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He nods. "Yeah, it's a little focused on expanding your empire."
"How is that going?"
"The Dickson Empire rises in the, uh, morning, and sets in the uh—this joke is not working, is it?"
"I can't remember the last time you made a dick joke," I say.
"You miss them?"
"I do." My lips curl into a smile. My shoulders relax. We're shifting back to a place I miss. A place I want to be. "I miss how easy things felt before."
"Me too."
"Can we get back there?"
"Now that you've asked me to fuck you?" he asks.
"What? Is that not a normal friend thing to ask?"
He shakes his head.
"You can say no."
"No. I really fucking want to fuck you."
"Right now?" Now is good. Now is great. Why are we talking anyway?
This time, his head shake is silly. "So impatient."
"It's okay. I've waited a long time." I didn't realize it, but I've been waiting for him all this time. "I think that's why it never felt right, with anyone else. Because I wanted you."
"Me too."
He's been waiting for me too. All this time, neither of us saw it. "That's why you can't stay with anyone for more than ten days?"
He nods. "I want you, Val, but I've never done this before. I can't promise I'll get good at it."
"You're not good at sex?"
He flips me off. "A relationship."
"It's like friendship. With sex. There's more too, but I'm not sure I'm good at it either."
"We can learn together."
"It sounds romantic like that."
I rest my head on his shoulder. "But later. This is enough talk. I know, it's important to consider what this means for our future. But later. If you're ready, I'd really like to have sex. Now."
"No." He cups my cheek with his palm. "You need to wait."
A whine falls from my lips.
"Oh, yeah. I think you've earned that."
"Because of the thing with Archie?"
"Because it's fun to make you wait."
Okay, he's not mad. That's good. He's just teasing me. Which is great. And horrible. "For how long?"
"Hours," he says.
"I can do hours."
"Twenty, thirty minutes even."
"What torture," I tease.
"Is that a dare?" he asks.
I return my own knowing smile. "You know it is."
After a walk around the block and a short stop at a coffee shop, we return to the apartment. Dare pulls out the French press and some freshly acquired ground beans and gets to work.
"This is a slow process." He copies the words I taught him a long time ago. "It requires patience." He fills the kettle with water and sets it on the electric stove top. "Utmost patience."
I pick up the bag of beans.
He shakes his head. "No, Val. I'm fixing the coffee this time." He motions to the chair at the kitchen table. "You're going to sit and watch."
"Didn't we try that accidentally?"
He chuckles. "If you count a split second as watching."
"I saw a lot."
"Oh?" He steals the beans back and motions to the chair again.
Okay. I play along. I sit and turn my full attention to him.
"The full picture."
"From that angle, really?" he asks.
"Enough to imagine it all day," I say.
"You were motivated."
"Very." I can tease too. "Don't tell me you didn't replay what you heard yesterday."
He smiles. "Oh, this is how we're going to play it?"
"Play what?" I play coy.
"Val, you have no fucking idea what you're in for. I have practice here."
"With people you don't particularly like."
"You think that changes things?" he asks.
"Doesn't it?"
His eyes fill with realization. It does. It might not have occurred to him before, but he sees it now. "Do you know how much I've wanted to touch you?"
"Today?"
"Since you showed up in my apartment in a bikini top," he says.
"I was wearing bottoms too."
"Not in my head."
"Just the top?"
"Not that either." He smiles as if he's sure he's driving me mad with desire.
He is. And, in any other circumstance, I'd crumble from the force of my physical need. But I know how to tease Dare elsewhere. It's the same here. "So, what, just the shorts?"
"At first."
"What then?"
"You climbed on top of me."
"Right there, in the middle of the hallway?" I ask.
"Right there."
"You'd fall."
"Try me." He steps back and motions to his body, as if he's a tree, inviting me to climb it.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't." He moves to the wall and motions come here.
And, well, I have no idea how the mechanics of this work. I want to mount him anywhere I can, but is this even physically possible?
No. No overthinking things.
I'm torturing him. Period. The end.
I stand, smooth my jeans, adjust my tank top for maximum cleavage, and I meet him at the wall.
He stays in place as I wrap my arms around his shoulders.
I hook a leg around his waist.
He slips his hand under my leg, pulling my body into his.
I lift the other leg.
He holds me.
"Fuck." I gasp as I dig my fingers into his skin.
