Page 31 of The Friend Zone
Which meant Dana was his last resource, and her trip to Colorado started slipping away.
Omar had returned to the sofa and was playing with his phone. His fingers moved quickly across the screen, and her body quietly throbbed from the memory of those fingers sliding in and out of her.
“I’ll send you the money,” she said, lowering her voice a little more because Omar wouldn’t approve of her decision.
If he found out she was going to forego her trip to help her brother, he’d give her a stern talking to and then try to give her the money.
She wasn’t like the women he dated, who expected him to be a meal ticket. He casually paid their bills and purchased expensive gifts because he could afford to do so. She, on the other hand, went to extremes to make sure he didn’t think she was using him in any way. As far as she was concerned, their relationship should be mutually beneficial and depended on them having trust and respect for each other. Friends didn’t take advantage of friends.
“When will you send the money?” Tommy asked.
“I’ll CashApp it as soon as we hang up.”
He sighed with relief. “Thanks, Dana. I’ll pay you back, I promise.”
He never paid her back, but she never expected him to. Like a parent, she wanted the best for her brother and would always help him if she could. She couldn’t have him struggling while she could afford to lessen his struggle. There was always next year for the writing retreat, but his situation was an emergency, and he needed an immediate resolution.
“Have you heard from Theresa?” Dana asked.
“Not for a few days, but last we talked she’s having a blast in Hawaii.”
Their sister was studying marine biology and accepted a low-level position with a company in Hawaii. Her meager earnings were just enough to cover room and board at the facility’s housing where she shared an apartment with two other young women.
Dana and her brother talked for a few more minutes before she hung up the phone.
“Everything okay with Tommy?” Omar stretched an arm across the back of the sofa, the movement gaping open his white shirt and exposing his hair-sprinkled skin. Her impatient fingers had loosened those buttons and run over his muscular chest.
“He’s fine.” Dana sent the cash to her brother and set down the phone. “He needed someone to talk to about a problem.”
Silence dragged between them.
Omar patted the spot next to him. “Come here.”
She wanted to. She really, really wanted to, but sanity had returned. “We need to talk about what happened.”
She stood, and he did too.
“I didn’t really plan to do much talking.” Omar walked slowly toward her.
“You know you’re like a brother to me, right?”
He pulled up short. “A brother? I’m standing in front of you with a boner after you let me finger you until you came, and I’m supposed to believe you think of us as siblings? I’m not thinking of you as a sister right now, Dana. Trust me.”
Her eyes dipped to the massive boner tenting his pants and then swiftly hiked back up to his face.
“I mean that I value our friendship a lot.”
“You think I don’t?”
“I care about you, Omar.”
“And I care about you.”
He came closer, filling up all the available space in the room without literally filling up all the available space in the room. He wreaked of sexuality, and every nerve in her body transmitted her need for him like a current running through a live wire.
“I made you a promise,” he said, resting his hands on either side of her on the bar. “I promised to make you come on my mouth and on my dick, and I like to keep my promises.”
This was such a bad idea. Having sex with him would change everything between them, but she ached so much, and the constant throbbing wouldn’t go away. There was only one way to rid herself of the inconvenient discomfort between her legs—give in. Satisfy the dull pain haunting her days and nights for the past few years, and find out once and for all if Omar was as good as the rumors.
