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She stared down at the back of her hand,the warmth of his touch "I want you to teach ether part Like tonight The talking and the sharing and the holding hands New things are scary for me, but with you, I can handle them and even enjoy them I want to hire you to be my full-time practice boyfriend"

His lips parted, but he didn’t speak for the longest time "What do you mean, ‘not the sex part’?"

"I want to take the sex out I don’t want to be like that woman at the club and force you to be intiether part of a relationship, aon the sex part with ?" he asked with narrowed eyes "Everything I’ve done with you up to now has been voluntary"

She suppressed a griether so she couldn’t tap them "The next time a man kisses me, I need him to do it because he wants to" Without aMichael with his ex-client, everything they’d done thus far left an unsavory taste in heran escort to teach her sex had been oversi repeat sessions, and my new proposal would require evento pay you fifty thousand dollars up front for the first month Maybe we could try this for three to six ood tiotiable, of course I don’t knohat the industry standard is for this type of arrangement"

"Fifty thousand" He shook his head like he was questioning his hearing "Stella, I can’t--"

"Before you say no, think about it," she said as her heart rate juot to his feet "I need some time"

"Of course" She stood up and held her breath, nervous, unsure what to do "Asa hand around her upper arm, he took a half step toward her He leaned down a few inches before he caught hies of her lips with his fingertips, sending shivers of awareness outward "I’ll tell you by next Friday Is that okay?"

"That’s fine"

He bit his teeth into his botto her, and her own lips tingled in response "Good night, then, Stella"

"Good night, Michael"

In a state of breathless numbness, she watched as he let himself out

Chapter 12

Jab, jab, cross Jab, jab, cross Cross Cross Cross

Sweat trickled into Michael’s eyes, burning hi a fist into the punching bag again Whenever thoughts crept back into his head, he hit harder Too e, hook Jab, cross

His arms burned, and he welco out of his brain There was nothing but the hard resistance of the sand in the bag and the jolting i

Jab, jab, jab, cross, cross, cross Harder Could he punch the bag straight off its chains? Maybe Cross, cross, cross, cross--

Loud knocks distracted hilared at the front door His annoyance quicklya towel around his neck, he went to open the door

"’Sup, cuz" Quan brushed past him, set a six-pack of beer bottles on the coffee table, and tossed histo look at Michael, he strode into the kitchen and began digging through the fridge "Got anything to eat?"

"You’re the one orks at a restaurant," Michael said on his way back to his punching bag

It still swung side to side froiven it, and he steadied it before he drove a fist into the faded leather As he got back into beating the shit out of the bag, he heard a series of beeps followed by the whirring of theyour leftovers," Quan called out