Forbidden Nights(9)

“No. I’m not kidding. I know it sounds crazy. But maybe it’s not crazy. I’m the head of a damn sex toy company and I don’t know how to give up control. Maybe because I’m surrounded by all these toys. Because I’ve learned every detail of my own body and what I like, and how to turn up the setting higher, or adjust the vibration lower, or thrust harder, or tease more, to yield the result,” she said, laying out her pleasure-seeking clinically like it was a math problem, when to him it was a vision of sensual beauty—her on the bed, legs spread, learning the intricacies of her own body, a territory he longed to explore intimately. “And now, when I’m with a guy, and God knows it’s been a long time since that,” she said with a scoff, “it’s so hard for me to let go of the reins I’ve been holding onto for so long. But I want to learn. And we’re friends. I trust you completely, and it would never ruin our friendship because there would never be anything more.”

“You want me to give you lessons in seduction?” he asked, making sure he wasn’t imagining this. Because he’d had these sort of dreams before.

She straightened her spine and shook her head. “I don’t want lessons in seduction. I want lessons in submission.”

Holy shit. Screw the New Orleans heat wave. It was a certified scorcher in this small little bistro. His neck was hot, his jeans were tight. His mind was operating in overdrive. He started to open his mouth to speak, but everything was a jumble.

She brought her hand to her mouth, covering it. “Shit,” she muttered. “That was a ridiculous thing to ask. Completely presumptuous. You’re probably not even attracted to me. Forget I said it.” She backpedaled as she clearly misinterpreted his silence.

“I assure you, my attraction to you is not the issue. I think the bigger issue is—are you attracted to me?”

“You’re handsome,” she said, her lips curving in a sweet smile as she locked eyes with him. “You’re very, very handsome, Nate.”

Handsome was good. He could work with handsome. And because he didn’t even want her to ask the question about herself, he preempted her. “And for the record, Casey, you’re absolutely fucking gorgeous.”

She beamed. “Thank you. So will you do it then? Will you teach me? Or is there some bro code you won’t cross because of my brother?”

He laughed at the notion of Jack Sullivan having a problem with the two of them. That simply wasn’t Jack’s style. He didn’t issue hard and fast rules about anyone’s love life, or say things like don’t touch my sister. He wasn’t that kind of guy. “Jack’s not like that. You know that as well as I do.”

“I know. He’s not a rules guy.”

Hell, Nate wasn’t either. He wasn’t even that ticked off when his college buddy Bryan had hooked up with his own sister, Kat, especially since those two were happily married now. Not that marriage was on the table in this scenario with Casey. Nor was a real relationship either.

Sex was on the table.

Sex was what he wanted.

He wanted nothing more than to teach her, to take her, to please her. But something nagged at him. A relationship that was far more important than a bro code would ever be—his relationship with her. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship,” he said because as much as he wanted her, he didn’t want to lose her.

“I don’t either. That’s why this is perfect. We’re friends, and we’re not trying to be anything more. You’re in between women. I’m not dating Grant yet and won’t even have dinner with him for a month because he’s going out of the country. So we have this little block of time, and no one gets hurt because we know exactly what it is. And when we’re done with your . . .” she stopped and tilted her head coquettishly, “. . . tutoring, we go back to being just friends. You’re not the committed type, so this is perfect. It can never be more than it is, and therefore neither one of us can get hurt. Perfect. Business. Arrangement.” She finished by brushing one palm neatly against the other.

He shook his head, impressed with her negotiating style. Direct and downright enticing.

Still, were they really going to attempt this? His analytical mind began to turn it around like a Rubik’s cube. On the one side was their friendship. On the other was his desire for her. But if they went in with eyes wide open and expectations clearly laid out from the start, they’d be fine, right? She was a woman who deserved a man who could commit, but she wasn’t asking him to be that man. She was asking him to show her how to get down on her knees.