“What did you imagine?”
Our eyes connect.
“When you said you loved orgies… I was like… Yeah, he likes to be with two or three women at once. He calls them orgies so he can get away with it.”
He chuckles.
“Do you see me with two or three women?”
I give him a cute smile.
“No?” I murmur.
“Are you telling me it can’t happen?” I try again.
He slides his hand over his eyes again.
“Is this what you’ve learned about me?”
“No. But why isn’t it possible?”
“Because…” he says, removing his fingers from his face and looking at me again. “I like to focus on one woman.”
He flicks his forefinger up to make his point.
“One. I like one woman. It’s enough for me. I like to get to know her. To see how she reacts. To feel what she feels. To explore her, dive into her….”
“Change her,” I supply.
“Yes… Change her. There’s nothing wrong with that. People change us all the time. The change might be fleeting anyway. Who cares? It might also be there for a while. A second. A moment. A day. Or maybe more.”
He pauses.
“What else do you like in a woman?” I ask.
“I like to see her grow… Like you,” he says seriously. “And I like her to discover life. The good, the bad. I like her to expand her life. It’s what I want for anyone I care for. It’s not specific to a person.”
“And when that person is me?”
“When that person is you… I like everything I said and then some…”
He gives me a faint smile.
“I love how you do things…” he says. “It teaches me a lot.”
“I teach you? No…” I murmur incredulously, and chuckle, amused.
“Yes. You do.”
“Give me an example.”
“For instance, I never knew a vase could be such an efficient weapon. Or that someone small like you could inflict so much pain in a monster like Sloane.”
He says it seriously, and we laugh a moment later.
“I didn’t know that either. It just came to me.”
“Mm-hmm…”