Friends with Benefits - Nicole Blanchard Page 0,27

a connection could be so instantaneous with someone. But when Tripp pressed me deep into the couch and kissed me like I was the best thing he had ever tasted, I thought maybe I was wrong. It had never been like this with Chris.

Effortless.

There was no self-doubt, no self-consciousness.

There was only heat and need.

The more I kissed him, the more I wanted him.

It scared me how much I wanted him.

Hell, he’d scared me since the day I met him.

No matter how hard I pushed him away, he was always there. Unruffled, patient, kind. An unshakeable rock.

“Wait,” I said and put a hand on his chest. Somehow, I managed to pull myself away, slip out from underneath him, and put some distance between us. I ended up in the kitchen, but I could have been across the continent, and it wouldn’t have been enough.

Whatever wheels I was putting into motion here weren’t going to brake as easily as that.

“Tripp, I—”

Tripp held up a hand. “You don’t have to say anything. I—you don’t have to say anything.”

I wanted to pull my hair out. “Stop, just stop. You don’t have to be so understanding all the time. It was wrong of me. I never should have crossed that line. Stop being so nice. I’m jerking you around, and we both know it.”

I didn’t understand how he couldn’t see it. I was taking advantage of his kindness. Jerking him around by messing around with him, then telling him there was no chance for a future with me. I was damaged goods. I come with too much baggage. What part of that didn’t he understand?

He rose from the couch and herded me with his body toward the kitchen island. “You want me to stop being nice?”

“Yes!” I said, my voice breaking with exasperation. “The things I’m asking of you aren’t fair. You have to know that. I’m not in a healthy place right now.”

He was so close that I could see the pulse beating in his throat. It was as steady as his gaze, which was locked into mine. “You think I can’t handle you?” He smirked a little. “I’m a big boy. I know what I’m doing. But I’m also not an asshole. If all you can handle is friendship, then that’s what I’m here for. If you want a little something more, then I’m telling you that I want you.”

I placed my hands on his shoulders. “Wait, so what are you saying? Are you saying you want to be…friends…with benefits?” The incredulous tone in my voice cracked a little. We were in college, but we had never entered the world of casual sex. Tripp had flirted, hard, and often, but he’d never been a complete manwhore. And I’d blown off every guy who tried to hit on me but Chris.

“I want you. If that’s what you want, I’m willing to give it to you.”

“That’s not fair to you.” I shook my head, trying to clear it of the haze of lust. “No. We can’t do that. Situations like that are how people get hurt, and you’re the last person I would ever want to hurt. “

He thumbed my cheek and smiled a little. “You don’t have to add me to the list of people you take care of.”

“I don’t want to take care of you,” I said hotly, but his words rang with a truth I couldn’t ignore. Chris had said something of the sort a time or two.

He clearly wasn’t convinced. “You want to take care of everyone. Your patients, your sisters, your parents. Your friends. Who takes care of you, Em?”

“You’re starting to piss me off. Give me some space.” How the conversation had devolved so completely, I couldn’t understand. This was precisely the reason I didn’t want to get involved with anyone in the first place. I tried to shove my way around him, but it was like trying to drain the ocean: impossible.

“No, I’m not giving you space. Not this time.”

“I take it back. Offer rescinded.”

His breath was hot on my lips. I licked mine without conscious thought. “You can’t take it back,” he said.

I tried to use reason. “We have to leave soon. The twins will be home, and it’ll take an hour to get them ready and over to your parents’ with rush hour traffic.”

Tripp didn’t budge. How had I mistaken him for the happy-go-lucky sort? Underneath that puppy dog exterior was a pit bull. “Stop making excuses. Stop trying to think your way through everything. Tell