It could’ve been Reed that night at the bar, buying me purple drinks and telling me he’d lose his mind if he didn’t get inside me soon. That thought is quickly pushed out of my head. I don’t want to imagine giving myself to anyone but Ben. I belong to him.
“He’s just afraid of falling for some chick and then getting crushed again,” she continues. “But he’s never admitted that to me. He acts as if Molly didn’t completely wreck him, but he didn’t see what I saw. That boy was destroyed.”
We both chew up our mouthfuls, placing our chip bags on the coffee table when we are finished.
I am picking at the label on my beer bottle when I feel a pair of eyes on me. I look up and meet her beaming smile. “What?”
“You got naked in front of him last night, didn’t you?”
There’s the Tessa I know and love. I chuckle and shake my head. “No. I sent him a text that was meant for you.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and show it to her.
She arches her brow, reading over the text several times. “Damn. Well, that’s definitely one way to go about getting him out of the friend zone. How did he react to this?”
“How do you think he reacted to it?” I ask playfully. I scoot over next to her so that we can rest our heads against each other’s. Our legs are stretched out in front of us with our feet propped up on the edge of the coffee table. “You were right.”
“I usually am. But what exactly are you referring to?”
I sigh, pausing for dramatic effect. She bumps her knee against mine, indicating that she isn’t having my stalling tactics today.
“I love him.”
I actually feel my heart swell inside my chest when I admit it out loud. The butterflies that only Ben can evoke inside my stomach begin fluttering about in there. I feel my love for him streaming through me as if it runs through my veins. And I know without a doubt that I’ll love him fiercely and forever.
Her hand squeezes my knee. “Of course you do. And he loves you. It’s ridiculously obvious and annoying now that I’m single.” She yawns at the end of her observation, prompting me to do the same at the sound of hers.
I want to believe Tessa. I want to believe what my own heart is telling me. But I’ll never be sure until he speaks those words to me himself. A part of me thinks I shouldn’t love him, but for completely different reasons than I’ve ever had before. I know how hard it’s going to be to leave him when I have to go back to Georgia. And leaving my heart here isn’t going to make it any easier. Maybe that’s why Ben hasn’t said those words to me, if he even feels them at all. Maybe he’s being sensible and keeping his heart out of this.
But I want him to jump off that cliff after me. I want him to feel that rush and risk the pain because I’m willing to.
I’d risk it all.
“You know you’re best friends with someone when you’re willing to handcuff them, while they’re practically naked, and help them get ready for a sex fest with your brother,” Tessa says through a smile that I hear rather than see.
I can’t see much of anything in the position I am currently in besides the headboard and the comforter.
She fastens the handcuffs to my wrists, securing my arms behind my back. “This is nuts, considering we don’t have a key for these. How fucked up would it be if he got held up at work and you had to stay like this for hours? Or days?”
Shit. I hadn’t thought about that. God, that would be awful. Not to mention embarrassing. I’m not sure how I’d manage to go to the bathroom like this.
I open my mouth to respond when I hear the sound of the sliding glass door opening.
“Showtime,” Tessa says. “I’ll be heading out for a few hours. Try not to kill him.”
“Thanks,” I whisper.
My entire body is buzzing with anticipation as she leaves the room, closing the door behind her. I hear muffled voices in the distance, laughing to myself at the speech Tessa rehearsed with me when I asked her to help me out tonight.
Mia was not acting like herself today. She seemed a bit on edge and a little hostile. I had to restrain her. And then the kicker. She’s been a bad girl, Ben. A very bad girl.
I would’ve loved to have seen her face when she delivered that line. And his for that matter.
The floorboards in the hallway creak with his footsteps that inch closer until finally, the door swings open.
I can’t see him, but I can hear him clearly with the one ear that is facing the ceiling. I am kneeling on the edge of the bed, my body angled down and my cheek resting on the comforter. My wrists are bound behind my back, and I’m only wearing a very skimpy pair of black panties. They barely cover anything and I might as well be naked right now. And by the sound of Ben’s heavy panting, he isn’t hating this surprise.
“Dear God. A man should be warned before he walks in on you like this. I almost came at the sight of you, baby.” He moves closer and places his hand on my lower back, running it up my spine. I whimper at his touch. It’s like fire melting ice. “My dirty girl looks absolutely stunning face down. And I bet you like this, don’t you? I bet you’re dripping right now.”
“Touch me and find out.”
His hand moves lower, teasing me between my legs. “Holy fuck,” he grunts, sliding my panties down to my knees. His fingers dip inside me, moving in a steady rhythm as I moan against his touch. His lips press against
