Olivia looked shocked at my answer, but continued to laugh.
“The shortest marriage was with Kathy. They made it a week or so after the honeymoon and decided it wasn’t going to work.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Something about her only getting married to get back at her ex who never proposed to her. Technically, my dad was able to annul that one once they had proof of this. He got a mulligan and quickly moved onto another one.”
“Were any of them any good?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, he fucked up a few good relationships. Obviously, I have to say that my mom was my favorite. Brenda comes in at a close second. She was an awesome cook and covered for me a few times when I got in minor trouble at school.”
“You’re terrible,” Olivia squealed, covering her smile.
“Then, there was Megan. She was actually just a few years older than my brother. In fact, I think she even dated one of my brother’s friends back when he was in college. She didn’t last long and I didn’t really get to know her. But, I do know that she’s a lifestyle blogger,” I said, using air quotes.
“Why do you say it like that?” Olivia giggled.
“Because all she’s doing is going on vacation with my dad’s money and taking pictures to post on her social media accounts. She’s not doing any actual work to get there. In fact, people are even paying her money to put on a swimsuit and splash around on a remote island and drink weight-loss tea that makes you shit yourself.”
“It doesn’t sound like you liked that step-mother,” she said.
I shuddered at the word. They were nothing close to mothers to me. I knew she was using the term as a joke.
“I’m not saying that. I can’t really give my full impression because I didn’t know her that well. What I do know is that she married my dad, made him happy for a short period of time, then split with a bunch of his money.”
“Oh,” she said. “That’s not cool. I’ve never experienced that. My mom doesn’t date a lot. She’s seeing someone now, but that’s really a rare event. She definitely has only been married once.”
“You want to see your parents happy, but not at all costs. I wish my dad would slow down for once in his life. It really makes me want to avoid doing any of those things.”
“What, get married?” she asked.
“No, getting involved in a committed relationship. I work a lot. I like to have fun when I have time off. You can’t successfully do all of those things with a girl at home. It never works. My brother’s been divorced. My dad’s been divorced a bunch of times. Even my grandfather has been divorced. People get married because they think that’s just what you do when you get to a certain age. No one stops to think if it’s what they really want.”
“Maybe you haven’t found the right woman,” she suggested.
“You sound like my parents. No, I’m just going to make this one little area of my life simpler for myself. I don’t need to be weighed down by the stress of pleasing a woman.”
“You don’t know how to please a woman?” she teased.
She got me there. “You’re something else, you know that?”
“Yeah,” she said boastfully.
I wanted to scoop her up in my arms and kiss her right there, but it just wasn’t the right place or time. Instead, I finished my drink and asked the waiter for the check.
As we waited to pay, I noticed that Olivia kept giving me quick, covert glances. I wondered if there was food on my face or something, because I’d see her turn her head out of the corner of my eye, then turn back away once our eyes met.
“You know, you’re under no obligation to hang out with me,” I said, finally catching her eye. “I’m not going to blackmail you into doing more of my favors if you don’t.”
She shook her head. “I know that. I was actually getting pretty hungry when you called, and I was out of my instant noodles,” she teased. “Besides, I know you’re kind of a sketchy guy, but that might be what I like the most about you. You’re definitely not boring. And, I figure if we can talk about the surgical field, that’s more of an education than I’m getting as a regular resident.”
“You like me, eh?” I pried.
She tossed her wadded up napkin at me. “You know what I mean. I’m starting to think that your girl problems aren’t solely because of your dad’s penchant for getting married.”
“No? Enlighten me, then.”
She smirked. “I’m starting to think that you have a hard time keeping women around because you can’t help but ruin everything.”
“How do I ruin everything?” I protested.
“You like to mess with girls’ heads. You want them in your bed, but you don’t want to have to do any real boyfriend duties, like spend time with them or comfort them.”
“And it’s worked out quite well for me,” I said, taking my credit card after the waiter returned.
“You love to be a huge tease,” she said as we got up from the table and walked to my car.
“Me?” I squawked. “What about you? You’re the one strutting her stuff around all the time. You’ve practically rubbed yourself against me in a hospital conference room. I would think an academic like yourself would respect places of work.”
I went to open the car door for Olivia, but kept my hand firmly on the handle, her body in between the car and me.
“What about in public?” she purred, pressing her body up against mine.
I looked around. “I’m fine with that.”
I pushed her up against my car and kissed her, my hands on her hips. She kissed me back, her mouth gaped open and desperate.
“Do you want to go—” I started to breathe.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Let’s go to your place.”
Chapter 15
Olivia
My heart was pounding as he took me by the hand and pulled me toward the elevator. Just a fraction of a second after the door closed behind us, Damon’s hands were up my skirt, pushing away my underwear as our mouths were firmly pressed together.
“Wait,” I breathed. “What if someone else gets in the elevator?”
“I don’t give a shit,” he said as he began to touch me.
I was a little nervous that we would be interrupted in a very embarrassing fashion, but after a few moments with his hands on me, I stopped caring too.
To say that I had never done this before was an understatement. During my freshman year of college, I was fooling around with a boyfriend when his roommate came back to their shared dorm. It wasn’t as if we were caught in the middle of sex, but I was beside my boyfriend, stripped down to my bra. I was so horrified by the encounter that I avoided their room for the rest of our relationship, and avoided the roommate for the rest of my college career.
Another time, I had brought a boyfriend back home to meet my mom during a school holiday break. We slept in separate bedrooms and made a deal that we would not do anything remotely sexual while I was home. I was a young woman, but I was never one to share the details of my private life with my mother. Sure, I could talk to her for hours about what was happening on a daily basis, but we didn’t have the relationship where I could talk to her about sex.
On the second day of the visit, my boyfriend and I got a little too close when we were washing dishes together. I thought my mom went to her room, but had returned to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She saw my boyfriend and me making out by the kitchen sink and awkwardly cleared her throat to announce her presence. My face turned so red that I thought I would burst into flame. I hadn’t brought anyone home since then.
Certainly, I had never done something so wild as have sex in a semi-public place. I was a private person and liked to keep things under wraps. But, Damon had a way of making me act like a completely different person. When I was with him, I felt like I could relax a little. I had to, to be anywhere near his permanently chilled-out level.
“I want you so bad,” I moaned into his ear as we rose to the top of the building
.
“You’re going to get all of me in a second,” he purred back. With one swift motion, he unzipped his pants and pulled me on top of him, plunging into me. He propped me up against the back of the elevator wall, my legs wrapping around him.
I closed my eyes for a moment, allowing him to move me up and down on him. I buried my face in his hair, in complete and total ecstasy.
With the soft ting of the elevator bell, we emerged into the apartment, barely making it out of the elevator before the doors closed again and we were sent back down to the lobby. Without setting me down once, Damon propped me up onto the kitchen counter, grasping onto my thighs. I laid back against the cool, marble countertop, my chest rising and falling with each little gasp.
Admittedly, the moment was hardly romantic. It wasn’t about that, though. We had spent two romantic dates together without an inkling of sex. Now, we were just acting upon our primal urges. I was now living out a moment I could only daydream about as I sat in the middle of the conference room during sessions. Back then, I’d look at the front of his trousers, wondering what he had going on under there. Now, I knew exactly what he was working with and it was fantastic.
For a man with so much hubris, one might expect him to be a selfish lover, only worrying about his own pleasure. But, I could confirm that he had skills that I had never experienced before. My only wish was that I could ride out the waves of pleasure for longer. I didn’t want it to end, yet I desperately wanted to get to the climax.