Page 29 of Say Yes

Philip winked at me with a seductive tilt to his lips. “Oh, I have no complaints with your hand adeptness.”

He shoved the noodles in mouth as I almost spit out my piece of chicken.

“I think it’s your life’s goal to make me blush.”

Philip bopped me on the end of my nose with his chopsticks. “Not at all. It’s my life’s goal to help you find the sexy, confident woman you are. I fully compliment you on all your skills.”

I could only roll my eyes at his teasing. “Thank you, I guess.”

Except I couldn’t stop thinking about my so-called skills and how I wanted to improve upon them. Since I wasn’t quite ready to ask outright, I figure I’d wait until we went to bed and ease into it. Something told me Philip wouldn’t have any objections.

“I spoke to Clarissa the other day. She wanted to know if you were free for lunch Wednesday. I didn’t know if you were ready for that, or if you’d even want to, so I told her I’d ask.”

I thought about it for a minute. Other than catching Uber rides with Kelsey over to my sister’s house, every time I’d ventured somewhere, it had always been with Philip. This was a big step, and it was time to make it.

“I’d love to have lunch with her. You can give her my number, and she’s welcome to call me. That way you don’t have to play middle man.”

Philip’s eyes lit up with pride. “Perfect. I’ll text her your number tomorrow and you ladies can chat and plan.”

We finished eating and moved to the couch to watch a movie. Tonight’s choice was Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. It certainly wasn’t the sexiest movie I could have chosen for my seduction, but I’d been wanting to see it for months. Besides, between that Chris guy and Philip, there was enough man-candy to quietly rev my engine.

Idly, I drew patterns on Philip’s chest, and I realized I wasn’t paying much attention to the movie. Instead, my focus kept drifting elsewhere.

Obviously sensing my attention was no longer on the movie, Philip tipped my chin up with his finger. “Is something bothering you? You’ve barely looked at the TV for the last twenty minutes. You’re missing Chris without his shirt on.”

I snorted. “I think I’ll survive another day.”

He felt my forehead with the back of his hand. “You’re not coming down with something are you?”

I batted his hand away, giggling. “I’m perfectly fine. My mind is just elsewhere.”

“Care to share?”

“Let’s go to bed.” I avoided directly answering Philip’s question.

He stared at me for a moment, before reaching for the remote and shutting the movie and TV off. After rising off the couch, he helped me to my feet, and we headed to the bedroom.

“I’m gonna brush my teeth real quick,” I announced suddenly before I escaped to the bathroom. I could hear Philip moving around in the bedroom. I quickly cleaned my teeth, then sniffed my pits before fluffing my hair. Hand on the doorknob, I inhaled deeply and walked back into the bedroom. Philip had shut off the ceiling light and turned on the lamps on the nightstands. He lay reclined in the bed, shirtless, muscles bulging as his arm crossed behind his head, against the headboard.

He patted the empty spot next to him.

“Why do you look so nervous?” he asked as I crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to my chest.

“Do I?” was my evasive answer.

Philip turned on his side and leaned on his elbow. “Yes, you do. What’s going through that mind of yours?”

He patiently waited as I thought of the best way to frame my response. Finally, I just blurted it out. “I want to pleasure you.”

His forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What do you mean? Casey, honey, I’m always pleasured whenever we’re together. I hope you don’t think otherwise.”

“No, I know that,” I rushed to assure him. I sighed because I was just going to have to spit it out. “I want to seeall of you. Touch all of you.”

Understanding lit up his eyes. “Sweetheart, you can touch me anywhere, anytime. You don’t even have to ask.”

Philip shifted onto his back and flung the covers off him, exposing his body to my view. He crossed his arms behind his head again as I looked my fill. I’d been utterly shocked the first time I’d seen him without a shirt on. Through each of his nipples was a barbell. I’d never pictured Philip as a piercing kind of guy. He’d said he’d done it on a dare from one of his old Marine buddies, but after they were done, he’d kept them.

My gaze followed the trail of hair as it bisected his chest and led downward. I counted each of his abs during my inspection. My eyes widened at the ever growing bulge behind his black boxer briefs. I’d felt it while we were in bed, pressing against me, and it was impressive.

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