Darkly (Follow Me 4)

Is she kidding? I can’t help a huff. “Not using a condom? Hell yeah. You felt amazing.”

“Then why use them?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Not that hard to explain, actually. I don’t take unnecessary chances.

But if I look further inside myself, I see the ultimate truth.

It’s a barrier.

A barrier between my partner and me. I don’t want to get too close, so I don’t.

“Try.”

“I’m not sure. It’s kind of a…” I close my eyes. I can’t lie to her, yet I’m not ready to tell her the truth. A few seconds later, I open them and meet her gaze. “We’ve done enough talking for one night. I owe you a climax.”

Surely that will get her off this topic.

But I’m wrong.

“I don’t want you to sleep with anyone else while you’re sleeping with me.”

Not an issue. Rarely do I have a sexual relationship with more than one woman at a time.

“I told you. You’re the only one I’m sleeping with this week. I haven’t fucked anyone else since I started fucking you.”

“Good,” she says. “Keep it that way.”

“Skye—”

“If I’m your”—air quotes—“‘girlfriend,’ I deserve to be the only one in your bed.”

I stare at her. She’s asking for something no other woman has ever had the guts to ask from me. I’ve always been up front with women about my expectations.

I can’t help but admire her in this moment. She’s making a demand—a demand that, for all she knows, could signify the end of whatever this is between us.

The problem? I don’t want it to end. I haven’t gotten what I want from her. Perhaps, when she finally submits to me, I’ll have had enough of her and will be willing to let her go.

God, even the thought seems foreign.

What have I gotten into?

I’ve never made a guarantee like the one she’s asking for. Even though my MO is to be sexually involved with only one woman at a time, I’ve never made that promise.

I already know, though, what my answer is.

“Okay.”

Her eyebrows shoot up.

“You’re surprised,” I say.

“A little.”

“What kind of man do you think I am, Skye?”

“That’s just it, Braden. I don’t know what kind of man you are. You refuse to talk about anything personal. You’re intelligent, obviously. You’re an excellent businessperson. You do some charity work. But that’s all I know other than what magazines report.”

“You know I love oysters.”