Page 38 of Beautiful Beast

“More than you’d think,” she returns with a defiant chin tilt.

I stare at her until she relents.

“Fine, yeah, okay, none.” The admission makes me happier than it should. “But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be your friend with benefits.”

“Yeah, because those kinds of arrangements always work out so swimmingly.”

“Try me.”

I shake my head. “Belle…”

“When is the last time a woman made you come?” Her voice is smoke, and my dick is now concrete.

There’s something about hearing her pretty, bookish little mouth say filthy things that really does it for me.

Who am I kidding?

Everything about her does it for me.

“My ex-girlfriend. I’m not the one-night-stand type either, okay?”

In my position, bedding random women is just inviting trouble. Social climbers have been trying to sink their claws into me since high school, and if my father had his way, I would already be married to a socialite heiress, a union that would elevate both of our families.

Arranged marriages aren’t uncommon in my circles.

Besides, the thought doesn’t sit well with me on a moral level. I didn’t grow up with an example of a good marriage, but that doesn’t mean I want to repeat my father’s mistakes and treat a bunch of women like they’re irrelevant and only good for one thing.

Belle closes the distance between us and sets her hands on my chest, igniting my skin and shooting electric currents straight to my balls.

“We’re attracted to each other, right?” she asks. I start to object, but she presses a finger to my lips. “Just answer my questions.”

“Right,” I agree.

“And you’ve thought about fucking me, correct?”

“Correct.”

“I haven’t had sex since my ex either. He broke my heart, and I just haven’t put myself out there again. You can be my training wheels. And I’m sure you can make it really good and make me come, can’t you?”

“Over and over,” I confirm while my dick starts aching in earnest. “Trust me, princess, I can make those legs shake.”

She drops her hands, hooking one into my waistband and using the other to palm my hard cock. She’s right – it’s been too long since I’ve had a woman’s touch, and I’m beyond tired of fucking my fist.

But despite her brave words, I don’t buy that she can have an unemotional hook-up.

And neither can I.

“So?” she says. “Let’s do it then.”

“Just like that?”

“It’s not really that complicated. You made me wet from a kiss. And I want more.”

“Belle,” I groan. “This isnotwhy I came downstairs to see you.”

“Change of plans.”

She’s still rubbing me, and when she twists her wrist to squeeze the tip of my dick through my jeans, stars dance before my eyes.

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