Page 110 of Learn Your Lesson

I just giggled, kicking my feet with the soreness of him still lingering between my thighs.

“Thanks for the lesson, coach,” I said, lifting up onto my elbows to wink at him.

He groaned, thumbing my chin as his eyes raked over me. It had to be a sight — my cleavage against the bed, my face pink from being freshly fucked.

“Pretzel.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s the name of the position,” he mused. “Pretzel.”

“Pretzel,” I echoed, and my tongue skated out to taste his thumb when he ran it over my bottom lip. “I definitely like that one.”

“I can see that,” he mused. “And the others?”

“I liked them, too.”

“I’m beginning to wonder if there’s anything you don’t like.”

When you leave.

The words danced on the tip of my tongue, twirling against the back of my teeth and begging to be set free.

I swallowed them down, instead.

We were quiet for a long while before Will made the first move, groaning his way out of the sheets before he was helping me stand, too. We showered together, and just like the last time, he washed my body and my hair as I moaned and leaned into his strong, gentle touch.

But as soon as we were dry, he was dressing.

As soon as he was dressed, he was gone.

And as soon as he was gone, my mind was racing, heart aching, every cell in my body warning me that I was lying to myself.

I told him I could do this.

I told him I didn’t want anything more.

But the voices of my matriarchy were being drowned out more and more by the voice inside me screaming that he could be different, that this didn’t have to have rules, thatwecould be more.

And I didn’t needRedditto tell me how stupid and delirious those thoughts were.

House of Matches

Will

I was sick.

And not just in the way that I knew already — which was that I couldn’t get Chloe out of my head, not for a single fucking second.

I was playing with fire when it came to this little arrangement of ours. I kept my heart guarded about as securely as a raggedy old wooden fence would, because no matter how I tried to put distance between us, I couldn’t help but give in to the desperation I felt to get closer.

No, I wasn’t just that kind of sick.

I wassicksick — as in down with the goddamn flu.

This was what I got for going to a theme park in the middle of cold season, I supposed.

I’d been relatively fortunate over the years as a dad, all things considered. Somehow, even when Ava brought home germs from school, I managed to tough it out. I could play with a stuffy nose or a headache. I could even suffer with a fever and a stomach bug.