It's Just Sext (The Right Kind of Wrong) Read Online Free Page A

girlfriend.
    She suddenly realized she had not yet heard him say her name. Babe, love, honey …he showered her with these generic terms, ones which could be used on any girl, in any port.
    “ Lauren,” he said gently, as if reading her mind. She looked up and watched the expressions play across his face, moving from contentment to concern. Hearing her name on his lips spread warmth deep inside her.
    “That’s the first time you’ve sa id my name.” Her voice cracked.
    “I’ve typed it a thousand times,” he smiled.
    “I like the sound of my name on your lips.”
    “You’re such a girl.”
    “What did you expect ?!”
    He tumbled her into a bear hug.
    “Exactly this, Lauren. You and me, rolling around, lusting after each other. Loving each other.” He pulled back and looked at her quizzically. “Why? What did you expect?”
    “Not this. Well, all of this,” she said, gesturing across the room at their rumpled sheets, abandoned clothing and dropped towels. “But not…this.” She placed her hand over his heart and he sighed deeply. He covered it with his own.
    “And is this something you want?” he asked.
    She nodded, but shrugged, and his face fell. Her mind was a jumble of objections, from family, friends and a culture that had no problem seeing an older man with a younger woman, but would not so readily accept her and Marc.
    “What?” he asked.
    “If we love each other, no one will care. They’d be happy for us.”
    “Oh… If ?”
    “Marc, I never lied to you.”
    “But you don’t love me?”
    She felt the situation slipping away from her. She did love him. Or something like love.
    “I have love in my heart for you. Every time I said it—or texted it—I meant it. But we’re just getting to know each other for real. I love the man I met through words alone, but it’s not enough, is it?”
    “It is for me.”
    “It can’t be.”
    “ Lauren, you can’t tell me what’s in my heart any more than I can tell you.” And yet, he was still talking around those three little words. He had not said them himself. “But I need to know if you’re saying you don’t love me anymore.”
    He sounded his age now, like a twenty-something guy who experienced love on a whim. But wasn’t his eagerness one of the things she adored? He was unaffected by time, enthusiastic about love in a way most men her age had lost. She let out a nervous little laugh and his brow furrowed. She took his face in her hands, kissed him on the lips, and he pressed his forehead to hers.
    “ We just have to spend time, I don’t know, matching things up.”
    “ Don’t worry, babe. I’ll be back. Every ten days for the next six months.”
    She arched her brows, her face brightening. They could see what’s real with that much time together.
    “ Really? Wait—why didn’t you tell me before?” She gasped as soon as the words were out of her mouth, and reached for a pillow to chuck at him.
    “Stop!” he laughed. “Can you blame me? If we didn’t like each other it would have been better for you to think my boat wasn’t coming back into port for months.”
    “ Marc,” she said, laughing, feeling more and more…safe. “Why wouldn’t you talk to me over the phone? I need to know.” It was one of the last barriers for her. His answer could build or break her trust.
    “Like I always said, I get nervous.”
    “That can’t be true.” She had suspected he was married, or living with someone, but he had always denied it.
    “Okay, fine. It’s not.” He took her hand and rubbed his thumb over the back for a few long moments, considering his words, she hoped. “Look, it was my way of protecting myself. I could give you everything but I had to hold something back, right? A piece of me you couldn’t take with you if this didn’t work out.” He shrugged.
    It was true. Through texting he had shown her every inch of his body, told her he loved her and shared his life story. Without realizing it, she had appreciated