Page 43 of Unbossly Manners

“I’m not sure what to do next.” It had taken all my courage to get off that bed and approach him but now that I was there, I felt lost; falling through the air without a parachute.

“That’s why we’re doing this, right?”

I glanced up, and his steady gaze calmed me. A tightness took hold of my throat, and I swallowed over it.

“Right.” I pushed up on my toes. “Should we kiss?”

He turned his head. “I was thinking… Let’s do the Pretty Woman thing.”

“Oh.” I sank my feet back into the rug, disappointment rushing through me. “No kissing?”

“It could confuse things.”

My chin trembled, the rejection stabbing. He’ll kiss Kat but not me.

He tucked his thumb under my jaw, lifting my face.

“If it’s a dealbreaker, we can.”

I exhaled a caustic laugh. “I don’t want you to pity kiss me. That would be worse than what Chip did.”

His expression collapsed. “Oh shit. I’m sorry Peyton. I didn’t mean it like that.”

He placed hands on both sides of my cheeks and kissed my forehead. It didn’t make me feel better.

“I’m scared, too,” he said.

I smiled, realizing this was his way of protecting himself. And suddenly it was okay. The no kissing was his safety net. And I let him have it.

“It’s okay. I’m okay.”

We were so close, my breasts brushed his chest, his hairs tickling, causing my nipples to harden. Suddenly the kissing didn’t matter. He lifted my hair and brushed his lips over my neck.

I stepped back.

“Are you okay?”

I shook my head, suddenly overwhelmed from all the sensations—fear, desire, apprehension. I couldn’t stop my trembling, my nerves on full alert, heady from my thundering heart.

“Here.” He moved to the bed and pulled down the covers. “Climb in.”

I shimmied underneath. My body fully covered, I relaxed, my pulse calming.

“Let’s take it slow. I believe foreplay was first on the agenda,” he whispered into my collarbone. “Let’s start there.”

I closed my eyes, his finger tracing down my sternum, circling the top of my breast.

“Foreplay began long before this.” He kissed the mound of my right breast, over the sheet. “It started the night we sat on the bed discussing this agreement. You thought of me as we discussed all the sexual acts we’d perform, didn’t you?”

I nodded, shaking. He pulled back.

“Look at me, Peyton.”

I did.

“Take a deep breath.”

I did.

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