Page 41 of Next Time We'll Fall

“Is that an offer?”

“What do you mean, is that an offer?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean? Are you asking me if I want to take off your panties right now? Because if I say yes, you will say,Go ahead. Or are you asking me just because you want to tease me?”

“I don’t need to tease you.” She licks her lips slowly and leans toward me. “Or is that something you want from me? Do you want to be teased?”

“Do I want to be teased?”

I lean closer to her again. I reach out and touch the side of her face. I stare at her trembling lips, then move my lips to hers and lick her bottom lip before sucking on it.

Her entire body shakes as her eyes gaze into mine.

“Is this because I’m going to be on a reality dating TV show?” she says softly as she pulls away.

“It has nothing to do with that.” I stare at her.

“Last night, when I touched you and kissed you …” My fingers move up under her shirt, tracing the silkiness of her skin up to her bra. “Last night, I knew nothing about the dating show. But last night, you left, and tonight, I’m asking you to come with me,” I say softly. “I don’t mind staying, but I don’t know if you want your cousins to hear us, to see us, to …”

“To hear us what?” she says, blinking at me rapidly.

“I don’t know. You seem like you might be a screamer.”

She throws her head back and laughs. “You really think I’m going to let you fuck me tonight, Rafe? Do you really think that’s the sort of woman I am?”

I stare at her, gobsmacked, because she just shakes her head.

“All you want me for is sex. I don’t know if it’s because now you’re seeing other guys interested in me, and some sort of power play has come along, and you want to prove to yourself that you can still have me, but this girl don’t play. I don’t have one-night stands, and I certainly don’t just sleep with men.”

“I’m not interested in you just for sex,” I say quickly. “I want to show you what it’s like to be with a real man. A good man.”

“What?”

“I want to be your dating coach so you know what to expect when you go on these shows so you don’t put up with jackasses.”

She recoils back in shock, and I have no idea why I said what I said because it’s not true.

I don’t want her to fucking go on the show. I don’t want her to date anyone else. And, yes, if she said yes to me, I would fuck her right now in the car, but I’m not going to admit that.

“I can prove it to you,” I say softly.

“What do you mean, you can prove it to me?”

“Spend the night with me, and we’ll just lie there and talk, and I’ll give you advice.”

“Give me advice on what?”

“Anything you want.”

“So, you want to lie in bed with me and chat, and you don’t want to do anything?”

“I mean, if my lips happen to meet yours or your lips happen to meet mine or your fingers happen to touch my chest or another part of me, I won’t say no.”

“I see,” she says, a twisted smile curving up on her face. “And I suppose you expect that to be okay the other way?”

“I mean, would you mind if my hands touched your neck?”

I reach over and run my fingers down the slender line of her neck, and she shakes her head.