"You can ask me if you want." He buttons his jeans before he pushes his feet back into the leather loafers.
"Ask you what?"
"How many lovers I've had." He sits on the edge of the bed.
"I don't think my brain can process a number that high," I tease, even though the thought pulls my stomach into a tumbleweed of knots. It has to be in the hundreds. Maybe it's even in the thousands.
"One." He leans forward to brush his lips against mine. "One."
I furrow my brow at the response. "One?"
"I've fucked a lot of women." He closes his eyes briefly as if he's trying to hide behind the reality of that statement. "Having a lover is different. It's more about what's in here." He pulls my hand to his chest.
"Don't say things you don't mean."
"I never do." He nuzzles his face into my hair. "You smell so good right after I've fucked you."
"So you were serious then?" I pull back. I want confirmation that what he said right before he carried me to my bed is real.
"Serious about not sleeping with anyone else?" He pushes a stray hair from my forehead. "Dead serious, Jessica."
"You're going to give up the hotel room?" I push the issue. If he doesn't, I'm not going to agree to anything. I don't see him as a one woman type of man.
"I gave it up after I saw you in my apartment." A vein in his neck pulses. "Seeing you there. That changed everything."
"It blew up your relationship with Cassandra." I pull my legs closer to my chest.
"No." He glances down at the sheet. "You belonged there. You looked so perfect standing there by the mantel when I walked in. I couldn’t stop staring at you."
"You seriously think you can settle for one woman?" I raise a brow. I want this so much. I want him. I just don't want to toss all my hopes into a basket that he's holding only to find out he's lying to me.
"I can't stand the thought of you with anyone else." He pulls my hand into his lap. "When Drew walked through the front door of this building holding your hand, I almost lost it. In my mind you were on your knees with his cock in your mouth. When he didn't come back down I thought he was buried inside of you listening to you come."
"So you want us to be exclusive so I don't fuck anyone else?" I ask the question slowly. "That's all this is about?"
"I'm not all roses and romance, Jessica." He stands and pulls on the hem of his sweater to straighten it. "Don't expect that from me."
"I'm not." I feel slightly embarrassed that I assumed that was part of it.
"I want this all to myself." He runs his hand over my leg before he brushes his lips across my forehead. "If that means I have to make sacrifices, I'll do whatever it takes."
Chapter 8
"So you two are going steady?" Rebecca takes a perfume sample card from a young woman in the aisle of Macy's.
"I think my vagina and his dick are going steady." I shrug. "I can't say anything about the rest of our bodies."
Her head rolls back in laughter. "He's a sex fiend, isn't it? It sounds like all you two do is fuck and I mean by sounds, I heard the screams coming out of your room last night."
"He's amazing in bed." I feel my face flush. "I'm
addicted to that. I really am."
"I would be too." She stops to admire a row of handbags. "I just don't know how a man like that gives up all his other women."
I close my eyes to shake off the image of Nathan at the club. He promised me he gave up the room. I need to believe him if this is going to work.
"I'm sorry, Jess." She brushes her hand across my arm. "I didn't mean it like that."