Page 24 of Dangerously Tempting

She looks enraptured by my story, like she’s expecting it to get really good, so I finish up before she can get too many ideas into her head. “We kissed to test it out,” I say with a shrug. “He was into it, I was definitely not.”

Her lips form a small ‘o’ before she throws her head back and laughs. “So what I’m getting from this is that he was into you, and somehow your friendship survived you denying him.”

“I don’t think so,” I reply with a shrug. I’d never considered that, honestly. Surely that wasn’t the case? He would have said something, right? I shake off the thought, knowing that worrying about that right now will just be a waste of time. It’s something I’ll have to ask him, if for no reason other than my own peace of mind.

“I’m going to go order the food. Get comfortable, pick something and I’ll be right back.” She nods, even though she’s still giving me a look like I’m an idiot for not thinking my best friend could have had a thing for me. I scoff, moving into the kitchen to snag my phone and make the order.

When I come back she’s still scrolling, so we start talking about the movies we have and haven’t seen as she’s scrolling past them. Before we know it, the doorbell is ringing so I get up to grab our food from the delivery guy, snagging a couple plates and forks from the kitchen so we can stay in the living room.

I place everything on the table and open the bag to pull all the food containers out and open them up so we can just scoop out what we want. She makes a pleased sound, placing the remote on the table after she’s clicked play and the opening of the movie starts to play.

“Finally found one,” she says, doing a little shimmy beside me that makes me smile. I glance up at the screen as I fork out food onto one of the plates before I pass it to her, and chuckle when I see what she picked.

“A Knight’s Tale, huh?”

“It was either that or 10 Things I Hate About You. Ya know, the tried and true.”

“Have a thing for Heath Ledger, huh?”

“You knew he was in both movies. Do you have a thing for Heath Ledger?“ she asks, quirking her brow at me. “Have you seen Brokeback Mountain, too?”

“So it’s gonna be like that? Gay jokes at every opportunity?”

She raises her hands like she’s completely innocent. “Hey, now, having a thing for him just means liking his acting, not thinking he’s attractive. You’re the one that took it that way.”

“Me?” I ask with a laugh. “Is that why you turned that question onto me so quickly? Because it sure seems like you were trying to deflect from how attractive you think he is.“ I scoot back on the couch with my own plate of food as she scoffs at me and I smirk at her as I get comfortable.

“Yes, he’s cute, but it’s not even that. It’s the characters he plays and how he portrays them. He’s the guy that gets into your feelings and makes you root for him in most of his movies.”

I nod in agreement, knowing exactly what she means. “They’re very much ‘if you want something or someone and you try hard enough you’ll get them’ movies. Or… fake it till you make it, but romantic.”

She laughs, covering her mouth to hide the bite she took, and nods in agreement. We fall quiet as we both get absorbed into the movie and our food, and soon enough our plates are empty, our bellies full, and I pull the throw blanket off the back of the couch to cover us up as she rests against my side.

We’re laughing at the same times, commenting back and forth as the movie goes on until I notice her head get heavy on my shoulder and glance down to find her asleep. I smile slightly, looking over her in this moment of calmness, her lips slightly parted. It makes me feel extra protective that she’s comfortable enough with me to just fall asleep like this.

I try not to move too much as I lean a little closer, pressing my nose to her hair and breathing her in. Her scent is exactly as I remember it, and I want nothing more than to carry her to my bed and sleep against her so I can smell her on my skin, but I know she’s not ready for that yet.

I press a light kiss to her hair before I pull away, lightly stroking her leg as I try to gently wake her from sleep. She shifts, trying to bury her face between my arm and the couch, not wanting to wake up. “Hey,” I say softly around a chuckle. “Are you ready for me to take you home so you can get some sleep?”

“Nu uh,” she grumbles into my arm. “No more deathtrap.”

I laugh, shifting my arm under her head so that she’s cuddling into my chest instead of the back of the couch, and give her a little squeeze. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. But if you really hate it that much, we can take my truck.”

She nods against my chest. “Alright, but you’ve gotta get up, beautiful.” She groans and I give the part of her butt cheek that I have access to a little swat, and the sound changes to a squeak as she jolts up to sitting.

“Jameson!”

I give her an innocent look. “Yes?”

She huffs at me, a blush tinging her cheeks, and opens her mouth like she’s about to say something, and then purses her lips instead. “Nothing,” she mumbles.

That was definitely not nothing, but I don’t call her on it because I have a pretty good idea what her problem is without her saying it. Am I being a tease? Yes. But so was she when she sat in my lap earlier and made my dick hard enough that I had to utilize thoughts of my mother lecturing me to calm myself down. I only have myself to blame for pulling her into my lap in the first place, but if I’m gonna have blue balls, she’s gonna have to suffer right along with me.

The only positive I can think of from her holding out, other than the obvious one which is her comfort, is that when we do finally collide again… it’s going to be fucking explosive.

I can wait. I can wait because she’s worth it, and I already know how good it is between us, so I’ve got plenty of material to carry me through until then.

“Let’s go, kitten,” I say as I push to my feet and I see her chin jerk up as she follows my movement with her gaze. I act like I don’t even notice I dropped the nickname, like it was just a slip I didn’t intend, and roll my lips over my teeth to keep from smiling as I step away from her to grab my keys.

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