ALAMEA

I broke my own rules.

It was supposed to be a one time thing and I had the chance and power to tell him no but the moment he started kissing my neck, my brain stopped functioning.

It was already awkward after last night, I don't know what would happen now.

I fixed my clothes and expected Armano to walk out of the bathroom and leave me but he came back to me instead.

"Now what?" I asked sternly.

"This time, I have an offer for you." He tapped my nose. "So, listen carefully."

It took a whole lot of effort to hold eye contact with him, I was feeling shy after he fucked me like that.

"I'm listening", I said impatiently.

"You and I don't want a relationship, right?"

Do I? I nodded hesitantly.

"But we both have needs and are quite compatible together physically."

Is he suggesting what I think he is? I remained silent, waiting for him to complete.

"So..." He drawled.

"So?"

He smiled excitedly. "I suggest a friends-with-benefits relationship for us."

Yup. Exactly what I was thinking. Friends with benefits. He has lost his mind.

Can my heart handle more of this 'just physical' thing? This is Armano, I shouldn't even be feeling this but last night I wanted him to stay back so desperately and I am scared that if this continues...

"No," I told him. "The door is right there, you can leave."

His smile dropped and he frowned hard. "No? Did you even think about what I am saying?"

"I don't need to. It's ridiculous."

"Did you not like the sex?"

He was so fucking blunt with his words. "That's not the point."

"So you did like it. You couldn't have faked those orgasms."

"Armano, it's not about whether I enjoyed or not--"

"It is. If you didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't have suggested this. I know you did. This will be fun. We can fuck each other for as long as we like with no strings attached."

He was not going to let this go easily. "What if I want to date someone?"

His jaw clenched.

"What if you want to fuck someone like you usually do? If this is a friends-with-benefits relation then I guess we are free to sample other people too, right?" I tilted my head, questioning him.

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, he smiled coldly. "Right. No strings attached. We can definitely see others."

"Should we even do this? As far as I have heard, friends with benefits doesn't work."

"It doesn't work because one or the other person forgets that they don't have to get attached. They fall in love and all that shit."

"You are so sure you won't get attached or fall in...love?" I had to know. How could he casually fuck people and not get attached to them?

He placed his arms on either side of me on the desk, leaning in until his lips hovered over mine, our gazes locked.

For a second, I was sure he would kiss me.

"Will you?" He repeated back the question to me. "Fall in love with me, devil?"

"Never." I was supposed to sound confident instead my voice came out in a whisper.

He smirked, leaning back. "Then it's settled."

"I didn't say yes."

"You didn't say no either."

I sighed loudly. "You are annoying."

"And you are not?"

I rolled my eyes, pushing him back. "No one will know about this."

He mimicked zipping his lips, locking it and throwing away the key. "My lips are sealed."

"My rules from last night still stand. No kissing and you will use protection."

He grabbed my hand, stroking my wrist with his thumb, his voice gentle, "My rule from last night stands too. You will tell me to stop if I ever make you uncomfortable."

"Don't worry. I will kick you in the balls instead."

His face grimaced. "Don't. I am perfectly capable of understanding the word no."

I chuckled at his scared face making his eyes light up as he smiled at me.

I can't believe I am agreeing to this stupidity. What if I--

"If we find ourselves getting attached", he spoke as if reading my mind. "...whoever feels it first will simply end this and we will go on our separate paths."

I nodded. I did want him. He was fucking handsome and turned me on more than he should. "Sure."

The grin that spread over his face made my heart feel full with warmth and I wanted to fucking kiss those lips, know how those lips would feel and how that stupid grin of his will feel against my lips.

My thoughts were highly concerning and I knew I had made a mistake agreeing to this.

Unaware of the slight panic arising inside me, Armano placed my palm over his cock. I could feel him getting hard under his jeans. "Let's fuck again."

I was sore and busy arguing with myself so I got on my tip toes, put my lips next to his ears and whispered, "Hmm, how about I test your 'no' hearing skills? I'm sore. Next time maybe."

