Page 129 of Beyond the Cottage

Her posture relaxed and she smiled. Glancing at his feet, she said, “You know the rules.”

He removed his boots, and she pulled him to the sofa. Wine glasses abandoned, she sat beside him, tucking her legs under her skirt.

“What do you feel like doing?” she asked.

“I’m not sure.” He was too emotionally drained to come up with anything.

“Are you tired?”

He laughed. “After taking a three hour nap this afternoon? I’ll be lucky if I’m drowsy before dawn.” Where would he be sleeping, anyway? Did friends share a bed once they’d gotten their ‘out of the system’ fuck over with?

Shifting sideways, she tucked her cute little toes under his thigh.

To hell with curbing physical affection. He picked up her legs and settled them across his lap. It seemed to startle her, but then she draped an arm over his stomach, snuggling closer.

“I’m not tired either,” she said.

“You’re welcome to the books I brought along. I’m sure they’ll have you nodding off in no time.”

“I brought a few of your books, too.”

Ansel’s neck heated, not entirely from embarrassment. “Did you?”

“Yeah. I’m not giving them back, by the way.”

The thought of Gretta reading his erotic literature in her bed made him want to gift her his entire collection. “I assume Lady Lovecock was among your selections?”

“Of course. I simply must know if she chooses the dashing hero who’d die to save her or the dastardly villain with the giant cock.”

“Shall I spoil it for you?”

“…Okay.”

Ansel put his lips to her ear as though imparting a sordid secret.

“She chooses both,” he whispered. “At the same time.”

He heard a faint catch in her throat and grinned.

“Well,” she said. “I can’t say I blame her for choosing the best of both worlds.”

“Indeed.”

“The intrepid lady takes what she wants, and damn everything else.”

“Hear-hear.”

Gretta nestled closer. He idly toyed with the ends of her hair ribbon.

“Anse?” she asked.

“Yes?”

“Can we be friends who fuck?”

He choked on a breath. His immediate impulse was to flip that tantalizing skirt up and see what kind of drawers she wore to fancy dinners.

But would that be wise? Loving her didn’t make fucking a good idea. Their friendship remained his first priority, and it was likelier to last big picture if they kept sex out of it.

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