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I’m silent for a moment, thinking about my earlier conversation with Cass. When Ben’s attention returns to the movie, it gives me the courage to say more. “I think she might have a point, though.”
“A point about what?”
“I might need to become more flexible in my views on casual sex.”
His head whips back and his gaze meets mine. “Why?”
Just discussing this with him makes me feel flushed all over. My heart is beating faster and my mouth feels too dry.
“Well... it has been a long time, and... I’m missing it.”
There’s something dark and hot in his gaze that makes my stomach feel like it’s been hollowed out and filled with molten liquid.
Ben takes a drink from the wineglass and then hands it back to me. I finish the dregs left in the glass and put it on the table in front of us.
“Want another one?” Ben asks, his voice rougher and deeper than usual.
I shake my head. “No thanks. I think I’m done.”
Between the bottles of wine I’ve knocked back tonight, the heat in Cass’s unit, and this conversation, I feel overheated. Without thinking, I strip off my skin-coloured tights, doing a double take when I think I see Ben staring at my legs. When he frowns at me and then looks back at the box, I throw my tights in the direction of my handbag and lie down on the couch in my denim skirt and long-sleeved white blouse.
Well, I try to lie down. It’s difficult when I’m trying to avoid touching Ben.
I hear Ben sigh as he watches me squirm about. Eventually, he grabs my feet off the floor and puts them in his lap.
“You don’t mind?” I ask, rolling onto my back and putting my hand under my head to look at him better.
“I’ll survive,” Ben says dryly.
It’s not until I go to shift back onto my side that I realise his hand is still wrapped around one of my ankles. The jolt of electricity I feel causes me to gasp. Ben stops watching the TV and looks at me, his eyes curious and... dark. He leaves his hand where it is and strokes my ankle softly with his thumb, gently scraping it back and forth. Never would I have said my ankles were an erogenous zone, but every caress of his thumb is like a brush of fire. I shiver with awareness all over. My breasts feel heavy, and my nipples are as hard as rocks as he continues touching me. And when his eyes become something hot and dangerous, my body feels as though it’s pulsing with energy—a pulse rooted in my lower belly.
After a second, Ben forces his focus back to the TV and takes his hand off my ankle. I try to tell myself it’s for the best as I roll over and lie on my side. It takes ages for my heart rate to return to normal, and I can’t seem to get into the movie. After lying in the dim light for long enough, the wine and heat do their job and I finally start to relax. My eyelids droop, the noise of the television fades away, and I sink into unconsciousness—a place where Ben is doing much more to me than just stroking my ankle.
