I bit my lip. Fuck. Yes, there was something beyond the fucking if I could admit it. She wasn’t looking for an “I love you,” I didn’t think. Not yet, at least. She didn’t even seem to be looking for an “I like you and want to commit to you.”
What if you are?
I again shook my head.
“I truly do not know,” I said.
And that was the most honest answer I could give, and even Delilah seemed to grasp I would—could—say no more. No one had ever had such an effect on me. If anyone else, and I mean truly anyone else, had pulled this “wait what are we before we fuck” card, I would have said “nothing,” kicked her out, and found someone else. The King of Diamonds did not lower himself for a mere ten or nine.
But with Delilah, maybe it was the dynamic we had. Maybe it was the billionaire-journalist struggle for power. Maybe it was just me being fucking stupid after witnessing Cassius rope off.Seriously? Being like him? Not a fucking chance. Not a fucking chance!
“I believe you,” Delilah said. “But I want to be very clear about something. You want to fuck me? That’s the easy way out. Fucking is ten minutes of ecstasy, and then you can run off, brag to your brothers, and never see me again. I’m not going to give that up that easily, Adrian. It has nothing to do with my job and everything to do with me as a person. You have to show me you really care aboutme,Adrian.”
“I do care about you. I brought you out this far?—”
Delilah cut me off with a raised hand. With anyone else, I wouldn’t have laughed, I would have just ignored it and kept going. The nerve of her to shut me up…
The ridiculousness that I actually went quiet.
“You brought me out here knowing there was a good chance we would wind up here,” she said. “Do something for me to really show you want more than just my body. Show me that you value me over games of power and bragging rights. Do that?”
She left the question unanswered, but a deaf man could have heard the unspoken words she left hanging. “Do that, and you’ll get to fuck my beautiful body.”Oh, but what a paradox—themore I sought to fuck her, the less likely I’d be able to; the less I tried, the more likely I’d be able to.
I wasn’t breaking any new fucking ground with that “revelation.” It was half the reason my brothers and I practically drowned in pussy on our way to the top. We cared about work, not women, and we got laid so much that we occasionally had to force ourselves to stay at the office to work.
But then again, no one captured my mind—not my heart, but yes, my mind—like Delilah.
She wants to capture your heart.
Don’t be fucking ridiculous. This was never a romantic thing. It was always a chance to bang a hot journalist.
And yet…
“You’re thinking.”
“I told you, I truly don’t know,” I said. That was apparently the wrong answer, because Delilah went to put her clothes back on. OK, I wasn’t getting laid. That fucking sucked.
But if I wanted to get laid later?
“I… take it you’ll need a ride back to your car,” I said. “I’m going to guess as a journalist, you are too poor to afford an Uber.”
“Harsh,” Delilah said with a hint of a smirk. “And we are not too poor to afford an Uber. But we are not too wealthy to decline an offer like that. So yes, if you are offering to drive me back to my car, I will take you up on it.”
“It won’t be offered often. It’s because you’re on the way back toRuby.”
Delilah just nodded with a small smile. It was like she knew something that I wasn’t saying or maybe even lying to myself about. Fuck, that girl was good.
It was almost painful for me to watch her get dressed. I just sat there on the bed, erection bursting at the zipper of my pants, begging for a chance to pop free into Delilah’s hand or Delilahherself. I wasn’t going to get that today, by now I had accepted that.
But fuck, that primal lust wasn’t going anywhere. If we hadn’t made out and if I hadn’t slid my hand over her clit yet, I might have just yanked her back on the bed. But I didn’t.
And you’re sure that has nothing to do with already trying and failing. That has nothing to do with possibly wanting more than a one-day stand.
That has nothing to do with the possibility that you want something serious with Delilah.
We took a very quiet elevator ride down, a very quiet walk back to the car, and a relatively quiet car ride back to Bean Exchange. Only a couple of pleasantries were exchanged during the car ride about some amusing things we saw on the Vegas roads.
When I pulled up next to her car, Delilah turned to me, her eyes intensely holding me, and asked a question I knew she would not let go until she had an answer for.
