The Casual Rule by A.C. Netzel

elevator pings and the doors slide open. We step into the elevator, our gazes locked on each other. Ben is on one side, leaning against the wall. I’m leaning on the wall facing him. He pushes the button for the third floor and the doors close. That magnetic pull is in the air, drawing us together. It’s so strong; I can almost touch it. The taste of Ben’s kiss has only increased my appetite for him. I run my index finger lightly across my bottom lip. He swallows as he’s watching me. Every single molecule of my body wants him, desperately. I can tell he has a million things going on in his head right now, and we’re naked in all of them.
    The elevator doors open, I take his hand and lead him to my apartment. As I turn to unlock my door, he kisses my neck from behind me. Sweet mother of all things holy. As I’m turning the knob, he puts his hand against the door, preventing me from opening it.
    “Are you sure about this?” he asks.
    “I’m not sure about anything. Come.” I grab his hand, push the door open and pull him inside my apartment.
    Once we’re inside, we’re all hands and tongues. He peels my coat down my shoulders as I shimmy out of it, unceremoniously dropping it on the floor. He shimmies his arms out of his leather jacket and drops it.
    What little restraint we may have had earlier has completely vanished. We are devouring each other. He grabs the small of my back, pulling me to his body. His erection is grinding into me as he kisses me. Hard.
    He nuzzles my neck again, lightly nibbling on my earlobe…the pathway straight to my sex.
    My mind momentarily drifts off as I try to remember if I shaved my legs this morning. I slip off my shoe and secretly run my foot up and down my calf. They’re smooth. Yes, thank fuck. That would have been a deal breaker for me. Glad I skipped the stockings today. I slip my shoe back on.
    “Is your roommate home?” he pants.
    “No, we’re alone.”
    He nods into the crook of my neck. The next thing I know we’re standing in front of the couch. I have no idea how we managed to get here without me noticing. He playfully pushes me down on to the couch. I crawl back on my elbows to the arm of the couch until my body is lying across it, our eyes never breaking contact. He stands over me with a lascivious grin.
    “You are so fucking hot,” he growls. He joins me on the couch; his body pressed against mine, supporting his weight on his forearms.
    We’re kissing like our lives depended on it. Holy crap, this man can kiss. I wrap my legs around his. I should probably light a candle next time I go to church because the way he’s kissing me surely is a sin.
    Wait. What am I doing? We shouldn’t be doing this. This is wrong.
    “Ben, we need to stop. We work together. We shouldn’t do this.”
    “I know you want me. And God knows I want you.”
    “Yes, but…” I say. He tilts my chin up, exposing my neck and kisses his way down. I groan…this is better than I imagined and we’re just making out on my couch. “Ben,” I protest half-heartily.
    He stops kissing me and rolls on his side, his head resting in his hand with his elbow bent supporting him. “Julia, I don’t want you to do something you don’t want to do. There’s something about you… I want you. You want me. Maybe we just need to get it out of our systems. Just once. This way we don’t wonder every time we see each other. Then we can move on.”
    “That’s crazy.” So crazy it makes sense.
    I’m not sure if it’s my libido guiding me to this insane notion or some misguided intellect, but at the moment, I don’t give a shit. I want him. I want him bad.
    “We’ll satisfy our curiosity. No more wondering. It’s just sex.”
    Just sex? I’ve never had just sex before. I’ve had sex, but it was always with my boyfriend and within the confines of the relationship I was in. I don’t want a boyfriend. I don’t want a relationship either. Maybe Ben is right. We just need to get each other out