“Oh, bullshit, Meek,” I threw back. “I could have fucked you in that hallway and it still wouldn’t have been equal to the price you’ve been paying.”
“Oh my God!” Her eyes widened, and then she looked behind me at the closed door.
“What?” I said, not looking over my shoulder as I continued loudly. “You nervous Lorraine is going to hear about our sexual encounters?”
“Could you please be quieter?” She tried to keep a straight face, but I saw the corner of her mouth lift. This little town and all the people in it somehow boosted her spirits even in the darkest moments.
“Quieter or louder?” I said even louder this time.
She put her hand over my mouth and shushed me.
I smiled before I nipped it.
Her eyes bulged. “What are you doing?”
“Seeing if you still taste as good as last night.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Don’t worry, you do.”
I saw the blush of anger creep up over her cheeks, and when I glanced lower, I saw it on her chest too. The conversation was taking a turn and so was my libido.
She yanked her hand away. “You’re so immature.”
“If you put your hands down my pants and repeat that with a straight face, I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
She glanced down. No one would ever call me that with their hand wrapped around my dick.
Her eyes narrowed. “It might be big, Jay, but it doesn’t make you any more mature. I’ve seen bigger with men even more immature than you.”
Her insult shot straight through me, effectively deflating my ego as she shoved me back so she could hop off the dresser. I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “You’ve seen bigger?”
“That’s all you took away? Really? I retract my statement. He definitely was more mature than you.”
I followed close behind her as she turned to go check herself in the bathroom mirror. “How many men have you slept with?”
She spun around and poked me in the chest. “You have some audacity asking me that. You want me to ask you?”
“Sure. And I’ll be honest. Too many to count.”
Her mouth snapped shut into a thin line and I saw the worry creases between her eyes. She didn’t have to say a thing for me to know she was working through her odds, figuring out if she was a good competitor. It was her nature, her drive to succeed, and I mostly respected it.
Here, it pissed me off. She wasn’t comparable to any of them. She was beyond them, and this wasn’t a competition.
It was just us.
“Look at me.” I grabbed her chin and got her attention. “Stop thinking. I promise you none of them compare to us together.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She shook her head and turned back to the mirror.
I watched her in it over her shoulder. “It does because we matter.”
“I’m your PA, Jay.”
“You’re my everything, woman.” Her brow furrowed like my statement troubled her, but I wasn’t taking it back. She needed to know where we stood. “That means I need you to be nothing to Dougie back home. I need you to trust that this is a good thing.”
We both glanced down at the phone outline in her pocket. “If I give up on him, I’m—”
“It’s not giving up when the assignment ends up not having a right answer, Meek.”
She nodded but blinked rapidly. I was witnessing her overcoming her own addiction, witnessing the denial, the withdrawal, the acceptance, and the anger of it all as she pulled up his name. “I tried so hard.”
“You did, but a relationship takes more than one person trying. There’s no inadequacy in knowing what you’re worth. You’ve fought countless times for a bigger paycheck or role for me. I’m pushing you to fight for a better life for yourself too.”
A tear escaped and fell to her cheek where I swiped it away. She blocked his number quickly and then slammed her phone down.
“Take my mind off this, Jay,” she demanded as she hopped up on the bathroom counter.
I didn’t hesitate for a second. I took her on the counter, in the shower, and in her bed.
I took what I knew would be mine for the rest of my life because I wasn’t letting any man near her ever again.