyish, despite his bodybuilder physique. "That temporary lapse in memory wouldn't have anything to do with that scorching hot scene I witnessed between you and Master Night yesterday, would it?" He leered in amusement.

Trinity felt the heat ride up her face even further, although she wasn't quite sure why she should be so mortified. They managed a BDSM club together, and their live sex licence meant that intercourse was often a part of the scenes that took place there. Not that she'd actually had sex, she reminded herself primly… but she had been begging for it, she knew.

As if he read her mind, Micah took a step closer and captured her chin in his hand, encouraging her to meet his amused gaze. "I don't recall ever hearing you beg to be fucked before, Trinity," he declared with a wicked laugh.

"Urgh!" Trinity bowed her head and buried it in the broad width of his chest. Micah just laughed all the louder and scooped her up in his powerful arms, striding with her into the bedroom.

Eying the clearly made but crumpled bed before he tossed her on it and pulled his straining tee-shirt over his head, he asked, "Is someone horny, by any chance?"

Trinity looked blankly back at him. Suddenly, none of this seemed right anymore. The thought of having no strings sex with Micah left her cold, despite her raging libido, and had her stomach churning with nausea.

"Problem?" Micah asked perceptively.

Trinity frowned and kneeled up on the bed, determinedly pulling off the flimsy sundress she was wearing. "No," she denied as she pulled the garment over her head, leaving her clothed in just a comfortable pair of lacy boy shorts and struggling with the desire to cover herself with her hands. That was a first. Normally, serving Micah on a sustained, if irregular, basis was one of the things that gave her the most pleasure in life.

Damn Christian! She knew this unexpected impression that she was cheating was because of him.

Sure, she had asked for exclusivity, but only once their contract had been consummated. After that, she would return the same compliance to him, but they hadn't made it that far yet. And damn it, she couldn't afford for him to have this kind of adverse effect on her life.

In a few weeks, he would be gone, and she would still be here, trying to live her life to the best of her ability, without him once again. Trinity tried hard to clutch hold of that; she would still be here, and so would Micah. It wasn't fair to throw over their long-term arrangement for the sake of a short-term contract.

Micah settled his bulk onto the bed next to her. "You're distracted," he noted, grasping the longer tufts of hair on the crown of her head, and pulling her head back so he could feast on the soft skin of her neck.

The pull on her scalp and the feel of his mouth in that quietly erogenous zone sent electricity skittering down her spine, but before they could ignite in her intimate places, the feeling sputtered and died.

She knew Micah had felt her stiffen, and fought to relax in his arms and allow him to reignite the pleasurable sensations. But when his mouth cruised down her throat toward her breasts, she arched up and knew, in her heart, that it was in an effort to buck him off rather than to encourage him.

Micah knew it, too. He was far too astute to mistake any kind of body language, either willingly or unwittingly.

He leaned back on his elbow and looked down at her as she lay by his side.

"Talk to me, Trinity," he demanded. "I can tell you're not on board with this; I just don't know why. Is it because you need me to do something different, or is there another reason entirely?"

He trailed his big hand across one of her collarbones and down her arm, watching intently as goose bumps lifted in the wake of his touch, but intensely aware of how Trinity flinched and then cringed in direct contradiction.

When she said nothing, Trinity should have realised that he would make his own, uncomfortably vocal, assessment.

"Your body is humming, and you're horny as hell, as I suspected when I came in," he pondered. "But your head is in a completely different place and denying the pleasure of my touch."

His melted chocolate gaze seared into her silvery one. "Is it just me?" he wondered out loud, watching the minutiae of her expressions very carefully. "Or is there something distracting your enjoyment?"

Her eyes tightened, and although she thought it was almost indiscernible, she knew Micah was watching her closely enough to see it. They’d been friends for long enough that he knew her well, and Trinity knew he was confused by her responses.

As if following a gut instinct, he ran his fingers down the line of her sternum, in between her breasts and down to her abdomen, stroking gently there and feeling her belly quiver beneath his touch. Evaluating her every response.

A sheen of tears welled in her eyes, and with a sigh, Micah rolled onto his back and pulled her with him until she was sprawled halfway across him, cradled in his strong, comforting arms with her head resting on his bare chest.

“Are you going to tell me?" he enquired. "Or do you want me to continue with my own evaluation?"

Trinity didn't reply right away. She didn't know what to say, but she pressed an affectionate kiss onto the smooth skin of his clavicle and moved her hand to play, distractedly, in his crinkly chest hair.

"Okay, let me start then, and you can correct me if I'm wrong," Micah continued when nothing more was forthcoming.

"Your body is massively over-stimulated." He ran his broad palm down the length of her spine, and they both felt the telltale shiver which followed. "I would hazard a guess that it's due to your scene from last night, since, although Master Night managed to have you begging for sex, he also denied you intercourse."

Trinity buried her face further into Micah's shoulder and wished her hair was still long enough to use as a curtain against his shrewd gaze and even shrewder mind.

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