“But she hates you?” Ronan asked.
“She did. I don’t think she does anymore. She was just using me for sex in the beginning. Now everything is more intense.” I persuaded her to be mine for the next three months, but if she really wanted to be free, she would have fought harder. I knew it, and she knew it. “We’ve actually negotiated an agreement…”
“What kind of agreement?”
“She’s mine for the next three months. After she does her time, I’ll let her go.”
“Let her go?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. “That sounds sinister.”
“Well, you know me…”
“What does that mean? You’re forcing her?”
“No, not at all.” When I ignored her, she couldn’t stand it. She called me in the middle of the night because she missed me. “She just doesn’t want anything serious to happen because I’m not right for her. She wants to find a husband and have a family. So she wants to walk away when the three months are over.”
“Sounds like she wants to make sure she doesn’t fall in love with you.”
He hit the nail right on the head. I saw the way she fell into me, but then abruptly pulled back because she got too close. She put up her walls, and sometimes they came down slowly. But when she realized they were missing, she quickly built new ones. She was stubborn in her decision that I wasn’t the right man for her. She wouldn’t change her mind, so she needed an escape plan. That’s what the contract was really about. I lifted my glass and nodded to him. “Exactly.”
I came home a couple weeks later around midnight, expecting Carmen to be asleep since she worked early in the morning. I wasn’t down at the casino all the time, but now it felt like an eternity when there was a beautiful woman living in my penthouse.
The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside, shedding my black coat and hanging it on the coatrack along the wall. My tie was already undone, and the buttons of my suit were unfastened. I smelled like strippers, cigars, and booze. My clothes were always dry-cleaned after I wore them so the smell wouldn’t carry over into my home.
When I stepped farther inside, I noticed the glow of the TV hitting the couch. The sound was so quiet, it was practically on mute. Looking like the sexiest thing in the world was Carmen, wearing one of my gray t-shirts as she lay on the cushions. Her knees were bent toward her body, making her shirt rise up and reveal her perky ass and amazing thighs.
I watched her for a moment before I slowly walked toward her, making sure my shoes didn’t tap too loudly against the hardwood floor.
She must have only partially been asleep, because her eyes opened and immediately darted to my face. Instead of being frightened by my frame leaning over her, she slowly sat up and pulled her hair out of her face.
I watched her with my hands in the pockets of my slacks, unsure why she was sleeping on the couch instead of in the enormous bed with sheets that cost more than an average car payment. I grabbed the remote and turned off the TV before I leaned down and scooped her up into my arms. I cradled her against my chest as I carried her into the bedroom.
Her arms circled my neck, and she leaned her cheek against my chest.
“Why were you sleeping on the couch?” My knees hit the bed, and I lowered her to the mattress, my body rolling with hers slightly until her back hit the sheets. My hands pressed into the bed on either side of her as I held myself over her.
My shirt was baggy around her frame, but it rose up over her stomach and revealed a small amount of her piercing. She had an hourglass figure, big tits with a curvy waist. Her long legs were even better, going all the way up to her chin. She could wear a plastic bag, and she still would be the sexiest thing in the world, the most beautiful woman to lie in this bed. Her eyes were red and puffy like she hadn’t gotten any sleep despite how tired she was. “I was having a hard time sleeping.”
“So you thought a couch would be better?” I asked, a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
“I thought watching TV would help.”
“There’s a TV in here.”
She grew frustrated with my interrogation and turned on her side. “Let’s have sex and go to bed.” She turned on her side and pulled the sheets to her waist, clearly tired.
I let her be and shed my clothes, putting them in the special hamper so my maid would make sure they were properly dry-cleaned. My shoes were tossed in there as well, so they would be buffed and shined. After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I came back to bed.