Schemes Come to Naught novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: May I

Dex's POV

On Sunday night I carried my box of things up the stairs of her building.

It held three shirts, a razor, and a small tin that had belonged to my grandmother.

I left the tin in my coat pocket.

Ines opened the door in an old Ohio State T-shirt, with her hair loose and her glasses on her nose.

"You brought a box," she said.

"You said I could ask."

"I said you could ask before you touch me. Not before you move in."

"Then I'll ask. May I put this down?"

She stepped back to let me in.

"You may put it down."

I set it by the bookshelf and took off my coat and hung it on the hook, next to hers.

Her eyes went to the pocket, only for a second.

I thought she'd ask.

She didn't.

"Come here," she said. "Sit."

I sat on the green couch.

She stood in front of me with her arms crossed.

"I have the first line of term five," she said.

"Tell me."

"You ask."

"I'm sorry?"

"That's it. That's the first line. You ask me what I want. Tonight, and every night, you ask, and you listen to what I say, and you do it."

"That sounds like an order."

"It's a term." She was trying not to smile. "Start."

I took a breath.

"Ines, I want to kiss you."

"Yes."

She leaned down, and I kissed her.

I kept it slow and soft, with my hand open on the side of her face.

She made a small sound I felt in my teeth.

"I want your glasses off."

"Yes."

I folded them and set them on the table.

"I want my hands on you here." My hand was at her waist.

"Yes."

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