Page 90 of The Fake Dating War

A shiver runs through me. It’s like we’re back in that fitting room, purple lingerie plumping my curves for his eyes to rake over. He’s watching me with that same dark, dripping intensity. My nipples pebble, and when his eyes draw down to those stiff points, his throat bobbles.

“Obviously, you don’t have to do it,” he says huskily.

“Don’t dare me.”

His eyebrow quirks up. “Is that what I’m doing?”

The swell of stubborn pride within me is absolute relief. This I can work with. It can push me forward. With it, I don’t have to pay any mind to why else we would do this. But a dare? Game on. Before I lose my nerve, I go on my knees, shuffle over to him, and give him my back. “Unzip me.”

When I feel the tremor in his hands against my back, it helps me.We are in this together. I’m not alone.

The bridesmaid outfit is snug, so the zipper covers the length of my back. It’s the only way I fit myself into the top in the first place. Coleman pulls it all the way down. I don’t turn around, but draw the whole thing over my head and throw it off to the side somewhere. Pants next. I have to stand on the bed for those. There’s a clasp in the corner of my hip. With it undone, I slip my legs out, toeing the fabric so it falls off the bed. Now I’m in my underwear. Compared to the frilly, see-through lace of the lingerie Coleman has seen me in, this is boring and basic. Deciding I don’t want that comparison in his head, I rip those off, too.

Now I’m naked. And shivering.

Deciding it’s finally time to check on him, I go on my knees again and slowly face him. A cheekyta-dais ready on my lips, but dies as soon as I see him.

This expression is one I’ve never seen on him before. I can’t be sure what it means, but the closest I come to isdevastation.His eyebrows have savagely come together. Mouth is parted. Eyes are so dark they can’t be green anymore. Despite me wearing nothing in front of him, he doesn’t move. I wonder if he’s stuck. If he thinks a key is turned that can’t be unturned. Does he know it’s too late to walk away?

As for me, my heart is pounding fiercely and falling because of it. Not because I know it’s going to splatter on the ground somewhere—although it might—but because I’ve thrown myself off a cliff, not knowing whether I could fly or not. And I realize how, despite that, I’d do it all over again.

I want thisthatmuch.

“So?” I croak.

“You are not just beautiful,” he says with complete sincerity. “You are the most beautiful.”

Andthereis the danger. In this very moment, I believe him and his words make me glow. If we shut the lights off, my whole body will radiate.

“Fuck me,” he says lowly, looking me over.

“Only if you say please,” I sputter out.

He shakes his head, reaching for me, but doesn’t make contact. At the last second, he draws back as if still dazed. Coleman has gone and shut his eyes now, breathing deeply for a while before opening them again.

“I’m cold,” I say.

“Get under the covers.”

I simply stare at him, waiting for him to figure out I don’t want the covers.

Just as I’m about to complain, he ghosts his hand up my leg. Then he bends his head and gives my kneecap a slow kiss.

I wriggle. The feel of his mouth— “More.”

He huffs a small, tortured laugh. “I need to ask. WhatamI allowed to do? Because I’ve got—there are endless—you don’t know—the detailed lengths and—depths I’ve thought?—”

“Like w-what?”

“My mouth on you, for one.” His fingers tighten around my calf.

I’m lightheaded at the thought. “That all?”

“Such a greedy girl. No, that’s not all, Patel. It’s the start. First, I’d fuck your sweet pussy with my mouth so thoroughly that you’d forget your own name.”

“And… you? What about what you want? Your turn.”

“That is my turn.” He smirks. “But if you’re asking about my cock, only when you’re begging for more than the width of my fingers, will I gift you that.”

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