Strong Enough

“It’s not that much.” I rose to my feet and picked up the one to be returned and placed it in the bag. That one had cost even more.

“To me, it is.” His blue eyes were wide.

“I told you, you don’t have to pay me back right away.”

“I want to,” he said firmly, putting the shirt in the bag. “So we need to return this one, too. Someday I will be able to afford luxury clothes, but not yet.”

It kind of broke my heart that he thought an eighty-dollar shirt was a luxury item. “Maxim, please keep it. As a gift.”

“No.”

“Listen, it makes me happy to do things for people. So it’s not for you, it’s for me. Keep it for me, so I can feel good about myself.”

He shook his head, but he smiled. “You’re crazy.”

“I’m not. I just like you.”

His smile grew wider as he reached down and grabbed his work shirt and pulled it on. “I like you, too. And I’m so—” He looked down at his chest. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?”

“I put my shirt on inside out.” Quickly, he scrambled to get it off.

“So?”

“If you put your shirt on inside out, it means you will get beaten.”

“Beaten! By who?”

“By anyone.” He turned the shirt right side out and put it on again. “That’s why you should punch me.”

I shrank back. “Are you insane?”

“No! It’s symbolic. You have to punch me so that I will get the beating from you, not from someone who really wants to do it.” He said this in all seriousness, then turned to fac

e me. “I’m ready. Go ahead.”

“Maxim, I’m not going to punch you.”

“You have to!” But he was laughing now. “A little punch, okay? Otherwise, I won’t feel right.”

“Oh my God. I can’t even believe this. What’s the Russian word for crazy?”

“Sumasshedshiy. Say it. Then punch me.”

“Sumasshedshiy.” I completely mangled it, then I gently nudged his rock-hard abs with my fist. “That’s all you get.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You punch like a girl.”

“What?” I dropped the shopping bag and tackled him, throwing him onto the bed, pinning him beneath me. “Take it back.”

He was laughing so hard his eyes were shiny. “Even Liliya hits harder than you.”

“Take it back.”

“No, because then you’ll get off me, and I’m enjoying this.”

I was too, of course. What was better than Maxim trapped beneath me? It reminded me of last night. My dick, which had never really settled down after seeing Maxim undress, was now on its way to full tilt. I pressed it into him. “You’d enjoy it even more with your pants off.”