Fire Down Below by Andrea Simonne Read Free Book Online Page A

in.
I’m sorry you had such a lousy time tonight.”
    “Go home, seriously. We’ll talk
tomorrow.”
    He didn’t say anything, but stood
there, worried. “Please, Kate.”
    I had to admit he looked miserable,
and I knew it must have been hard for him to come here. I took a deep breath. “All
right,” I sighed.
    As he followed me upstairs to my
bedroom, I wondered whether we would end it and immediately knew I didn’t want
that. Obviously there was all that fabulous sex, but I wasn’t ready to give up trying
to make this work. I cared about Ben and I wanted us to figure this out.
    I sat down on the bed, and scooted
until my back was against the wall, watching as Ben climbed next to me. It felt
odd to have him here in my bedroom. It occurred to me that while he’d been here
a few times we’d never even slept in my bed together. We always slept at his
place. He seemed so big, filling the space in a way that I never did. The lamp
on my nightstand put out a silky yellow light, sending both of our shadows
across the wall.
    “I don’t want to stop seeing you,”
he said bluntly.
    “You don’t think we’re too
different?”
    “You’re totally unlike anyone I’ve
ever been with, but I like it. I feel good when I’m with you.”
    I wasn’t ready to give in that
easily though. “I can’t hang out with your friends. I’m sorry, but I just
can’t. I felt totally out of place there tonight, plus Megan really was awful to
me whether you noticed it or not.”
    He nodded. “I understand. Honestly,
I don’t know why Megan was so rude to you. I thought about it after I dropped
you off and all I can figure was that it must be because of Wendy. She and
Wendy are good friends and Wendy never wanted to break up with me. I suspect
Megan thinks there’s a chance we’d get back together again if I wasn’t seeing
you.”
    “What business is it of hers
though?”
    “None, but she’s...well, you saw
what she’s like.”
    “Do you want to get back together
with Wendy?”
    “No! I’m the one who broke it off with
her. It’s finished.”
    I chewed on this for a few
seconds. “Why did you break up with her?” I had to admit I was dying of
curiosity. They seemed to have so much in common, plus Wendy was attractive. I
honestly couldn’t imagine why he would have dumped her.
    He sighed. “I don’t know. Why does
anybody end a relationship? It just wasn’t working out.”
    “But you both like all the same
stuff.”
    “Yeah, well...not necessarily,” he
hesitated, “if I tell you the real reason, you’re going to laugh.”
    “Why?”
    “I shouldn’t tell you. It wouldn’t
be nice.”
    “Oh, come on.” I pushed against
him, bumping his shoulder. “You can’t throw that out there and then not say
anything.”  
    Ben gave me a wry smile. “Wendy
and I didn’t have any passion.”
    “You mean, like, sexual passion?”
    “That’s what I’m talking about.”
    I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
    “See, I told you, you were going
to laugh.”
    “How is that possible? I can’t
believe it!” Although truthfully, when I thought of Wendy, I could believe it.
“But was it always passionless? Or did the passion die out over time?”
    “No.” He shook his head. “We never
had it. I tried different things and I was always asking her what she liked or
didn’t like, but she never seemed into it. She didn’t respond at all. Eventually
I couldn’t take it anymore. I began to realize that I needthis in my
life.”
    “Wow...you’ve certainly got it in
spades now.”
    He laughed, running a hand through
his hair. “I know! It’s been crazy. It’s like going from zero to mach ten with
no breaks in between.”
    I sat there grinning. I had to
admit I was feeling a bit smug and self-satisfied. So Wendy was lousy in bed! “And
you guys dated for a whole year? No wonder you’re so horny all the time.”
    Ben flopped over on his back and
groaned. “I shouldn’t have told you any of this, it’s too