I nod slowly, not sure what else to say. I’m all out of one-liners and smart-ass comments. I just want to… try it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THEO
The entire drive, I still taste her on my lips—innocence, deprivation, and hunger. If I didn’t have to lay down more rules, I would take her, fuck her right now. Make her climb on top of me as I drive and ride my cock as I drive us home.
But that won’t happen. Besides, I really need her to understand this will be more about sex, pleasure, and me helping her learn to love her body in a way she needs to. That I need her to in order for this to work.
We pull up to her place, and she waits like a good girl for me to come get her out. It shouldn’t be too hard to get her to submit if we take the small victories and turn them into big ones. I won’t lie; guilt swarms to the surface, making my throat tight. There is a lot at stake here, and though she says she won’t fall in love and can handle this for what it is, what if she can’t? Then I’d feel like the worst of the worst when all is said and done.
Who cares? You don’t care for people, I remind myself, shutting that shit down.
Getting to the door, the tension is thick. You can feel the desire, the pull and push, the kinetic energy between the two of us. The silence makes it that much more intense.
“I can make something real quick. I think I have ice cream,” she speaks first, breaking the silence.
“Don’t worry. I ordered something already.” I wave my phone at her. Technology makes it so easy these days.
“Right. You assume you know what I like.”
There it is.
Hanna may seem like a meek, timid woman, but really, she’s the perfect balance, surprising me with her sassy little responses. Those will come in handy some nights. The pent-up nights. The moments where life drives me mad and I need to fuck the sass right out of her.
“Let’s go over the rules. You have wine?”
She nods toward where it’s sitting in the rack next to the pantry. I pick out a nice white, which will be perfect with the dessert I ordered. The dessert we should have eaten before that son of a bitch had to ruin it. I wanted to do more to his smug, disgusting face, but….
Manners. He needs to learn some fucking manners.
“Here.” She hands me some long-stem glasses, and I pop the cork with the corkscrew she placed on the island. After I pour us some, I hand her one and nod to the sitting room.
She sits first, leaning and removing her boots. I watch with great attention, loving the curve of her calf. I want to bite it. In time, I will. When she’s done, she puts her thighs to her stomach and looks at me over the rim of the glass she sips from.
“Are you a virgin?”
Hanna nearly spits out the wine. “What happened to ‘hello, how are you’?”
I smirk. “We are far past pleasantries.”
“I guess so.”
Entertaining her, I adjust myself, placing my ankle atop my opposite knee, and lift a brow.
“Hello, Hanna. How are you?”
Rolling her eyes, she takes another sip before responding. “You are such a smartass. I just meant you shouldn’t just ask a woman if she’s a virgin like you’re asking her what the weather is outside. It’s crass.” I shrug, and she asks, “You have no qualms with these types of questions, do you?”
“I’m qualm-less, baby.”
“Clearly. It’s a bit much.” She tells me this, but it’s written all over her that she’s intrigued. She can try to push me away, but it won’t work. I have my eyes set on the prize, and if I can keep her clinging to me like this, she won’t be able to turn down my offer.
“What are the rules?”
“Now who’s jumping right into it?”
“Theo…,” she warns, and I nod.
“All right, it would be built purely around a sexual relationship. As I stated earlier, no emotions. No love. Nothing but sex. Can you do that?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe isn’t the right answer. Something you need to know about me, puppet, is I like control, and if I can’t have it… my reactions can be… a bit much—as you so eloquently put it. I will reclaim it, and I need to know you’re ready for that. This isn’t something for everyone. You have to be prepared, Hanna.” My tone is serious, without any room for her to misunderstand what it is I’m wanting. This can get messy if the terms are not laid out just right.
“You know not every woman is going to fall in love with you because you’re handsome and can fuck well.”
Her words shock me, as they do her.