Chapter 11
chapter eleven
Luke
When morning comes, the stack of pillows pushed against my body does nothing to quell the desire I feel for Mia.
I roll onto my back and try not to moan as a wisp of Mia’s scent floats through my nostrils.
She’s whimpering in her sleep, and I can’t stop myself from turning onto my side to watch her.
Her face looks peaceful. I wonder what she’s dreaming about.
I look over at the bedside clock and groan when I see that it’s three thirty a.m. Far too early to wake up, though there is work that I need to get done.
I think about grabbing my laptop and going through some emails when Mia rolls over.
I freeze and wait to see if she’s also going to wake up, but she doesn’t.
My shirt has come open, and I stare at her silky black bra. The sheet has slipped down to her waist, and I go to pull it up to cover her so she doesn’t get cold. As I lean over, I accidentally bump into one of the pillows, and it falls onto her stomach.
“Huh?” Her eyes slowly blink open. “Oh, hey, Luke. Is it morning?”
“Yes, but no,” I whisper. “It’s only three thirty a.m.”
“Oh.” She yawns and stretches her arm, hitting the pillow and sending it flying. “Oops.”
“It’s fine,” I say, picking up another pillow and throwing it to the ground. “It’s not hurting them.”
“It’s our fort.” She points at me. “You destroyed the fort.”
“We’ll survive the night.”
“I suppose.” She yawns again and tugs on the shirt. Before I know what’s going on, she tugs it off and throws it to the ground, and offers me an impish smile. “I’m too hot.”
“That’s okay,” I say, trying not to look back at her body. “Get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”
“Yeah, we do.” She moves closer to me in the bed. It doesn’t seem like a good idea, but I’m not going to stop her. “Lots of people to fool.”
“Hopefully, they believe our chaste kisses are real,” I murmur as her eyes flicker open and close. “Do you think they will?”
“I suppose so.” She stretches her arm out so that it’s resting on my chest. She lazily strokes my stomach. “I mean, I would believe us.”
“You would?”
I roll over so I’m facing her and move my face closer to hers.
Her eyes are open now, and she smiles sweetly, reminding me that she is the girl I’ve known almost all my life: the girl who called me after her first kiss, losing her virginity, and her pregnancy scare.
I should not be looking at her and feeling the way I am.
“Yes.” She runs her fingers up my chest and moves her face closer to mine so that her nose grazes against mine. “’Cause we are amazing. We can practically read each other’s mind.”
“So, what am I thinking right now?”
“You’re thinking this.” She leans forward and kisses me lightly on the lips, and I freeze.
Can she really read my mind? The fact is, I have been thinking about kissing her. Granted, I wanted it to be more involved than this brief peck, but shit.
“Not bad.” I touch the side of her face tenderly, brushing back her blond hair. It’s grown longer since I last saw her. It’s almost halfway down her back now. “But I don’t know if that’s going to convince anyone.”
“Oh?” She wrinkles her cute little button nose, and I can see the smattering of freckles on her cheeks. “We can practice tomorrow when I wake up.”
“You’re up now.”
“Barely. I’m going back to sleep.” She closes her eyes but doesn’t move.
I lean forward, almost without thinking, and kiss her again. This time, my lips press against hers more firmly, but I don’t attempt to slip my tongue inside her mouth.
“Oh.” She’s breathing heavier now as I move back.
“Oh?” I grin at her, running my finger down her shoulder and toward her waist. I lightly touch her skin, and her eyes fly wide open. “Oh, as in that was a kiss that will fool Rex, or oh, as in you suck at kissing.”
“Oh, as in I wasn’t expecting that.” She licks her lips and moves onto her back.
My fingers glide across her stomach lazily and play with her belly button.
“What are you doing, Luke?”
“I’m touching you casually.” My heart is racing as my cock throbs in my briefs. “If we’ve been dating for a year, we will be used to touching each other casually.”
“I suppose so.” She shifts on the bed and parts her legs, shivering. Her head is still turned toward me, and I’m glad to see her reactions as I touch her.
I move my fingers up past her belly button and stop beneath her bra. She’s breathing heavier now. Then I run my fingers up the valley between her breasts and along her neck. Her skin is smooth, like velvet, and I can barely breathe as I touch her and wait for her to stop me.
“Are you still practicing your touch?”
“Yes, just tell me when I go too far,” I say almost clinically.
