No Strings

“Whipped cream,” I tell him with a shrug. “We were hungry.”

He quirks a brow. “Did you at least save me some food?”

Savannah snorts out a laugh. “In the kitchen, just don’t eat the pancake that’s on the floor.”

Brody gives us both another look before he shakes his head and walks away.

“Are you freaking serious?” Savannah shouts. “I swear you’re cheating.”

“How?” I laugh, throwing my arms up in victory.

“You just… are!” She drops the striker onto the air hockey table and glares. “I want a rematch.”

“Again?” I round the table and pull her into my arms. “I already beat you four times.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “You gave it your best shot, Sav, but I think you need to know when to cut your losses.”

“I hate you,” she mutters as I kiss her chin.

“No, you don’t.” I kiss her lips, tasting the sugary sweetness from the cotton candy she was munching on a little bit ago.

“Hey, Dad!” Brody yells, causing Savannah to jump back like I’m on fire. “There you are!”

We’ve spent the afternoon hanging out in the arcade, eating, drinking, playing games like air hockey and Whac-A-Mole while Brody and his friends run rampant through the place. Shortly after we arrived, I loaded them up with credits and told them to let me know when they’re hungry. They disappeared and haven’t returned once… until now.

I clear my throat. “You hungry?”

He gives me an odd look, telling me he saw how close Savannah and I just were, but he doesn’t call me out on it. “Yeah. Can we get some pizzas?”

“Of course. I’ll order them and call you once they bring them out.”

“Cool, thanks.”

He and his friends take back off, leaving Savannah and me alone again. “What kind of pizza do you like?”

“Pineapple.” She smirks. “But I doubt they have that, so anything is fine.”

I take her hand in mine and guide her over to the counter to order, then head back to our table and have a seat while we wait for the food.

Since the table is in a private room and the boys won’t be back until I call them, I pull Savannah into my lap so she’s straddling my thighs.

“What are you doing?” she squeals, wrapping her arms around me. “We can’t have sex here!”

“Who said anything about sex? I just want to kiss you.” I fist the back of her hair and pull her face toward mine. We stay like this, kissing like horny teenagers until the server drops the pizza and drinks off.

When we separate, Savannah looks at me curiously.

“What?”

“I’m just… confused.”

“About what?”

“This…” She gestures back and forth between our bodies. “Us… What we’re doing.”

“I’m pretty sure we were just kissing.” I’m only half-joking since I know she means something more than that, but I’m not sure what she’s talking about.

She rolls her pretty blue eyes to the ceiling. “I’m not an expert on stringless sex, but I don’t think people who have it go around making out and holding hands.”

She isn’t wrong. I’ve had plenty of stringless sex, and never once did we hang out and act like we’re dating. But I’m not about to tell her that—and I’m not about to think about why I’m not about to tell her that.

“There are no rules,” I tell her instead. “We’re grown adults, and we can do whatever the hell we want. And what I want to do is kiss you.” I press a hard kiss to her lips.

When we break apart, her eyes flutter open, and she hits me with a hazy smile. Her lips are slightly puffy, and her cheeks are tinged pink. Fuck, she’s so goddamn beautiful.

As I stare at her, wanting her back in my arms, in my lap, kissing me, a truth I haven’t been wanting to admit hits me like a freight train doing a hundred with no working brakes. This no-strings shit isn’t going to fly much longer… because I want Savannah Cartwright. Every goddamn part of her.

“You like her, don’t you?” Brody glances at me from the other side of the couch where we’re watching Breaking Bad, a show that has become part of our nightly routine after he got me into it one night.

“Who?” I ask dumbly. There’s only one woman he would ask about. The same woman who’s been on my mind since we dropped her off at her place a few hours ago, agreeing to meet back up tomorrow afternoon to ride to dinner together. I wanted to ask her to come back here to watch a movie or something, but at the same time, I needed some space to think about shit. My head is all over the damn place since I’ve come to the realization that just sex with Savannah isn’t enough for me.

“You know who.” He throws a pillow at me. “Savy. I saw you kissing her.” His tone isn’t just a statement of fact. It’s an accusation.