If she was in deep before this night she never imagined what she would feel like as he infiltrated her heart piece by tiny piece. She was falling for him. She was falling in love.
Chapter 12
Rob pulled on his jeans and threw on a shirt before he stepped out of his room and headed to the kitchen for a drink. He glanced at his bed where Martina lay, warm and soft. She was in his bed. Not Aleks’s bed.
Friday night the thought of sharing Martina with Aleks was a turn on but the real act was awkward. Unsettling. What did that say about his intentions? What made this girl different from all the others? The fact that she looks at you like forever.
He grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat on the couch, mindlessly flipping through the digital television guide. The only thing running through his mind was the image of Martina lying in his bed.
It was only nine at night. It felt like a week had gone by since Martina showed up at his door this afternoon. He was wired. The next morning would come all too soon when the alarm sounded, signaling it was time for him to get up and go to work.
He didn’t know what was going to happen with Aleks when they finally interacted. There was something different about the way they made love to her. Aleks was a little less exuberant. He’d kept his touching to a minimum and left with barely a word once they’d had their way with her. It was as if he could sense his untamed emotion even though Rob had trouble defining those feelings for himself. Aleks participated just enough so as not to seem disinterested, but Rob could tell he’d held back.
Sex with Martina was off the charts. The chemistry between them sizzled but more than that he couldn’t wait to be with her. They had slept together again, really slept, and she didn’t seem to have any bad dreams. No incidents of blurting out another man’s name in her sleep. He wanted to believe that was because he had erased all other men from her memory. His only competition right now might be Aleks.
She was slowly divulging snippets of her past, but he still had the sinking feeling there was a lot more to her story. She had lost something. Could it have to do with the man whose name she’d screamed in her sleep? Did he dump her? Is that why she was leery of relationships and dating? Is that what prompts her to flit across the world avoiding connections?
The weirdest part of the whole situation was that he’d never wanted to learn these things about other women. They served their purpose for a little physical distraction, and then he dropped them. Not one had the potential of forever. Deep down that’s what he was looking for.
He wanted what his parents had. In thirty years he wanted to celebrate his anniversary with a woman who looked at him with love and happiness. He didn’t know how Carrie felt about love and marriage, but she seemed to throw away men just as easily as he did women. Although he suspected it was for a completely different reason. That reason being Aleks Turko.
There was something sad in Martina’s eyes. He wondered if everyone saw what was hidden behind her eyes or if it was just him.
With his finger still scrolling through the directory he heard Aleks’s door open then a loud obnoxious yawn bellow from behind.
“I thought I heard someone out here.”
“Yeah.”
Aleks plopped down on the couch. “How is it going with Martina?”
“Good. She’s sleeping.”
“I don’t blame her. We took a lot out of her.” Rob felt Aleks’s eyes on him. “And from the muffled screams I heard through the wall I have no doubt you sent her over the edge again.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t join us.”
“Nah. I thought I would let you do your thing.”
Rob barely looked his friend in the eye. If he looked at him all he would see was his face buried between Martina’s thighs or his cock sliding in and out of her mouth.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.” Just a little jealous. Guilty. Confused. Rob was getting a little creeped out. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Aleks staring at him. He felt his face burn under his gaze. He turned toward him. “What?”
“You like her.”
“Sure. She’s a nice girl.” And she might be the one.
“No. You like her.”
“It’s just sex, Aleks. Remember?” Why couldn’t he admit to his best friend how he was feeling?
“I remember. Do you?”
“Isn’t that the whole point of this? Give her what she wants, no questions asked, and move on.”
“That was the plan, but I think there’s something else going on.”