Page 69 of The Temporary Fiancée
It’s quiet as he considers that. Then he raises an eyebrow. “What exactly do you have in mind?”
“I was thinking we might want to revise our approach,” I say. “Clearly, ‘no sex’ isn’t going to work long term.”
He hums softly, which I take as a sign of agreement.
“So maybe it shouldn’t be ‘no sex.’” I pause, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye to see how this is landing on him. His face is like a mask, revealing nothing. “Maybe it should just be‘no feelings.’”
The corner of his mouth twitches. “You mean like friends with benefits?”
“Yes. That.”
The elevator door opens, and I step out into the cool air of the penthouse’s foyer. Reed brushes past me, toward the living room. He glances over his shoulder.
“We’d have to figure out the terms,” he says thoughtfully. “That has the potential to… complicate things.”
“Significantly,” I agree. “But we can figure out the terms, right? I mean… we’re already engaged.” I arch a brow at him, teasing, and am rewarded with a crooked smile.
“That’s true.”
I follow him toward the living room hastily—now that the ball is rolling, I don’t want this conversation to stall. “So what do you think?”
“I think we need to figure out where the line is,” he says. “That seems like the most important thing.” He steps toward me suddenly, one hand brushing my neck. “Like… under this arrangement, would I be able to touch you here?” His free hand curls under my thigh, exploring. I step back, nearly tripping over the back of the couch. “Or here?”
I catch my breath and nod. My voice hitches as I say, “Yeah. Yes. I think that’s fine.”
“How about here?” He moves up his hand to cup my ass.
I bite my lip, hard. “I think… I think just about anywhere is fine.”
There’s a dangerous gleam in his eye. “Is that so?” He leans toward me. I’m fully in his arms now. If he let go of me, I’m sure I would fall. “Then how about this?” He presses a kiss to my neck. “Does this violate our agreement?”
“N-no,” I whimper. There’s a plaintive note in my voice that I can’t get rid of, even though technically, we’re talking terms and conditions. “It doesn’t.”
“Good,” he murmurs in my ear. “Glad to hear it.” Then he trails kisses back up my neck, working his way to my jawline. I feel his teeth brush against my skin, and inhale sharply.
“So… so…” I’m getting so overwhelmed by him that I can’t even finish my thought. Luckily for me—and to my disappointment—he pulls back with a soft laugh.
“So it sounds like we need to update the contract,” he says. “Sex whenever we both feel like it, but with no pressure. And no feelings. Just… stress relief.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “It’ll make this a lot easier. The engagement, I mean. I know I’ll have a better time with this if I don’t have to constantly switch between pretending to be in love with you and pretending that I’m not attracted to you at all.”
“A middle ground,” he says, his voice still heavy with desire.
“Exactly.” I adjust the shoulder strap on my dress, which slid down during all of the… negotiations. “We’re living together, and…”
“We want to fuck each other.”
I nod, a flush creeping into my cheeks at how casually he says it. “If we want to keep this tension-free, this seems like the best way to do it.”
He smiles, but there’s something fierce in his eyes as he looks me up and down. “That sounds about right.” He pauses, then adds, “We can amend the paperwork later. For now…”
He reaches for me and tugs me sharply into his arms, and the second his mouth lands on mine, the heat we’ve been holding back for weeks finally has somewhere to go. The relief of it is so sharp it almost hurts.
I kiss him back hard, my hands gripping the front of his shirt to drag him closer, and he makes a sound against my mouth.
His tongue slants against mine, his hands moving fast over my back and ribs and waist as if he can’t decide where he wants to touch me first, and I’m already so turned on that the simple slide of his palms against my skin makes me dizzy. I shove his jacket down his arms and then fumble at the buttons of his shirt impatiently, my fingers shaking. After the first three, I give up with trying to do it right and just yank the whole thing up over his head, making a few buttons pop off and hit the floor. He huffs out a breath that might be a laugh and pulls back just longenough to unzip my dress and let it slither down to pool on the floor at my feet.
Reed’s hands cover my breasts through my bra immediately, his thumbs gliding over the lace, and I arch into his touch. Then he undoes the hooks at the back with one practiced flick of his fingers, baring my upper body completely as he stares at me with an expression of worship.
