Page 61 of Taking Chances

My thumb reaches her lip, pulling it from her teeth. “Hey.” Her freckles almost sparkle on her flushed skin. “It doesn’t matter what he thinks.Youknow you told him the truth. That’s the only thing that matters.”

She inhales a deep breath, her eyes relaxing.

Fuck, the way her body reacts to commands, even though it’s not sexual, is intoxicating.

The rest of the night passes in comfortable chatter and amazing food. This group of people has already grown on me and the rest of the BYC isn’t too bad, either. They seem authentic, which unfortunately is a rare commodity these days.

“We should grab a drink,” I propose.

Noah and Alex already left, but the six of us just exited the new BYC building.

“Sorry, Eric’s already dead on his feet. And I’m not far from it.” Rina points to her swollen ankles. “We need to get home.” We wave to them as they get into the car.

“I think we’ll head home, too. I need to thank my husband properly.” Natalie winks, leading Matt by his tie.

In less than a minute, Anne and I are left standing alone.

Anne bites the inside of her cheek. “I really don’t want to go home. Today was… a lot. And I kind of need to work this energy off.”

“The two of us can still go grab a drink.”

“Oh.” Her brows furrow, as her bottom lip becomes, once again, a victim of her teeth. The streetlight casts a halo around her head, making her look angelic. Somehow, after the whole day of socializing, her hair and makeup are still spotless. A deep, dark part of me wishes to mess it up.

We stand there in silence, her eyes turning darker by the second. Oh.

“Is there something else you’d rather be doing?” I ask.

She gulps, her eyes sizing me up and down before nodding. She’s bolder, more confident. I saw her drink a glass of champagne, but not more than that, so it can’t be the alcohol. “Come on.” She follows me to my car. I would typically bring my bike to these things, but I’m so fucking glad I drove the car today.

I could have forced her to verbalize what she wants, but it’s big enough she made the first step, no matter how subtle it was.

“I studied your list.”

“Is that why you haven’t contacted me?” Her voice is low, insecure.

“What do you mean?”

“Were you scared of what you saw?”

“No, Firecracker.” I chuckle. “I wasn’t scared of what I saw. But I don’t want to force anything. I wanted you to think on it some more.”

“Did you… like what you saw?” Her hands rub her thighs.

“What do you think?”

“I-I don’t know. I’m not sure if it’s something you do.” She turns her head to the side.

“Want me to show you?” This time, her nod is so sure I don’t even have to turn sideways to see it. “You were honest while checking the list?”

“Y-yes.”

“And you’ll say red if anything gets too much?”

“I will.” Her voice trembles with anticipation.

We park in my garage and for a second, I sit still, planning a scene in my head.

Not that I need much inspiration, I’ve been imagining every possible scenario ever since she sent me the list. But I want to softly lead her into it, following the lesson we started.

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