Page 11 of Control Line

The motions caught Barney off guard. It was flirty and light. Not a side she’d let him witness yet. She must’ve entertained the same thought because it disappeared at lightning speed and she was back to the on-guard Zee he’d helped move boxes of books earlier.

“Noted. Don’t leave the toilet paper roll empty and we should get along just fine.”

“That’s it? The toilet paper? So, I can rub your fluffy towel all over my crotch or use your tweezers for my nose hair or—”

“Ew, gross. Stop right there. Those are normalno-no’sand not something I thought I’d have to state, but none of those things are okay. You keep your hands off my stuff and I’ll return the favor. Please try to put the seat back down and I’ll keep my hair out of the drain, deal?”

Barney shook the hand she offered. It took everything in him not to pull her in for a goodnight kiss, but he restrained himself. If he moved too quickly, she’d not only never offer him friendship or a neighborly smile, he damn sure would never get an invitation to her bed.

“I’ll try to put the seat down, I promise, but be patient, it’s a new skill set for me.”

He earned another smile. He knew he would try to better his record every day, and that irritated him.

“Well, I better get back and close up the cornbread, I’m sure it’s cooled down by now. You are coming tomorrow, right?”

“How could I not?”

“Well, I’ll see you then.”

She waved to him and he may or may not have felt a flutter in his stomach. Barney chalked it up to gas.

An unexpected feeling of giddiness overtook him.When was the last time I felt anything even remotely like that?Katie Belson, the Sadie Hawkins dance? She’d walked up to him and informed him he was going to the dance with her, and her dress was purple and white.

She was the most beautiful girl in all of tenth grade, and she wanted to go with him. He said sure, so she blushed, nodded, kissed him quickly, then turned and rushed into English class. Barney not only got the flutters in his chest, but things were also happening in his pants.

You’d think in the years since he would’ve felt that way about someone, but you’d be wrong.It’s just anticipation.The thrill of the chase. It had been a long time since he’d had tochaseanyone.

He entered his cabin, which seemed awfully empty now. He caught himself whistling as he checked the chili and covered the cornbread. After he made sure the chili was off, he headed to the bathroom. A hot shower and a spank session were called for to sleep soundly.

Having a drop-dead gorgeous woman just a wall away was going to wreak havoc on him. Barney was itching to see her again the second he broke the plane of his front door.

It felt. . .strange. The happiness, for lack of a better description. Not that it was unwelcomed, was it? Someone once said, he couldn’t remember who,the embrace of sadness is intoxicating. Stay wrapped up in it too long and you miss it when you let go.

What a load of horseshit, or so he’d thought, but he was kind of understanding that a little bit now.

Barney was genuinely happy for the first time since he’d been declared dead and lost it all. He hadn’t even realized he set that burden down for a while until he’d shouldered it again.

It was as if it had a physical weight to it. A weight he’d become so accustomed to it had escaped his notice that he even carried it.

Other realizations smacked him in the face with reality as they flew at him. One of them was how it had changed him.

It wasn’t like his friends and Cap hadn’t pointed it out in both subtle and not so subtle ways. Barney always blew it off to just being preoccupied with getting his life back.

Distracted.

Stumbling into the bathroom with his thoughts, he divested his clothes and stepped under the steaming water. He let go of some stresses of the day but decided not to letall of itgo again. There was wisdom to the words he remembered earlier. He missed the sadness or at least what it did for him.

At first, he assumed being declared dead was a clerical error, but the more he fought it, the more he uncovered.

When the fight became more difficult, he realized someone had been living as him and died. Not a simple clerical error, there was a paper trail of his life and death. One he planned to follow right to the imposter’s grave and get his life back.

No, he would not put his anger and sadness and fury down again. It fueled that fire inside him and he relished the burn. He might lay it in the bed next to them while he banged his super-hot neighbor, but he would not lose sight of his major focus. And that was finding out what asshole ruined his life, reclaiming it, and moving the fuck on.

Barney tried to keep the picture of this asshole’s family crying when he took back everything he left them at Barney’s expense, but the only picture he could see involved a smart mouthed redhead on her knees, begging for a facial.

Picturing Zee kneeling, stroking the fire between her legs, looking up at him through jade green eyes, was too much.God, I hope she keeps a full bush and doesn’t shave, that would be a shame.

His hand drifted over his cock but the pictures in his head brought him back to grasp it in his fist and stroke. Faster he pumped, adding an extra twist for a hint of pain and especially friction.

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