All of You by Christina Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

slept in last night. I heard his
     
labored breaths as he stepped out of his jeans and removed his shirt. Then he slid in beside me.
     
He hesitated for the longest time before finally scooting forward. His hand came around and braced
     
my stomach, so warm and strong and protective that I couldn’t hold in my gasp.
     
“Is this okay?” he whispered. I could only nod, my limbs felt so weak. His breathing intensified and I felt his bulge growing against my back. But Bennett said nothing
     
more and made no other moves. I got the feeling he was trying to hold himself back, and there was no
     
way I was going to throw myself at him.
     
It was the single most sensual moment of my life.
     
We lay there for some tense and aroused minutes before I finally heard his breaths soften into sleep. Eventually, I drifted off as well.

Chapter Six
I slept in Bennett’s bed for the next three nights, in much the same way. I’d head up to his place and
     
we’d dine on takeout, watch a movie, or listen to music. I helped him unpack most of his boxes and he
     
directed me where to place his things.
     
I got a bird’s-eye view of his art. I’d known he was an art major, but seeing his work revealed
     
another side to him. It was earthy and eclectic and stunning, just like him. It was mostly charcoal
     
drawings of city life or scenic landscapes that he somehow transformed into ethereal, picturesque, and
     
peculiar versions of themselves. Like Starry Night meets The Scream .
     
Then we’d snuggle into bed together, his chest against my back and me aware of how completely
     
aroused he was. If I had an appendage growing on the outside of my body, he’d have known how
     
entirely stirred up I was as well. It was completely nerve-racking and overwhelming yet provocative and
     
comforting all at once.
     
I had never done any such thing with a guy. And I didn’t know who was more stubborn, me or him.
     
Neither one of us was willing to make the next move. For him, it may have been because he didn’t want
     
to become one of my friends with benefits. And for me, it was because there was some small desperate
     
part of me that didn’t want him to think I was so easy, or easily led—into commitment, that is.
     
I asked him about the girl he was seeing, but he never answered me, so I assumed he was having
     
the same problem—no desire to be with anyone else for the moment.
     
Rob even drunk-dialed me and threatened to show up on my doorstep because he needed it so
     
badly, he said. Obviously I did, too, like I’d never needed it before in my whole damned life, but it felt
     
weird to let Rob come over, especially if Bennett accidentally ran into him. I had no earthly idea where either of us stood or how blurred the lines had become.
     
So I decided I needed to be the bigger person—the person who had an ounce of control and sense
     
left—and put an end to my sleepovers with Bennett. I needed to sleep in my own damn bed.
     
So I didn’t go up to his apartment and he didn’t come down to get me and somehow that made me
     
feel even worse. My chest had an ache I couldn’t shake until I fell into a restless night of sleep. I figured
     
he got the message I was sending. That I was no longer interested in whatever little game we were
     
playing.
     
In the morning I was proud of myself for making it through the night without the help of a man. I
     
needed to get my life back. I was strong and unattached, and I liked it that way.
     
Mrs. Jackson noticed a difference the following morning in the activity room. “You look resigned
     
today. Maybe with a hint of sadness underneath.”
     
“Nope, you don’t have me pegged today,” I said, laying down my pair of aces. I’d promised her a
     
quick game of rummy. “I am confident and self-assured.”
     
“I am woman, hear me roar?” she said, snickering. Her fingers trembled as she balanced her stack
     
of cards. It was a skill that had become