Until you lose interest, I finished in my mind.
“Let me get this straight, you want me to be what? Your lover? So I sleep only with you, while you go around banging other women?”
“I like the sound of that.” Somehow we’d ended up so close again that our bodies were almost touching. He didn’t try to kiss me and I was grateful for that small mercy. Being this close to him was making straight thoughts difficult enough.
“I bet you do,” I said. “But that’s not going to work for me. If you want me to sleep with you, then you can’t have sex with anyone else.” What was I doing?
“As you said, I don’t do relationships.”
You also said you didn’t do virgins and here we are. The words didn’t pass my lips, instead I said, “Then this discussion is over.”
Adrian ran his hands through his already messy hair. “There might be a middle ground.”
“Said the lawyer.”
His lips twitched. “I won’t promise you a relationship. I had one in high school and it…didn’t work out.” I made a mental note to ask Rachel for details when we met for coffee. “But I can promise you this: I won’t sleep with other women as long as I’m sleeping with you.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out if he meant it in the literal sense only. “So we’re committed sex partners without any emotional attachments?” Maybe it being the middle of the night was the reason why I was having this discussion and worse: contemplating Adrian’s insane suggestion.
“That’s one way to put it,” Adrian said. He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me against him. I dropped Bruno’s leash and he scuttled away. “So what do you say?”
“We shouldn’t even be having this discussion. It’s late and I’m exhausted, and possibly delirious all things considered,” I whispered. “I don’t want to sleep with you now. Not like this. Not now. Don’t make me do something I’ll regret later.” Again.
Maybe he saw how vulnerable I was in that instant. His grip loosened but he didn’t let go entirely. He raised a hand and brushed a few strands of hair from my face.
“Why don’t you sleep over it? I have a guest bedroom where you can spend the night. I doubt your friend will bring you your keys now.”
He was probably right, and tomorrow I’d hopefully be able to make a somewhat sane decision. I nodded. “Okay.”
His hand resting gently on my hip, he steered me toward a door at the end of the corridor, next to his bedroom – which I still hadn’t seen with my own eyes. The guestroom was held in the same colors as the rest of the apartment and a queen-sized bed occupied one wall, looking out toward my apartment building. Bruno trailed after us and stretched out on the white rug surrounding the bed.
Adrian turned me so I was facing him and I tilted my head back to look into his eyes. “Promise me one thing,” he murmured. “Before you leave, you’ll give me the chance to convince you of my proposal. I really want to make it up to you.” His lips came down on mine, hot and teasing and entirely too intoxicating. His fingers stroked my throat and cheeks, and his tongue slid across my lips, then he pulled back. “There are shirts in the drawers if you need something to sleep in.” I stayed frozen to the spot, even after he closed the door after him.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning I woke to the sound of a coffee maker grinding beans. I didn’t move from my spot tangled in the blankets, too stunned by what had happened. I’d spent the night in Adrian’s apartment – without having slept with him – and I’d agreed to consider his offer.
An offer of possible mind-blowing sex if what I’d witnessed through my binoculars was any indication, not my own subpar experiences. Well, everything except for the actual sex had been mind-blowing, and the rest wasn’t really Adrian’s fault.
Bruno was still snoring beside the bed.
I sat up, the blankets sliding off and revealing a white dress shirt I’d found in the drawer last night. It was new and didn’t smell like Adrian, and yet I was oddly turned on by the fact that I was wearing something of him. I could hear him rummaging in the kitchen and remembered the promise I’d given him. My stomach fluttered with nerves. Maybe I should sneak out and pretend yesterday’s conversation never happened.
I swung my legs out of bed and stood, my eyes darting between the door that would lead out into the hall and the one belonging to the adjoining bathroom. I headed for the latter. A shower would clear my head and prepare me for the confrontation with Adrian. I’d tell him I couldn’t accept his offer and that would be it. I didn’t want to be only his lover. I wanted more.