“How far are you planning on going?” she whispers into the air.
“Not too far.”
I brush my fingers back down and over the top of her bra, moving rapidly.
I lightly brush her hard nipples, but I don’t stop, even though I feel her large intake of air.
My fingers move back down across her stomach and to the tops of her lacy panties.
She stills as my fingers run across the lace pattern at the top of her panties.
I won’t slip my fingers inside them. I won’t actually touch her, though I’m dying to.
“That’s good,” she says, her voice barely recognizable as her body stiffens.
I run my fingers back up toward her bra and rub my thumb across her nipple, slower this time.
I don’t move my fingers away, but instead slip my finger into her bra.
Her eyes widen when I graze her nipple and then pinch it between my thumb and finger.
She gasps and shifts on the bed, and I try not to groan as a moan escapes her lips.
I run my fingers all the way down her panties, tracing her mound as I get to the apex between her legs.
She closes her legs in on my fingers, and I move my fingers back up to her belly button.
“I can play that game as well.” She moans.
“What game is that?”
“The testing game.”
She leans over and runs her fingers across my stomach muscles and then farther down so that her fingers are grazing my cock through the thin cotton material. I stiffen, waiting to see what she will do next.
“Just in case we’re somewhere and I feel like I need to be comfortable touching you anywhere,” she whispers.
“If the act requires it, you have to do it.” I nod, my voice deep with desire.
“Exactly.” She breathes as she shifts closer to me.
“Just like I would have to do this, if it required it.” I reach my fingers to her stomach again.
“Do what?” she asks.
Her mouth is a wide O as I slip my fingers into her panties and down between her legs.
She allows the access, and I rub her clit for a few seconds, the wetness between her legs telling me how turned on she is.
I shift next to her and allow my fingers to slide down her slit before gently rubbing her again.
Her thighs clench my fingers for a few seconds before she moans.
“I don’t think you’ll have to prove that, Luke.”
“Maybe not,” I croak out as I pull my fingers from out of her panties. “But you never know.”
“Do you think I’ll have to prove this?”
She slips her fingers down the front of my briefs and strokes my cock. I grow against her touch, and her eyes widen as I twitch against her.
“Probably not.” I grunt, and I try not to feel too despondent when she removes her fingers. “It’s likely I won’t have to do this either,” I say as I roll over on top of her and kiss her hard.
She reaches up and strokes my back, and I gyrate against her, simulating sex as she spreads her legs wide.
My cock strains against my briefs as I grind against her panties.
She kisses me back and wraps her legs around my waist. I reach down, pull my cock out, slide her panties to the side, and rub the head of my cock against her entrance.
She’s moaning loudly now, her chest heaving as she whimpers.
She’s so wet. I want to slide inside of her. One thrust is all it would take.
“Test is over, Luke,” she mumbles against my lips. “I think we’ve proven that we can both act if we need to.”
“Yes, of course.” I pull my cock back and readjust her panties, giving her clit a few strokes as I move back to my side of the bed. I lie back and look up at the ceiling, not knowing what to do with my stiff cock.
“We’re both tired, and we drank a lot last night,” she whispers.
I nod. “You’re right. We’re not in our right minds.”
“Are you still horny?” she whispers a couple of minutes later.
“What do you think, Mi-Mi?” I roll over to face her, and she does the same, so we’re face-to-face. My cock flops against the front of me, and I quickly tuck it back inside my briefs, so it doesn’t get any ideas. “I’m hard as hell.”
“I’m pretty wet.” She makes a face at me. “We totally can’t cross that line. Friends don’t fuck.”
“Friends with benefits do.”
“Best friends do not become friends with benefits.” She touches the side of my face.
“It would ruin our friendship.” We’re talking about this lightly, like it’s not unusual for us to be in this situation.
Like I am used to almost fucking her. Like it’s normal for two people to practice fake dating by almost fucking.
You’ve dreamt about this, Luke.
Shut up.
“But talking about my hard cock and your wet pussy won’t?”
“Luke!” She presses her finger to my lips.
“You can’t say that.” She is so red that she could camouflage herself next to a fire truck, but I don’t say anything.
I want to reach over and thrust two of my fingers inside of her.
I want to get her off. I want her begging me to fill her with my cock.
I want her screaming for me to take her.
From the front. From the back. From behind.
Now is not the time, Luke.
I let out a long sigh. “We’re just going to pretend that—”