With This Ring

There I had fallen into blissful sleep in his arms after he ate me out.

I carefully turned my head to see that the other pillow was empty. Instantly I sat up, holding the sheets around my naked body. From the open door I could see the sun had long risen.

It made me feel strangely sad he hadn’t stayed around, but I told myself not to be so pathetic and clingy. This was clearly just a sexual thing. I should get out of bed and find out where the hell my clothes had ended up.

But just as I started to get out of the bed I heard him approaching and instantly fluffed my hair and got back into a sophisticated, nonchalant lounging pose. Anyone would have thought I’d been staying overnight at my lovers’ homes thousands of times.

He appeared already shaved and dressed in a navy-blue striped suit. God, he was heartbreakingly handsome. He also had my clothes in his hands. He placed them at the foot of the bed. I debated whether I should rise confidently and get dressed in front of him, but I wasn’t sure I could carry it off.

“I’m sorry for… uh… sleeping in. I guess I was tired.”

“That’s alright,” he said and pulled two cufflinks out of his pocket. “I have a flight in about an hour. Can I call you when I get back?”

My heart leapt for joy. “Yeah, sure,” I responded casually. I was dying to ask when he would be returning, but that would probably look as if I was desperate to see him again, and I wasn’t desperate, was I? Well, I wasn’t the only one. I let the sheet drop to my waist, and he made a strangled sound.

“Jesus, Freya,” he muttered.

“What?” I asked innocently.

“Nothing,” he said, and turning on his heel walked out of the room.

I was grateful for the space. Being naked in the harsh light of day is harder than at 2.00am in the night. I quickly got dressed, used the bathroom, then went to the kitchen to see him sipping at a cup of coffee as he scrolled through his phone.

The stoic look was back on his face, and his aura of the intimidating billionaire that the rest of the world knew was now fully in place. The playful, hungry, passionate Maxim of last night was gone, but it was a part that I felt privileged to have seen. This part of him however, although incredibly attractive, was very familiar.

I didn’t know what the protocol was for these kinds of situations. Should I announce I was leaving? As it happened I didn’t need to.

“Do you want some coffee?” he asked the moment he sensed me standing awkwardly at the threshold.

As a sexual hook-up I had probably already overstayed my welcome, and he was just being polite and so I shook my head and refused the offer. “No thanks.”

“Juice then, or tea?” he insisted, getting up and walking towards the refrigerator.

Maybe it was customary to drink something before leaving. I didn’t want to seem gauche and inexperienced so I said, “I’ll have some juice, thank you.”

He closed the refrigerator door and held up a jug. “Freshly squeezed orange juice okay for you?”

Just by that same door the previous night, he had grabbed my breasts and licked my sex, and I had writhed against him like some animal. I couldn’t understand how we were looking at each other in the eye and behaving in such a civilized way this morning. I cleared my throat. “Yes, that would be lovely.”

He poured the juice into a tall glass for me and put it on the counter opposite his coffee. Oh well, maybe I should sit and have my drink then. I walked over and sat on the stool. I took a sip of the cold drink.

“Um … do you travel a lot?”

“At least every week,” he replied. “What about you? Do you—”

“Oh, I don’t go anywhere,” I interrupted, then laughed nervously.

He looked amused. “I was about to ask if you liked traveling.”

“Oh,” my cheeks flushed. “No, I don’t.”

Why on earth did I say that? I loved travelling. I drained my glass then. I should be on my way before I spontaneously combusted and became a pile of ashes in his kitchen.

“I should go,” I said, sliding off the stool.

“Okay. Let me call you a car.”

“No, don’t do that. It’s a fine morning and I’ll enjoy the walk to the subway.”

He frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said walking backwards, only to catch my hip painfully on the hard corner of a piece of furniture and nearly catapulting to the floor.

He stood up in alarm. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, everything is fine,” I sang out as I quickly straightened. “Bye,” I shouted as I almost ran out of there, hiding my flaming cheeks.