Page 69 of The Art of You

Bella: Sooo . . . what do you say? Will you put me out of my misery and sleep with me?

The bubbles on her side seemed to bounce like they were on steroids as I spoke into the phone, this time for a voice memo.

“You have no idea how desperately I want to put us both out of our misery and sleep with you. No. Fucking. Idea.” I stared at the blue arrow, unsure if I should commit to sending her an actual voice message. Against my better judgment, I didn’t X out of it, and let it fly. I also sent a quick follow-up text.

Me: I just proved why you can’t sleep next to me. You know it. I know it. The whole house probably does now, too.

When she kept quiet, I brought my arm from behind my head, sliding it beneath the covers to remove my briefs. My cock was ridiculously stiff already. Like hell would I survive this woman sleeping next to me, but the idea of her alone and sad in her bed was too brutal of an image.

Me: It’s impossible for me to say no to you. You know that, right?

Bella: You did earlier.

Me: Yeah, how long did that “no” last?

The only way I could behave was if she told me to. Because if she gave me the green light, I had zero fight left in me when it came to turning her down.

Me: If you come to my room to sleep (the actual definition of that word), you have to promise not to let me have you tonight. No touching, teasing, kissing. Not with your brothers in the house. Bad enough I already fucked you with my fingers under your parents’ roof.

Bella: You’re not going to Hell for what we did earlier, just so you know.

Me: I know. I’m now extremely aware Hell is real and the place I’ve been living in before this weekend.

Bella: That makes my heart hurt.

Me: No sad eyes. Not allowed. Send me some heart eyes instead.

Bella: Give me a reason to.

Fucking A, she had me there. Before I could come up with anything to say, she sent another message.

Bella: You have my word for tonight. I’ll behave. If you’re not ready to see if this “thing” between us can be more, especially while under this particular roof, I’ll respect that.

Me: I gave your brother my word this morning. Look how that turned out.

My surrender came in the form of a text a second later.

Me: Just give me five minutes.

Bella: A big, tough SEAL being so adorable and honest is just sexy as all hell.

Bella: And why not right now? (Patience isn’t my virtue, and you know that.)

I stroked my cock from root to tip, wishing it was her hand or mouth there instead. Yeah, I was in trouble.

Me: I definitely recall, but I’ve gotta … take care of something … so I’m not quite as tense before you show up. (Increases my chances of surviving alone with you to 5%.)

Bella: I literally just thought the letters LOL in my head. I think I’ve been spending too much time texting instead of speaking. (Side note: thank you for the mental image. Now I’m horny.)

Me: Like you weren’t already before?

I just couldn’t stop myself anymore. The line in the sand. The steel barrier. The whatever we wanted to call it that’dbeen between us for years? It was gone. We didn’t skip over it. We buried it six fucking feet deep. But buried things didn’t always stay buried, so . . .

Bella: Are you already touching yourself?

Me: What do you think?

I continued to fist my cock, thankful for that Advil so I could use my dominant hand without my forearm hurting. I thought back to the bathroom, when she’d spread her knees and boldly showed me her cunt.

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