Page 61 of Plays Well With Others

Another thing that’s new? Believing someone. Trusting someone. Not second guessing every single thing. That’s a damn good feeling. “Okay. Here goes. I kind of needed some reassurance when you were touching me before—my breasts—that you wanted to, like really wanted to touch me. Because I didn’t want to second-guess it all the next day.”

His eyes pin me. “Don’t second-guess me, Sunshine. You can ask if I like something. And I’ll tell you the truth. But you need to know this—I wanted you. Only you. I still want you,” he says, the intensity of his voice a reassurance too.

“Maybe that was a sex lesson I needed to learn. That it’s okay to ask ifyou—your partner—likes something,” I admit, feeling vulnerable but needing to say this. He could read me when we were making out. I didn’t have to spell out my fears and I appreciate that. He sensed them and took care of me. But I can also ask for what I want, and what I need. That’s something I’ve never really done before. I’ve never felt comfortable doing it.

“It’s fun to ask for what you want. And yeah, I could tell beforehand, too, that you felt off tonight. I just had no idea if it was because, well, you’d done a dick review.”

I drop my face into the couch pillow, groaning. “I’ll never live that down.”

A hand curls around my shoulder. “Next time, just come into the shower,” he says in a low rumble. Pleasure zips down my back, and when I lift my face to his gaze, his eyes are glimmering with heat.

“I wanted to,” I say, even though he knows that. But it feels good to admit the truth fully and completely this time. It feels great to say what I want and toknow—to trust—that the other person isn’t lying.

He runs his thumb across my shoulder, hard enough that I can feel a little buzz through the fabric of my sweatshirt. “I think I’d lose my mind if you joined me in the shower. Or if you found me in bed with my cock in my hand.”

That outrageously sexy image lodges front and center in my mind. Not sure it’s going to leave anytime soon. “Do you jerk off a lot? And in different places in your home?” I ask in a hushed voice. Because this feels like confession time. And I want him to serve up all the details.

“Yeah. Every day, easily. Bedroom, shower, couch sometimes. I live alone. I have a lot of energy and a very busy brain. So yeah, you could walk in on me in bed, enjoying a littleself-care.”

I swallow, but that does nothing to abate the heat flooding me. “Me too,” I admit.

He licks his lips, then lets out an appreciative rumble. “I want to see that.”

I want him to. I want him to find me in bed. I want him to climb over me and help me finish.

All these mentions ofnext timesgive me courage. He’s right. I can’t hide behind milk and cookies. I want a next time with him, and I want his friendship for all time. I want everything, dammit. I sit up straighter, take his hand from my shoulder, and set it in my lap, clasping it in both my hands. “What if we did this sex thing while we do the four dates?”

There. I put myself out there without overexplaining, blurting, rambling, or backtracking.

I shut my mouth and wait.

But not for long. His slow, sexy smile tugs on my heart. It’s like the sun rising, warming me all over. I want to bask in its glow. Lift my face to the light. Let it heal my hurting soul.

Because I still hurt.

I still ache.

I’m still shut down.

With Carter, though, I feel safe from heartache. Shielded from pain.

“So, let me get this straight,” he says. “You want to help me fulfill my Date Night contract and let me make you come over and over in every possible way?” He gestures to the coffee table. “And you’ll also feed me cookies?”

Now.

I want that all now. All at once. “I’ll take one of everything,” I say, as I shiver from his dirty promises.

“Good. But I’ll probably give you two or three. I’m generous in bed.”

And out of bed since, well, he’s still shirtless. “But it’s not like I don’t get anything out of it. I get the sex thing too,andyou’re giving me girlfriend lessons.”

“I’m in,” he says.

I sigh contentedly from the ease of the request.

Carter lets go of my hands to cup the back of my head and comes in for a kiss.

It’s soft…and tender.

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