Page 80

“Uh, sure?”

Her tank was still draped on the back of the couch, so I grabbed it and pulled it on instead of something I owned. It wasn’t long enough to cover everything, but it was close enough. And it smelled like her, so I wasn’t taking it off.

“Let’s see what we’ve got,” Stace said, opening my fridge and looking through it. “Cheese? We’ve got some strawberries here, and hummus. Good for protein.” She started stacking containers on the counter. “And I see bagels and mozzarella and sauce? You want a pizza bagel? Because I’m having one.”

I leaned on the counter, watching Stace move around my kitchen, and it wasn’t strange. It was…comfortable.

“Yeah, I’ll have a pizza bagel.”

While I watched, Stace put pizza bagels in the air fryer naked, sliced strawberries naked, and arranged cheese and crackers on a plate naked. It gave me a chance to admire her body and I had to admit, it was making me want her all the more.

“You gotta stop looking at me like that,” she said as she spooned hummus into a small bowl.

“Can’t help it,” I said. “Have you seen your body? I could stand here and bounce quarters off your ass.”

That would actually be fun. She turned and gave me a full view of said ass and wiggled it side to side.

The air fryer went off, interrupting my ass-ogling session.

Stace and I carried everything to the couch, and she put her sweatpants back on and I gave her a shirt that didn’t quite fit.

“I’m not getting burned by post-coitus pizza bagels,” she said when I pouted.

“Oh, that’s probably smart,” I said. She thought of so many potential disasters that I didn’t consider.

“Have you seen a lot of sex injuries?”

Stace grinned. “Oh hell yeah. People are constantly putting things in their butts that they shouldn’t put there. And without lube. You gotta use lube.”

I almost choked on a bite of pizza bagel.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“My main advice in that area is to buy a toy specific for the purpose with a flared base.” She gave me a serious look and then we both burst out laughing.

“Thank you for the advice, Stace.”

She grinned. “Anytime, baby.”

I’d never laughed this much with someone I’d had sex with. I’d always kind of separated sex from friendship. From any other kind of relationship.

We moved close to each other on the couch and eventually Stace was feeding me strawberries.

Stace let out a sigh. “You’re so beautiful.”

The way she said it made me smile and blush.

“So are you.”

She grinned. “I don’t usually feel beautiful. But when you look at me, I do.”

I traced her jaw with one finger.

“You are. You really are. Would you let me paint you sometime?”

Her eyebrows went up. “You want to paint me?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I can’t guarantee it will be any good. I haven’t painted people in a long time. I usually stick to flowers and landscapes and that kind of thing.”