Page 56 of Enemies with Benefits

At that, Jace sighed. “Yeah, I had an ex who was fond of those. She got upset when I called them porn too."

"Porn is strictly sex done for the sake of sex," Dominic said in a superior tone. "Romance novels have sex scenes in them...sometimes. And they serve a purpose."

"Do me a favor," Jace grunted. "Whatever purpose they serve for you, keep it to yourself."

I snorted, surprised that he'd managed to say something genuinely funny and catty for once. “Probably serves the same purpose as the bottle of lube he keeps with him while he's reading them."

"There's a mental image I do not need," Jace said, and I glanced to see him wrinkling his nose.

"Ah, right, my apologies," I said with a grin, which widened slightly when his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I forgot that a strapping, completely heterosexual man like yourself wouldn't want to even think for the briefest moment about another man jorking it."

His expression clouded over. “Do you even know how not to be an asshole for longer than five minutes?"

"Oh, lord, just keep it down so the kiddo doesn't hear you," Dominic muttered as he rolled to face away from us, jamming his ear buds back in and tapping his phone's screen.

"How am I being an asshole?" I asked, relaxing on the pool chair once more. If we were going to go back to familiar territory, I might as well be comfortable. "I'm just trying to be mindful of what makes you uncomfortable?"

"Since when have you ever given a shit about what makes me uncomfortable?"

"Well—"

"Except for when you use it to make me uncomfortable?"

"Ah, well, outside of that? Never."

"See? You're an asshole."

"Dirty hands are the quickest to point fingers."

"Fuck you."

I raised a brow. “Promise?"

It was amazing to see how quickly his anger was tempered with first confusion as his brow knitted together, and after a flash of understanding, a desire he immediately tamped down. Just as amazing was how I immediately latched onto it, arching a brow and even spreading my legs a little, pushing my fingers just slightly under the band of my board shorts, not enough to be a spectacle if anyone were to glance over, but enough for his eyes to latch onto the movement and hold for a moment.

Amazing and still so fucking weird.

As per usual, he jerked his eyes away from what I was doing to glare at me, as furious as ever that I was getting a reaction out of him. Of course, lately, that reaction had been a lot more fun than his normal reactions to what I said and did. More confusing for both of us, but also more fun. But just as I always had when I knew I was getting a reaction, I just stared at him, openly showing my amusement. Not just amusement, though, not with this because I knew he was thinking about what it might be like to go so far as to fuck me. He definitely wasn't giving thought to me fucking him...yet, his desperate-to-be-straight mind couldn't handle that, but I had to wonder how tempted he was.

"Yeah," I said after a moment, keeping my voice low. The only person capable of hearing us was Dominic, and from the chair next to me, I could hear his music, which meant it was far too loud for him to hear anything except maybe a bomb going off outside. "You're definitely thinking about it, aren't you?"

"Stop," he hissed quietly through his teeth. "Your brother and...Micah are right there."

"Micah is currently trying to figure out if he's going to be...I think that's an otter, or if he wants to fish up some food, considering the time. And Dominic is dead to the world and drowning out what he thinks is pointless bickering, when in fact it's confused and arousing flirtation disguised as normal arguing."

His scowl deepened. “You call this flirting? How the fuck did you ever get laid?"

"I could ask you the same thing, but c'mon, we're both good-looking guys, that can be enough to make up for... a lot of things."

"Well, maybe you think this is flirting, but as far as I'm concerned, you're just?—"

"Tempting you?"

"Getting on my nerves."

I leaned forward, eyes roaming his body. “That's a shame. There's at least one other thing that I could see myself getting on that would be a lot more fun."

"Jesus Christ," he muttered, wiping his face but not hiding the flush that was creeping across his skin. "Can you just...be normal?"