“We won’t be doing much of anything except tolerate each other’s presence for Ava’s sake,” she said through gritted teeth. “You’re lucky I didn’t bite your dick off.”
“But then you wouldn’t have been able to come so hard around it. Multiple times,” I said silkily. “That would’ve been a damn shame. Your screams are so sweet.”
I smiled at her snarl.
“You’re a logical person. Think about it,” I reasoned. “We both have needs, and this is the perfect way to fulfill those needs without the headache that comes up with finding someone to hook up with. Less Todds, more orgasms. It’s a win-win situation.”
Jules remained silent. She was thinking about it.
I pounced on the opening and went in for the kill. “But if you’re afraid you’ll fall for me in the process, I don’t blame you.” I offered a casual shrug. “I’m pretty irresistible.”
My smile widened when her eyes sparked. Challenges were as much her weakness as they were mine.
“Not even in your wildest dreams.” Jules leaned back in her chair. “Remember the last game we played? I won, you lost.”
“I don’t have dreams about you, Red. Only nightmares.”
“Could’ve fooled me, considering how hard you came the other night.” Jules released her hair from her bun and let it cascade over her shoulders. The movement stretched her shirt across her chest, and my eyes involuntarily dipped to where her nipples poked through the thin material in hard, pebbled points.
When I lifted them again, my jeans had tightened, and Jules wore a smug smile. “If we’re going to do this, we need to set some ground rules.”
Bingo. Mission accomplished.
I savored the triumph for a minute before I inclined my head. “Agreed. Ladies first.”
I’d learned my lesson from our wager at The Black Fox. Always set rules.
“This is a strictly physical arrangement,” Jules said. “We don’t have claims on each other’s time outside of sex, so don’t ask me where I am or what I’m doing when we’re not together.”
“Fine.” I had no plans to do either of those things. “We keep this between us. Don’t tell anyone—not your friends, people at the clinic, and especially not Ava.”
“Of course I won’t tell anyone.” Jules wrinkled her nose. “I hardly want people to know I’m involved with you.”
“You could only be so lucky.”
We ran through the rest of our rules in rapid succession.
“Always use protection.”
“No sleeping over.”
“No getting jealous if the other person goes on a date with someone else.”
Fine with me. An exclusive friends-but-not-friends-with-benefits situation was too close to an actual relationship for comfort.
“If you want to end the arrangement, be upfront about it. No ghosting or beating around the bush. That’s fucking immature.”
“No falling in love.”
I scoffed. “Red, you’ll fall in love with me before I ever fall in love with you.” The mere idea was absurd.
Jules was the most difficult woman I’d ever encountered. God help whichever poor bastard ended up falling for her.
“As if.” She sniffed. “You think far too highly of your dick, Chen. It gets the job done, but it’s not a magical rod.”
“Last rule. Never refer to my cock as a rod again.”
Some slang should be banned from the English language.
“Whatever, Joshy McRod.” Jules offered a deceivingly sweet smile. “Do we have a deal?”
“Deal.” I grasped her outstretched hand and squeezed. She squeezed back twice as hard. It reminded me of when we shook on our clinic truce. We were making an awful lot of deals lately, for some reason. “Only fucking, no feelings.”
I didn’t doubt for a second I could hold up my end of the deal. Most people caught feelings in these types of arrangements, which was why they never lasted long.
But if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that I would never, ever fall in love with Jules Ambrose.