“You’re on birth control?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“The Dannan can’t catch sexually transmitted diseases as humans can. We only have one illness that we can catch at all, and other species don’t carry it. I have no danger of catching something if you have sex with another.”
“Okay, but what about how you feel?”
“I feel fine. Do you mean my emotions?”
“Of course!” I exclaimed, exasperated. “I don’t want to cheat on you.”
“We knew going into this that we would share you, Roan and I. It’s clear you’re attracted to Doryu. Do you plan to sleep with every man you meet?”
It was my turn to be a teensy bit offended. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t sleep around.”
“As long as we establish that sex is a possibility between any of the three of us, and no one else, then what’s the problem?”
“I… I don’t know.” He made it sound so simple. I tried not to feel hurt that he wasn’t even a little jealous.
“Of course I’d prefer you be in my bed tonight, but I have a lot of research to do online tonight and an early meeting in the morning. You in my bed would distract me from very important work.”
I gaped silently at him until he closed my jaw with a gentle finger before kissing my lips with a pucker. “Go, enjoy the comfort. Have sex if you feel the urge. I’ll see you tomorrow, and I hope you’ll miss me a little.”
“Goodnight, Alexander,” I whispered as he turned and walked up the stairs.
My cheeks flamed as I walked back into Doryu’s apartment. I was spending the night with a second man in as many nights. We might not have sex, but by all that was sweet and wonderful in the world, I wasn’t going to shy away if the opportunity presented itself.
For thirty-six years I’d lived a proper, boring, uneventful life. I’d never done anything truly rebellious or dangerous. Gambling my heart on three different guys might not be truly dangerous, but it was certainly scary.
And there was nothing wrong with some good sex.
“Did you talk to him?”
“Yes, he’s very supportive.” I walked back into the kitchen and started filling the sink with water. “Where’s your soap?”
“Under the sink.” He reached around me to get it. “I’ll rinse,” he said as he squirted liquid soap into the sink.
“We should get these apartments a dishwasher,” I said, at a loss for what to talk about.
“Nah, washing dishes is good for the soul,” he replied. “It gives time for contemplation and reflection about the day. I also find I get good ideas when I do menial tasks like washing dishes.”
I threw him a little shade. “I can reflect on my day while my dishwasher takes care of my dirty cups and bowls.”
Laughing, he splashed me with water, causing me to squeal and flinch away. Unfortunately I held a cup under the water when I jerked my hand out. Water sprayed his shirt, soaking it.
He turned to me with a playful roar, filling his hands with soap bubbles from my side of the sink. I held my dripping hands in front of me in the middle of the kitchen side of the room, but turned to run away when he roared.
Slipping on the wet tile, I almost face planted, but caught my balance in time and launched toward the door. I turned back as I went out to see him take his soaked shirt off before coming after me.
The hallway was deserted, of course. Nobody else lived in the apartments, so the floor was ours for the night. I bolted into the first door I came to, directly across the hall. Unfortunately, he was too quick and knew which room I went in.
I kept my wits about me though, and didn’t turn on the light. I pressed myself against the wall inside the door, so when he walked in I was in shadow, and he walked past me. I wanted to run my hands along his enormous back, but instead I waited until he was well into the apartment, looking toward the bed. He thought I was under it. On my tiptoes, I went out the door he left open and went back into his apartment.
Dropping to the floor, I left the door cracked and peered out into the hall with one eye. Soon he came out of the first apartment, but didn’t think to go back to his. He assumed I’d gotten out and gone to another of the empty flats.
It was hard to mask my giggles, but I managed it. Every time he came out of a door, he looked more and more confused. I used the time to study his broad shoulders and sculpted chest as he stared around the hall until finally, he turned back to his place, and I scrambled up off the floor.
When he walked through the door, I sat on the couch, legs up, casually looking at a book he’d had on his coffee table. It had pictures of the Seven Wonders of the World. “Where’ve you been?” I asked. He roared again and grabbed my ankles, pulling me toward him with a fierceness that should’ve scared the wits out of me.
