The immediate hiatus after sexual intercourse was one of our most productive times for near disclosures of familiarity. Those rare moments of pillow talk following sex had developed into little insightful chats. He was happy to cuddle me and we quite frequently fell asleep in each other’s arms. As we drifted off, we would tease each other with verbal interactions.
“So you managed to shave yourself down there without too much difficulty?” he had asked once as I settled my head on the pillow.
“Mirrors are useful,” I had said. “Plus, I find if I hang upside with one leg dangling I can reach those awkward crooks and crannies.”
He had stared at me and I had grinned.
“Almost had yah there, didn’t I?” I had laughed and he flicked a finger against my thigh.
“Ouch!”
“But you’ve done it before?” he had asked.
Damn his curiosity.
“Um, a few times, you know for somebody else,” I had muttered turning my head on the pillow. Suddenly something struck me as odd and I had turned back again so I could see his face in the semi-darkness. “Why do you like it that way?”
“More sensual,” he had said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Other girls….”
“If I asked, yes.”
“What if they said no to your request?”
He had smiled at me and it had made me squirm internally. “Do you think they say no to me?!” he had said with mock indignation.
The comment had circumvented the real answer. Many of our little exchanges ended with diversionary tactics. It was becoming increasingly apparent we both did not want to expose our previous sexual exploits. I knew why I did not want to, but what was Jason hiding from me? Promiscuity? He certainly had a vast amount of sexual experience in the field of love-making. Not only was he proficient, he also demanded a roughness that I had come to associate with a mere handful of his predecessors.
He was a powerful man, both physically and influentially. Perhaps it lent him to be demanding in the bedroom. He was the boss of many people with a reputation for getting to the point with no nonsense. His sexual preferences certainly emulated his working practices and it curtailed my curiosity. I made an assumption about him and stuck to it. He was not sleeping wi
th me for love or romance. Jason wanted a sexual partner and I delivered the goods.
I should have been proud of my achievements between the sheets. He did not criticise my technique or approach to sex. He must have noticed my predisposition to let him lead and my silly tendency to wait for him to give me an orgasm rather than rush to it under my own steam. All of those acts he neither acknowledged nor discouraged. Whatever we were in bed, it was complimentary and mutually satisfying.
Beyond the bedroom, we drifted apart. Even when I stayed at Blythewood House, he worked alone a great deal in his study or we sat mute while watching a film in his TV room. One attempt at playing snooker had resulted in me being ‘soundly beaten’. My own declaration of defeat had nearly caused me to go too far with my nuances.
~
“Soundly beaten?” he repeated as I watched the black disappear down the corner pocket.
I tried desperately hard not to let my ears go bright pink. “Yes. Lost.”
“Funny, for a moment there I thought you were alluding to something else,” he said taking the cue out of my hands.
“Not sure what you mean,” I said running my finger over the baize. “It’s just a game. You’re far more experienced at it than me.”
“So it would appear, since you potted only six reds and no colours.”
“I prefer pool.” Which was true, I could manage with a smaller table.
“On this full size table, you need to rely on balls hitting their target, not pocketing by chance.”
Hitting their target, his words made me unsettled inside. He was damn good with his aim and I could not fault his accuracy. There was a large gap between our capabilities. He rolled the cue ball across the table straight into a pocket as if to make a point.
“I can do better than chance,” I declared. “I was put off by all those extra balls on the table, they get in the way.”
“Snookered you were. It’s called snooker for a reason. Clouded your vision did they?”