Once he caught his breath, he slowly pulled out of me before he rolled over and got comfortable beside me. His king-size bed sat in his dark room, the city lights casting some illumination over the space. He had shutters that rolled down to keep the lights out, but I’d never seen him use them. He lay there in silence as he relaxed, as the sweat evaporated from his chest or soaked into the sheets.
Not only was the sex great, but it sapped my energy almost instantly. I was always ready to go to sleep once the pleasure had seeped into my blood. Like a drug, it knocked me out cold.
Slate’s voice caught my attention. “It doesn’t seem like you’re sore anymore.”
“Not really. I’ve been doing much better.” I stuck to my side of the bed because we were both hot.
“Haven’t had to use lube.”
“Yes, you accomplished the impossible. You stretched me out.”
“Took long enough…”
“I’m very petite.”
“Yes, I know that better than anyone.”
Once I cooled off, I pulled the sheets to my shoulders and got comfortable against the pillow. “Can I sleep here?”
He looked at the ceiling, the strength of his masculine jawline visible even in the shadows. “Yes. Always.”
“Be careful what you wish for…this is a very comfy bed.” Much better than the moth-eaten cot at my place. I couldn’t imagine bringing a date back to screw on that thing. Wasn’t exactly sexy.
“I thought you liked it because of the guy.”
“Not exactly. I like the guy for fucking me. But now I just want his bed.”
He chuckled. “At least you still have some use for me.”
“You protect me too. No one can bother me here.”
“Do people usually bother you?” He turned his head my way to see my expression.
When I entered my apartment building, I always got a few catcalls from neighbors. That got old, especially since it’d been happening since I first moved in. I’d stopped using the laundry facilities there and just carried it to a place across the street, but I never told him any of that. Here, it was impossible for anyone to ever bother me, and if they were stupid enough to try, I had a six-foot powerhouse to snap their neck. “No. I just mean I feel really alone here. It’s so quiet that it doesn’t feel like we’re in the city at all.”
“That’s why I had to have the top floor. I didn’t want to hear the traffic on the street. Occasionally, I’ll hear a helicopter, but helicopters are cool so that’s fine.”
“They are cool.”
Now that he’d cooled off, he cuddled into my side and rested his face in the crook of my neck. His heavy arm rested across my stomach, bringing new warmth into the sheets. Once fall hit New York, the temperature dropped quickly, and the hot, sticky humidity of summer was just a memory. “Does that mean we can take it up a notch?” he asked, revisiting the main topic that brought us together in the first place.
I had the power in the situation because I could say no, give myself another week to enjoy the slow sex I liked so much. The carnal fucking that he enjoyed, with a hint of his controlling nature, made for hard sex I didn’t exactly enjoy. But he’d paid me for a service, and I felt like it would be wrong not to give him what he wanted—especially now that I could handle it. “I think so.”
He breathed a deep sigh of pleasure. “Good.”
“But can we make a compromise?”
“What kind of compromise?”
“Maybe we could do it slow like that a few times a week…”
He lifted his face so he could look at me. “Now that you’re stretched out, you’ll like it hard. We rushed into it too fast in the beginning, but it doesn’t always hurt like that.”
“Maybe. But I like it like this. I like it when it’s slow, sensual…”
“You prefer lovemaking rather than fucking?”
I wasn’t going to put it in those terms until he did. “I guess…”
“We both know I’m not the lovemaking kind of guy. I made an exception for you.”
“And maybe you’ll make an exception again…?” I rubbed my hand up his chest, trying to entice him with my affection. “I know you like it.”
“I like you.”
“Then have me like that…once in a while.”
His eyes bored into mine as he considered my request for a long time. He finally gave an answer. “A few times a week is too much. Once a week.”
That wasn’t what I hoped for, but I should be grateful that he compromised with me at all. He was a hard man who liked to call all the shots, so the fact that he was letting me get my way at all was surprising. “Alright. You have a deal.”
He cuddled into my side once again and rested his lips against my hairline. “Good.”