Page 114 of The Bluffing Game

“I mean, you can take the floor.” She looks pointedly at the floor, and I laugh.

“I’m a big guy, Sage. I’m not taking the floor.”

“Well, then please make sure you stay on your side. I can build a pillow wall if you’d like, if that would make you feel more comfortable.”

I grin at her. “I know you’ll find it hard keeping your hands off of me.”

“Me find it hard keeping my hands off of you?” She picks up a pillow and throws it at me. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, then we don’t need a pillow wall. I already told you, I’m not going to touch you.”

“Okay then, good.”

“You can do whatever you want to do, and it still won’t make me touch you.”

“Well, I’m not going to do anything.” She pauses and looks at me with a secretive little smile. “So, wait a second. I could do anything I wanted to you, and you still wouldn’t touch me?”

“Not unless you asked me to.”

“Okay. You want to put money on it?”

“Why? What are you planning on doing?”

“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. Maybe something.”

I’m playing with fire. I should turn the lights off and go to bed, but I can’t resist her, and I can’t resist a little temptation or a bet. “What about fifty dollars?”

“Fifty dollars? That’s nothing. A hundred.”

“You got it.”

She grins. “So, here are the rules. I can do whatever I want to you, and you can’t touch me. You can’t do a damn thing.”

“I wouldn’t even want to do a damn thing,” I say, “no matter what you do.”

“Okay. Well, let’s see, shall we?”

“Wait,” I say. “Do I have to have my clothes on or clothes off? How far is this test going?”

“You can wear whatever you want to wear to bed. It won’t bother me, Dalton.” She gets back up and grabs the remote. “I’m just watching TV and hoping that Parker is locked up soon so I can go back to my regular life.”

“And what does your regular life look like?” I ask. “What’s so special about that, aside from not having to be with me?”

“I don’t know actually,” she says. “Maybe just a little more peace and quiet.”

And that’s all she has to say because those words are poignant. They say so much, even though they also say so little.

I pull down my pants, drop them to the ground, and then I get up on the bed. I’m wearing black briefs, and I debate taking them off. I’m curious to see what she would do if I were naked, but I don’t want to make her uncomfortable, no matter if she’s teasing me, no matter what she’s planning to do. If she wants me naked, she’ll have to get me naked herself.

I see her eyes on my chest, and when I look up at her, she looks away quickly. I can’t help but smile. She’s beautiful, wonderful. I want to make her happy.

I wish Jimmy the Fish would be a stand-up guy. I wish he would be there for her, but then I don’t even know if that’s a good idea anyway. I wonder what she would think if she knew her dad was a made man in the Mafia. It’s not my place to tell her.

I lean back, grab a pillow, and turn to face her. “Whenever you want to start your little test, I’m ready.”

“I’m not going to tell you, Dalton. It may be tonight, it may be tomorrow, it may be never. I find the anticipation is the sweetest part.”

Chapter 31