Page 60 of When We Were More

Her pupils dilate, she draws her lower lip between her teeth, and she squirms a bit. Seeing that I’m affecting her in such a way has my dick growing hard.

“Matilda,” I warn.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it. Apparently, I like it that you’re good with your words when it comes to sex. My body reacts automatically.”

“Yeah, I understand what you mean.” I pull the blanket back, and she looks down at my boxer briefs, where my cock is fighting to break free.

“Oh. Wow, okay.”

She continues to stare. I move to cover my erection, and she stops me.

“What if… Would you be open to considering a friends with benefits situation?”

If she was trying to shock me, she did a great job.

I pull the blanket back over me, and when she looks at me, her cheeks are pink.

“Nothing to be shy about, tiger. I need you looking at my face for this conversation. To make sure you’re not under the influence of my dick when you’re saying these things.” She rolls her eyes, and I grin at her. “I’ll ask you, now. Is that something you’d really be open to, or are you only reacting in the moment?”

“Don’t be an ass, Henry. I’m not fickle. I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t okay with it.”

“Have you done this before?” I’m not sure why I ask, but I feel a need to know. God, I hope she says no, which is totally hypocritical of me.

“No. Have you?”

“Are you sure you want the answer?” I ask. She appears to think about it, then nods. “Yes, but it was under different circumstances. The friendship wasn’t very… solid.”

She tenses next to me.

“You only called it friends with benefits to avoid saying you were fuck buddies? And I’m different. Sure,” she scoffs.

“Hey, don’t do that. This is different. We really are friends. I hope we’ll be friends whether we have sex or not.”

Her shoulders droop. “Sorry. That wasn’t fair.”

“If we do this, what are the rules?” She must have some.

“Rules? Hmmm. Okay, well, first off, no sex with anyone else during the timeframe we’re doing this.” She pauses, waiting for a response.

“Definitely not.”

“Okay, um. Well, if you find yourself interested in someone else, like you want to date or sleep with them, you tell me, and we’ll stop the arrangement.”

“Not gonna happen. I don’t date. How about birth control and sexually transmitted infections? I got tested after the brief… acquaintance with benefits situation. It was about seven months ago. Came back all negative and, until you, I haven’t had sex. I also never had sex with her without a condom.”

“Wow, you went seven months without sex? I feel kind of bad now. In my head, I totally pegged you as a man slut.” She grins cheekily, and I want to kiss her, but I don’t. “I got tested after my divorce, and thank God, I didn’t catch any diseases from his cheating ass. You’re the first person I’ve had sex with since then.”

“What? In five years?”

“So?” She crosses her arms over her chest and pulls back from me a bit. I’ve made her defensive.

“So, nothing. I didn’t mean anything bad by it. I’m just surprised that’s what you meant when you said it had been ‘a while,’ is all. I imagine you get offers.”

She snorts. Genuinely snorts, and it’s damn cute.

“I have an IUD. For pregnancy prevention. I got it when I was married, and I’ve kept it.”

“Okay. This monogamous friends with benefits relationship, if either of us want to start dating someone else, we stop the arrangement.”