Page 154 of Just for the Plot

Then he hangs up on me.

Wait, seriously?

Did he really just—

My phone buzzes not with a phone call, but with FaceTime.

Oh…

I sit up in my bed and answer the call, his handsome face coming into view, as well as his bare, bulky chest. My mind immediately falls to the feel of him, the comfort he provides, the way I can snuggle into him and feel completely protected from the world.

I let out a dumb sigh and say, “I miss you.”

And that stuns me, because it’s the first thing that came to mind.

Not the worries.

Not the insecurities.

But ratherhim, just him and what he represents in my life at the moment. Comfort, joy…relief.

He smiles softly. “Miss you too, beautiful.”

And that nickname. I’ve never been a big nickname person, but with him, it’s different. It feels different, like that word has been held for him by the universe, and the only time it sounds right is when he says it to me.

“Why are you so hot?”

He chuckles, his smile making me yearn that much more.

“You think I’m hot, huh?”

“Are you really going to fish for compliments?”

“When you’re unsure and thinking things through, absolutely. I have to give myself some solace from the thought of coming back and you not wanting to see me.”

“That would never happen.”

“You sure about that?” he asks, placing his hand behind his head, showing off the boulder in his bicep.

Ugh, yum.

“Positive,” I say, my eyes roaming on the bits and pieces of skin he’s showing off. What I wouldn’t give for him to get completely naked and just walk around for me, or better yet, make himself get hard while I watched—

“What the hell are you thinking about?”

“Huh?” I ask, snapping my attention back to him.

“You’re licking your lips and staring.”

“Am I?”

“You are. I feel like a piece of meat in front of a starving lion.”

“Well, you show up shirtless to a FaceTime and that’s how you’regoing to be treated, like a piece of meat. I’m sure it would be the same if the situation was reversed.”

“Bower, if you showed up to a FaceTime shirtless, there is no way we’d be jabbering away. No, I’d have you playing with yourself in no time.”

I press my hand to my chest. “Phone sex? Honestly, Bennett. Where are your manners?”