Page 27 of False Confidence

She didn’t look away until he lay down beside her, when she held up the bag. “Half or whole?”

“Are you still okay staying over?” She nodded. “Whole,” he confirmed. “I want you nice and relaxed.”

“Open up.”

He opened his mouth, and Jasmine dropped a square gummy on his tongue. Sour cherry flooded his senses, and he screwed up his face, quickly chewing and swallowing. “Jesus.”

Jasmine smirked, eating hers with ease as he picked his laptop up. “Are we watching a movie? Oh, let me guess! That Pearl Earring one with Colin Firth. I bet that one turns you on.”

“It’s Colin Firth, of course it turns me on. Who isn’t into him? Even my moms love him.”

“Straight men?” Jasmine suggested, and Liam shrugged, typing the web address into his browser.

“Surely even straight men find Colin Firth hot? Anyway, no, funnily enough I didn’t tell you to take your underwear off so we could watch that kind of movie.”

He turned his laptop toward her, and her eyes widened, a sweet laugh bubbling from her lips. “We’re watching porn?”

Liam nodded, setting the laptop on a pillow between them. Though he preferred romance books to porn, it had its place, and his favorite website—a queer-owned, ethical website with a focus on sexual empowerment—had the perfect thing for him and Jasmine to get started with. It was a program designed to help people figure out what kind of porn they might enjoy, and what kinds of things they might want to try out, through short-form videos that started more vanilla and escalated as you worked through them.

He explained the concept to Jasmine, who simply fluffed the pillows behind her and lay back, getting comfortable. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

Liam threaded his fingers with hers. “You’re lefthanded, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Perfect. I’m going to hold this hand, and when what we’re watching starts to turn you on, I want you to touch yourself with your left.” He would be watching her reactions, but he wanted to feel her squeezing his hand when something turned her on.

“I will if you will,” she replied, her eyes flicking down his body. She licked her lips and Liam counted to three.

“Fine, but I’m not going to come.”

“Yeah, me either,” she joked.

“Even if you think you might, you’re not allowed,” he told her, and her eyes fell to his, her mouth dropping open.

“Not that it’s going to happen, but doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of this whole arrangement?”

“You’re supposed to be trusting me, remember?”

She scoffed. “Fine.”

“Oh, and other than this,” he squeezed their joined hands, “you’re not allowed to touch me.”

“Worried I’m going to make you come before I do?” she asked with a smirk.

Liam’s fingers twitched with the urge to touch her, to put her over his fucking knee. She didn’t miss the movement, her smirk widening. Yeah, she knew exactly how to push his buttons. But she could push all she wanted; he wasn’t going to break. She was. That was the point of this little exercise. Watching porn, touching themselves, Liam knew it was only a matter of time before she snapped, and he wanted to know what her final straw was. He just had to survive that long.

“Jasmine.”

“Hmm?”

“Behave.”

“Yes, sir,” she sassed, rolling her eyes.

Liam clocked the moment Jasmine moved from just watching to feeling. They were three videos in, the edibles lulling them into a state of calm, when the actors on the screen started getting rougher, and Jasmine’s chest started rising and falling a little faster. Her right hand gripped his a little tighter, and he squeezed it.

She looked over at him, her cheeks just turning pink.

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