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Her response is an eye roll, before she lifts herself up onto her elbows and gives me a look that tells me we both know exactly what I should do next.

I’m stubborn. I don’t do it.

Instead I lift her bra off in a way that’s probably not comfortable. I imagine it’s digging into her skin a bit, but it seems like neither of us are worried when I drag my tongue over her nipple.

She lets out a delicious little gasp, and I do it again with more pressure.

“You’re going to have to move that tongue elsewhere,” she whimpers.

I nip at the smooth skin on the side of her breast and she whimpers again. It’s the hottest sound I’ve ever heard.

“You think I’m feeling that generous? Towards you?”

“I thought you’d be easy to convince,” she admits.

I look up at her and continue my slow torture, admiring her parted lips.

“I’m not. Actually–” I bite again– “I have a lot of reasons to get up and walk away right now.”

Voicing the words causes an entire new flood of frustration. I’m mad at myself for ending up here again, but I don’t have the will to go. I so badly want to take this further, I want to touch her until she forgets her own name, so my mind continues to fight itself.

She rolls her eyes at me again.

“I’m not going to beg,” she snaps.

Her tone of voice gives one of the arguing sides enough ammunition to force me to lean back. I think I see the smallest hint of a pout on her face, but she gets it under control quickly and I wonder if I imagined it.

She might not beg, but something tells me she’d want to if she wasn’t so stubborn.

“That’s a shame. I’d love to see it.”

“Kink of yours?”

“It could be.” I’m open minded.

“Don’t waste your time with me then,” she says as she sits up.

“Okay.”

I shrug as if there’s no part of me pleading to continue. As if I don’t care what happens here atall.

“Okay,” she echoes.

I turn to locate my clothes, but then a thought occurs to me.

“Are you in a relationship?” I blurt out.

She laughs, and I get why it’s amusing. Most people would’ve asked this question before things got this far.

Another thing to beat myself up over. The list is getting long.

“What if I was? How bad would you feel?”

I pretend to think about my answer deeply, putting a hand to my chin.

“It would further prove what a selfish person you are,” I state. “For your partner’s sake, I’d hope thatyou’dfeel bad, but I’d forgive myself. I’m just the clueless other woman here.”

“If you weren’t clueless,” she continues. “If I said that I did have a girlfriend, but then I still did this…”