Page 92 of Champagne Fizz

Her head tilts and stealthily she maneuvers away from me. “You and Arie have been friends for a long time, huh?” she asks, avoiding the temptation of my mouth.

I let her walk toward the wall to retrieve the ax. She hasn’t hit the target, but it’s close enough to be disconcerting. The blade is buried just above the rings where a human head would be located.

“Ages,” I answer.

“And haven’t you had … female friends before?” She walks back and innocently offers me the weapon.

I can’t help the crook in my smile. I just called her on talking dirty and thinking about me naked. She’s so polite.

“Is that what we are?” I ask, leaning in close to smell orange blossoms on her in the midst of all the wood shavings. “Are we friends?”

“Of course.”

I take the hatchet from her as the crinkle in her nose wrinkles at my question, her brown eyes turning dark with sincerity.

“I don’t recall helping any of my other friends orgasm,” I whisper.

Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, and she looks away.

“Friends with benefits,” she says with all the confidence she can muster, defying the pink that blooms across her cheeks. But then her eyes tremble, those beautiful brown eyes unable to hide what she’s feeling. “Or are you asking if we’re—?”

She motions awkwardly between us.

We haven’t defined this.

My part of this agreement is to take her virginity. There’s no term for what kind of relationship that is.

Friends … yes.

Benefits …yes.

Crossing all the boundaries into that murky space where sex and emotion get mixed up … for her, that’s a guarantee.

For me …

“Do we, uh—” Her voice waivers. “Need to—? Do you want us to—?”

“This sure looks like a date,” I say, holding up the ax.

“Or a business meeting.” Kendall nods to the papers from Arie that are on the floor by her purse. “We’ve had a lot of interestingbusiness meetingslately …”

My eyes go to her neck. If by interesting, she means I want to touch her every time I’m near her, then yes.

“Weren’t we talking about Arie?” Kendall deflects, clearly not ready to pull out any labels. Not that I have answers either.

“Right,” I agree, turning back to the target. “You were asking if Arie could handle the idea of me having—”

My eyes fall to Kendall’s lips.

“Female friends,” she finishes, motioning for me to throw the ax and put some space between us.

“The answer’s no,” I admit. “Arie likes it when I screw around. Her world is made up of one-night stands, fuck buddies, nothing serious.”

“Isn’t Connor serious?”

“Yes, but that started with her same pattern—as a series of hook-ups,” I explain. “I’m still waiting to see if it will actually last.”

“Oh …” Kendall’s tone quiets. “Is that her world, or … your world?”

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