“She’s too young for me, and never fucking listens.”
The car hits a bump and jostles us, landing him even deeper within me, and we both groan.
“She doesn’t sound lovable,” I say. “Doesn’t even sound tolerable.”
“She’s exceptional,” he says, and the strain in his voice tells me he’s as close as I am, my pleasure ratcheting up with every shake of his hips, the bite of pain from the tightness of his grip.
I couldn’t help it if I wanted to, I worry I’ll never be able to help it, this way he makes me feel when we’re together like this.
“And I will love her if I love her,” he says, and then presses his lips to mine, claiming and consuming me as he fucks me over the edge until I’m gasping and keening right into his mouth, my pussy clenching around him as he finishes too.
It’s ludicrous, the way it feels so good, like it’s never been before, never for me, maybe never for two people on this earth. It wrings me out, and minutes later, we’re both still breathingheavy, my forehead resting on his shoulder as his hand trails light lines up and down my back.
“Take it back,” I say, when I finally can. “Take it back. What you said.”
Maxim’s chest rumbles with a laugh, shaking my head slightly. “Malyshka.”
“Take it back,” I say again, weaker.
He slides my dress strap back up my arm and over my shoulder. My skin feels electrified.
“I won’t. But you can pretend.”
29
MARY
Monday after the charity gala,I am still going through absolute mental gymnastics to convince myself that Maxim’s unhinged dirty talk accompanying the constant sex over the last three days is just that and nothing more. The man is an enigma, guarded eyes and intense stares one moment and then feverish Russian phrases and muttered endearments in my ear while fucking me the next.
Whatever control I was trying to gain by jumping on him in the limo is now completely out of my hands. When it comes to sex with my husband, I have decided that bets are off.He may never have my heart, but so long as he has my hand in marriage, I might as well offer my body.
Becauseholy shithe knows what to do with it.
And so long as I can convince myself that he is not doing something stupid likeactuallyfalling in love with me, setting himself up for a lifetime of hurt and disappointment, then I can really just enjoy it. When Samuel dropped us off after the gala, the night was not over. I showered, he showered with me. I laid on the bed naked, he also came to bed naked. Things progressed, and then progressed two more times, and neither of us woke up before seven.
I thought it might be a blip and we’d both get a lid on it by the following evening, but I was wrong. I’ve kept being wrong, in fact, five times since then.
I tell myself it’s because he’s getting serious about making a baby, even when he’s giving me orgasms through decidedly non-baby-making means. It’s all part of it, I reason.
This morning I woke up with his hand beneath my underwear and his mouth kissing up my neck. Again,because he is getting serious about making a baby,not because he likes hearing me come, as he said.It’s the baby thing, really.
That’s it.
The whole “I will love her if I love her” was just, like, something he said without real meaning. We all say things we don’t mean. That was certainly one of those things.
It’s the middle of the afternoon, and, in an attempt tonotthink about the sex-filled weekend with my husband, I meet both Leo and Sean on one of the sites. They make me wear a hard hat and glasses even when we’re just walking around not even really close to any of the action. Sean’s job at Morelli construction is especially boring, full of logistics, planning, and monitoring situations. Not even juicy situations, either, like today he’s been trying to determine if the employees taking too-long of lunch breaks is actually a positive investment because they might be doing better work when they come back.
Riveting stuff.
Leo is halfway through explaining why this job site is the most interesting of all of our current projects (I do not care nor am I really listening) when my phone buzzes with a call from Nate. He should be in school, so I pick up right away.
“What?” I’m already imagining the worst of things that can happen in a school.
“Aunt Mary?” a soft voice says through the phone. I stop walking and wave on Sean and Leo who I think are glad to be rid of me so they can do their jobs.
“Angel? What’s the matter?”
“Will you come pick me up from school?” she asks, sniffling.
