‘Text me,’ I tell him, ‘when you’re ready.’
‘Promise,’ his fingers vow, and then he leans in before hesitating. ‘Kiss?’
I’ve trained him well. And I like it. I dig my fingers into his hair, pulling slightly as I yank him into a wet, hard, messy kiss. He groans and rocks into me, but before he can test my resolve to make him wait until he’s earned everything, I pull back.
He looks frustrated, but he doesn’t fight me when I reach past him and open the door. ‘Drive safe.’
He nods and casts me one more look over his shoulder before heading out toward his car.
When the door is shut, I realize my place is too quiet. Before Rome, I used my condo for somewhere to eat, sleep, shower, and jerk off. It was definitely nothing like a home should be, but that never seemed important before.
But looking around now, I see very little of myself in it. No one would know anything about me if they visited for the first time. The furniture is plain, there’s only one piece of art on the walls—a Monet-style cat in a pond that Thom got me as a housewarming gift—and the shelves are covered in fake plants because I can’t be fucked to take care of real ones.
I think about the cat café again. Those cats were a little rough around the edges and a little old, but maybe Milo knows where I can get a younger one. One that can grow up here.
It wouldn’t hurt to stop by tomorrow, so I jump on to the website and see there’s an open appointment right around the time my spin class is over. I’ll be a little late, but I really don’t need the full fifty minutes to pet cats and ask Milo for some tips.
I feel satisfied. Maybe not entirely fulfilledbecause I still don’t know where this thing with Rome is going. He’s complying with my requests, but I have no idea if he means any of it or if he’s just trying to win.
We both get the prize, but I’m wanting more than a good orgasm. I want him to say he’ll stay and actually mean it this time.
I want him to desire all of me, not just as a guy who gets him off.
God, I need to talk this out. It’s late, but I know one person who will be awake.
“I’m having a crisis,” I tell Lexi when she answers the phone.
“Hm. What kind?”
“The dick and heart kind.”
She sighs, and I hear her cover the phone for a second as she talks to Drew.
When she comes back, she says, “I can be there in ten minutes. Wine?”
I’ve been drinking a little too much lately, and I’m feeling it at work. “Better not.”
“Shit. Big problem, then.”
“I think it might be, yeah.”
“Alright, I’ll be over with listening ears. Give me ten.”
She hangs up with a quick goodbye, and I decide to use that time to shower off what’s left of Rome before she gets here. As much as I enjoy the scent of him lingering on my skin, I don’t think she’ll thank me for it.
I hear her using the door code to come in just as I’m stepping out of the shower, so I tilt my head past the bathroom door. “Give me a second. I need to get dressed.”
“Baby, you have nothing I haven’t already seen,” she calls back.
That makes me snort. It’s true, but out of respect for Drew, I won’t be wandering around naked.
I can hear her rummaging around the kitchen as I grab a pair of tight, soft sweatpants and a T-shirt. My skin still feels a little sensitive after that orgasm with him, and I know it’s going to be ten times worse when I actually get to be inside him again.
Raking my fingers through my hair, I head into the living room, where Lexi has set out tea and some chocolate chip cookies. The tea is a sorry pale brown, which means she didn’t let it steep at all before adding creamer, but I appreciate the thought.
“You know, when I first met you,” she says as I sit and grab a cookie, “I thought you were going to be one of those douche bag gym bros that shames people for eating carbs.”
I shove an entire cookie into my mouth. “You can pry cheap-ass grocery store cookies from my cold, dead hands.”
