“Our previous relationship was based entirely on sex. If all you want to prove is that we are sexually super-compatible, then there's nothing left to prove. Our sex is AMAZING; I already know that. If you're trying to prove that emotionally we should be a romantic couple... there's a lot of work to do on that."

Her shoulders sagged, and she thought about that. Nodding slowly, she took a deep breath and exhaled. And when she looked back up at me, the brightness in her emerald-green eyes had dimmed somewhat.

She no Longer Looked on the verge of jumping me.

"I get it," Naimh stated evenly, and she thrust forward a hand, proffered for me to shake.

“And I say: challenge accepted.”

I arched an eyebrow, but with a chuckle, I reached up and shook her hand.

“We belong together. I'm going to prove it to you," she stated firmly.

I smiled at her confidence.

“I sincerely hope you do."

The other girls still wanted backrubs when Naimh and I returned downstairs. With the "no sex" moratorium still in place, it was the closest we could get.

Zofi had indeed called dibs before Mari, hence her “get in line" comment earlier, so I turned her into a Limp puddle before declaring I needed a break and downed half my beer. Five minutes later, I returned to the loveseat and Mari crawled into my lap. She hugged me firmly, gave me a quick kiss, and finally turned around so I could start my backrub. She wasn't very good about keeping her bra cups over her tig ol' bitties, and I wound up getting a lot of side boob while rubbing her. But Naimh was talking to Sam and nobody seemed inclined to stop us.

I did notice that Alice and Zofi were missing. When I asked Belle where they'd gone, the strawberry-blonde girl sighed and gestured up the stairs. "They're fucking each other in your bedroom.”

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

She shrugged.

“What? The Rule says we can't mess around with you. It doesn't say anything about us not messing around with each other.

Otherwise Sam and Zofi are in a LOT of trouble!"

Belle's voice had crescendoed toward the end of that, and Sam glanced over at us, asking, "What?"

Mari giggled and Belle waved her off.

“Nevermind.”

Well, I did mind a little. I held my hands out to Sam asking, "What happened to it being unfair for the girls to bang each other in my house without me?"

Sam shrugged, got up, and sauntered over to join us. "You're welcome to complain to Alice."

I just sighed and went back to work on Mari.

After Mari, Sam set down her beer and came over to sit down in front of me and get her backrub. After she was done, I cracked my knuckles and invited Belle to come over, but she shook her head. "I still get to stay overnight because that's a special Belle rule. You can give me my massage then."

Sam hadn't walked away yet, still putting her shirt back on, and she pursed her lips and frowned. I gathered that the discussion of whether or not Belle would continue her overnights had either never been discussed or was still a matter of some debate. But rather than contradict her, Sam just sighed and walked away.

Belle gave me a Little smirk before downing the rest of her beer.