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He suddenly flipped her to lie on her back. She yelped in surprise, but by then he was already on top of her and forcing her legs apart. He fit his lower body in the v of her thighs.
Waggling his eyebrows, he suggested, “Repeat performance.”
“No.” She smacked his chest lightly. “I mean where do we go from here? What happens after today?”
The disappointment in his face was almost comical in its intensity. With a loud and heavy sigh, he rolled off her to lie on his back. “Do we have to talk about this now?”
“Yes.” She turned to lie on her side, facing him. “I don’t like being in limbo.”
“Honestly?” He turned so they were face-to-face. “I haven’t really thought about it. Right now, I’m just going with my instincts. And my instincts want you.”
“My instincts want you too,” she admitted. “But I’m still not looking for a relationship.”
“Neither am I.” After a brief silence, he added, “But we’ve already crossed the friends’ border, and I don’t think I want to go back to that torturous land.”
“What are you saying?” Alarm zipping through her, she asked, “You don’t want to be friends anymore?”
“No.” He shook his head. “At least not the kind of friends we were before today.”
Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. “So you want to cut contact?”
His answer was vehement and certain. “Absolutely not!”
“Then I don’t get it.” She was confused. “What do you want?”
“Benefits.”
“Huh!”
“I’m proposing we be friends-with-benefits.” His eyes wandered away from her face to rest on her breasts, and lust filled his expression. “I’ve already tasted those benefits, and they’re amazing. I think I’m addicted to them. Even if we’re not dating, I’d love to keep the sex going.”
Barry couldn’t have been clearer if he’d made a Power-point presentation. He wanted sex but not the responsibility that came with a relationship. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too.
Normally, Xolani would’ve seen that as a massive red flag. But she was in the same head space. She wanted his body but wasn’t ready to accept his heart.
Still, she had to ask, “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Sex can make things pretty complicated.”
“It won’t get complicated,” he returned confidently. He cupped her face and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “Neither of us wants a relationship, but we can’t keep our hands off each other. So why try so hard? As long as we both understand that it’s just sex, we should be fine.”
If he was a speaker on stage and her senses were the audience, they would’ve given him a standing ovation. Her heart, body, and brain all agreed that he was making so much sense. Or was she just eager to agree with him?
Who cares? The naughty voice in her head reasoned. It’s just sex.
She just wasn’t supposed to date him, right? No one had said anything about riding him into the sunset. Besides, this was a great way to keep her pipes clean while she looked around elsewhere for a man who suited her better.
“Okay,” she agreed. “I can do friends-with-benefits. But I have a condition.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Either of us can walk away at any time.” She added, “No questions. No dramatics. No begging to stay. Just a cool parting of ways.”
“I’m an expert in coolly parting ways.” Grinning, he leaned closer to brush his mouth against hers. His breath whispering against her lips, he murmured, “So we have an arrangement?”
She smiled and grabbed his face to bring him closer to her. “We have an arrangement.”
They sealed the agreement with a fierce kiss that reignited the fire between them. In minutes, they were both aroused and ready for some ‘benefits’. But just as Barry got on top of her, a rumbling sound echoed between them.
Xolani pretended that she had no idea where that sound came from. But when Barry looked down at her stomach, then burst into laughter, the jig was up.
