‘Now what’ turned out to be him packing up his things and taking her home with him.

Not for sexy times. Nope. Far worse.

They cuddled on his couch and watched The Princess Bride. Michael stroked her hair. Made dinner for her. Massaged her feet. And every time she started to pull away emotionally, every time she started to go into her head, he’d pull her over his lap, swat her ass just enough to get her excited, but not enough to give her any real pleasure, and then put her back in the position she’d previously occupied and go right back to doing whatever they were doing, whether it was rubbing her feet or just having a conversation.

She did not sleep over.

But she kind of wished he’d asked her to.

20

“Is it possible for women to get blue balls? Because I’m pretty sure I have lady blue balls,” Ellie whined to Sharon, pressing her thighs together underneath the table they were sitting at. The music at the club and the conversations going on around them were enough to keep most people from overhearing her comment, unless they were really determined to listen in. Despite her whining, Ellie was in pretty high spirits. She was just also really, really horny.

“Blue labia?” Sharon mused rather than sympathizing, the way Ellie wanted her to. “Blue clitoris?”

Ellie pouted. Sharon grinned and poked her. Ellie poked her back.

Michael was there before it could turn into a poking war, pulling Ellie away from Sharon and onto his lap, where Sharon wouldn’t dare to poke her. Nor Ellie poke Sharon, for that matter. The plug in Ellie’s ass shifted, heating her lower body even more.

“Bad subbies,” he said, his tone wry, although he was definitely amused. Ellie giggled.

In the past two weeks, she’d opened up more than she’d ever thought possible... she hadn’t even realized how much she’d held back or withdrawn when hanging out with her friends until they’d all started calling her on it. She’d even started asking them to come over and hang out with her at her place. Angel and Leigh had come over for dinner last week and Sharon and Kate this past week. The others hadn’t been able to make it, but she hadn’t felt bad or rejected... she’d understood they really were just busy. They’d been too pleased to be invited and too sad about missing out for her to believe anything else. This morning she and Andrew had gone out to breakfast, just the two of them, as friends and he’d been pleased as punch. She’d still worried a bit about what Kate would think, but Andrew had reassured her that Kate was taking the opportunity to spend some time with his sister, and both of them were happy to have him out of the way.