Calloway kept pounding into me as he approached his climax.
I pressed my hand against his chest and made a very selfish demand. “One more…” I was lucky enough that I had a man who could make me come at all, and I shouldn’t take it for granted. But I was greedy after two days of nothing. I was so hard up I wasn’t even sure why I stopped him from spanking me in the playroom. All the pain in the world would be worth having him inside me.
He clenched his jaw like he was annoyed that he had to restrain himself. His eyes bored into mine, their usual look of intensity shining bright. But he didn’t release himself, somehow finding the strength to hold it together for a little longer. “What my woman wants, she gets.”
“How did your date go?” I asked as I sat across from Christopher at the deli. He picked me up for lunch while Calloway’s assistant picked up something for him. He was busy at the office, so he didn’t have time to join us.
“She was so boring. Almost fell asleep.”
“Almost fell asleep on a date?” I asked incredulously.
“Yep.” He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed. “She was that boring, if you can believe it.”
“Actually, I can’t.”
“She doesn’t have friends or hobbies. She just goes to work and then goes home. She’s hot as hell, but that’s all she’s got going for her.”
“So when dinner was over, you just went home?”
“No.” Christopher took another bite and scarfed down his food quickly. “We fucked, and then I went home.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I told you she was hot.”
“So she couldn’t have been that boring.”
“Well, there’s no talking during sex, so it’s pretty hard to be boring.” He ripped open his bag of chips and put them on the table between us so we could share. “What’s up with you and the Hulk?”
“The Hulk? He’s not green.”
“But he turns green when he’s angry. I’ve seen him in action.”
“Things are good…” I sipped my iced tea then dove my hand into the chip bag.
“Oh no.” Christopher saw right through that. “What happened?”
I told him about the fiasco at Ruin.
“Rome, just do it. You can tell the guy is really into it.”
“I know he is…but I don’t want to.”
“The guy wouldn’t have made a move unless he thought you might be into it.”
I didn’t mention all the details about Jet and Cynthia. That was a little too awkward to talk about.
“He’s given up a lot for you. I don’t see why it’s so difficult for you to do something for him—even if you don’t like it.”
“Do I really need to explain my reasoning?” I didn’t want to repeat myself for the fifth time.
“Look, I get what you’re saying. But relationships are about sacrifice, right?”
“But I’m not willing to sacrifice everything I believe in. I’ve been knocked around too many times in my lifetime. I don’t want to go through it again just because my hot boyfriend is into weird shit.”
“He wouldn’t be knocking you around,” Christopher corrected.
“Fine. He would whip me like an adulteress in the middle of the town square,” I said sarcastically. “Much better.”
“Don’t be a brat, alright? It’s not like that either.”
“You’re only saying this because you’re into weird shit too, Christopher.”
“Maybe,” he said in agreement. “But if you don’t keep your man happy, he’ll go looking for it elsewhere…”
The insinuation made me run cold.
“I’m not saying Cal is a cheater. Seems like a really honorable guy. But one day, he’s gonna get frustrated and leave. That’s how men are. We need a woman to keep us fed and keep us satisfied. If you do those two things, we won’t go anywhere. We’re very simple creatures.”
Christopher said a lot of stupid things, but that wasn’t one of them. When men didn’t get what they needed, it was natural for them to look for it elsewhere. “But he is satisfied with me.” I knew Calloway wanted to do those things sometimes, not all the time. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have lasted this long.
“I’m sure he is—for now. Just think about it, Rome.”
“I already have.”
Christopher knew I could be just as stubborn as he was, so he dropped the subject. “How do you find a nice woman in this city? Someone who’s super sexy but super awesome too. I’m not a big fan of online dating, so I haven’t gone there.”
“We’re in New York. There are amazing women everywhere.”
“Yeah, but I need a woman who’s wife material.”
“What’s wife material?”
He took another bite as he considered the question. “I don’t care if she’s rich or poor, but I want her to be doing something with her life, you know? Be passionate about something.”
“Again, lots of women meet that criteria.”
“And she’s gotta cook, and not just Top Ramen.”