He groaned when I gave a playful squeeze to his cock over his jeans. "I'm going to fuck you so hard for this the next time."

The thought of it made my toes curl but I managed to look unaffected and giving him a smirk, went back to work.

.
.
.

Ada, Lenore and I were sprawled in the lounge chairs while Armano and Kian did laps in the indoor pool and raced with each other.

Lenore had fallen asleep on the chair to my left after swimming for some time.

We are already going on a trip the day after tomorrow, we would have lots of time to spend time in the actual ocean itself but Ada wanted to spend some time out here and Armano didn't waste an opportunity to join us and dragged Kian along with him.

Armano climbed out of the pool in a pair of swimming trunks that showed the outline of his cock. Water dripped from his hair, his chest glistening with it.

I pretended to be engrossed in my phone while secretly eyeing him over it.

He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back and stretched his arms causing his muscles to flex.

I crossed my legs as I continued to watch him, not able to take my eyes off him.

It didn't surprise me when his gaze connected with mine, a small smirk tugging at his mouth and he winked at me.

The wink made my heart jolt against my chest and I lowered my eyes. Don't be stupid.

Ever since we agreed on the friends with benefits or more like frenemies with benefits, we haven't fucked. That was yesterday. Armano was true to his words, he didn't try to touch me, waiting for my signal.

I heard a splash and cursing and looked up to find that Kian had grabbed Armano's ankle and pulled him down into the water looking smug.

"How much longer are you going to stare at him and blush?" Ada spoke from my right making me startle.

My head snapped to her. "Huh?"

She was smirking. "You have been ogling Armano and blushing at the same time as if you are in love. Is there something going on?"

Talk about being discreet.

"It's nothing like that. I am not blushing because of him, it's the heat."

She looked amused. "Is it? It's okay if you have a crush on him."

"I don't." I snapped. "Why would I have a crush on him?"

She shrugged. "Don't need to get so defensive, I was only suggesting that."

I sighed. "I...it's nothing like that. That's it."

Ada hummed and went back to reading, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

"You know what?" I folded my arms. "I can ask you the same thing about Zaire. What's going on between you two?"

That day, the tension between them was quite obvious. Something's going on. I bet that they had some huge fight.

Ada's face paled and she refused to look at me. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Did something happen with him? Did he say something mean to you? He can be blunt at times."

Zaire always had the 'I don't give a fuck' attitude while Zayden is a bit more tamed than him.

Ada flipped a page, pretending to be casual. "Nothing happened. You know how he is, he sometimes tends to be weird. That's it."

"Oh? Then why did he stare at you like that when you asked why he broke up as if you are the reason--"

She slammed her book shut, turning to me. "Mea, please. Can we not talk about this?"

"O-kay..."

She sighed. "I'm sorry. Nothing's going on. That's all you need to know. I don't mean to be rude."

"It's okay. I believe you. Relax."

She nodded and went back to reading but I knew her mind was somewhere else as her eyes seemed distant and the faintest of blush prominent on her cheeks.

Um...? He is her cousin. It can't be what I think it is. Something else must have happened--

Cold water was splashed at me making me drench and gasp. I glared at Armano who was grinning, his forearms resting on the edge of the pool.

Thankfully my phone was waterproof and I kept it aside, standing up and stomping over to him. "You can't let me sit peacefully, can you?"

"Nope", he said popping the 'p'. He pulled himself out of the pool, towering over me.

He did a quick scan, Ada was busy in her own world, Lenore was sleeping and Kian was underwater, practising to hold his breath longer.

He put his face in level with mine, whispering, "I believe you are not so sore now?"

"Why?" I asked innocently.

"You are yet to pay for what you did yesterday."

"Oh? What did I do?"

He cocked his head, narrowing his eyes. "Play innocent all you want, devil, but in ten minutes I am going to have you screaming my name."

"Hmm..." I ran my finger down his chest. "We will see."

He leaned in to whisper in my ears, "Meet me in your room in five minutes." He gently bit my earlobe before walking away.

With that, our odd relationship started.