Page 31 of Better Left Unsaid

“Sex isn’t already ruining it?”

Shaking my head, I considered her question. “We have rules.”

“Ahh. Rules.” The way Jade said it, I wasn’t sure she understood, but it didn’t matter—Dom and I did, and that was all that mattered.

I thought back to that first day we met at her apartment all those months ago. She’d brought up a friend. I remembered because I’d found it ironic that we’d both had long-term best friends of the opposite sex. “I know you mentioned you have a childhood friend. Jake was it? Have you two ever—”

“Oh, hell no!” Jade had her hands up in the air and was shaking her head profusely.

I couldn’t help but laugh, though. “That’s how we were.”Before Vito’s wedding.

“It’s different.” Jade’s expression fell serious. “Trust me. Jake and I will never be more than friends. We’ve never—and I mean never—thought about each other as the other’s possible benefit. Plus, he’s not exactly my type.”

“Maybe he is, but you just haven’t looked at him that way,” I said.

“Maybe. So how long has this been going on with you two?”

“Three years. Give or take a few weeks.”

“Three years!” Jade shrieked.

“Well, on and off,” I clarified, not sure why I was suddenly spilling my guts to someone who I didn’t even like knowing knew about us.

“Interesting. And neither of you caught feelings yet?”

I thought we’d established this. I shook my head. “Nope.”

“Sorry, it’s just a little unbelievable. No feelings? Ever?”

“It’s one of the rules.”

She nodded in understanding. “That’s right, the rules. I must say, Maria, you are something else.”

My brows drew together as I considered what she meant by that.

But before I could think on it for too long, she added, “In a good way, of course.”

“Thanks. Well, we keep it light. Fun. You know?”

Unlike the chess game Dom and I finally scheduled where the stakes were high.

Chapter Nine

Dominic

“For you,” Mariasaid, raising her hand to show me the black lace panties hanging off her pointer finger.

I smirked and nearly laughed at the gesture. She remembered. And she was wearing a dress—even easier access. That was my good girl.

“You said no panties, so here you go.”

She pushed the panties toward me, and I took them from her, bringing them to my nose and inhaling. I loved the smell of Maria. Couldn’t get enough of it.

She gasped. “You’re deranged.”

I clicked my tongue on the roof of my mouth and shook a finger in the air, waving it in the negative. “Now, now, Maria. You’re the one who brought me your panties.” I stuffed them in my pocket and allowed her entry into my house. “So, are you ready to play chess?”

She fingered the rim of the chess board I had set up in the middle of the dining room table as she walked around, her gaze never once leaving the setup. “Yeah, about that.” She turned to me and gave me puppy dog eyes and a pout that made me want to kiss her deliriously. I wouldn’t, though, because I had to stay in the zone. Between the knowledge that she wasn’t wearing panties and my desire to stick my tongue down her throat, forget chess, we’d wind up naked in my bedroom—hell, probably against the wall—within minutes.

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