JON

India's body is so responsive to me that I can’t get enough of her. The sex is great – better than great. It's fucking amazing.

I love the way she looks when she's lying naked beneath me, and how she moans when I'm eating her, how she moves eagerly when I thrust inside her, how she loses control when she comes, her body arcing, her nipples hardening into tight buds.

Seeing her in the throes of pleasure because of what I'm doing to her is everything I imagined it would be. My own pleasure seems all the more intense somehow, knowing that it's been hard for her to just let herself go despite all her fears.

When we're both spent and I'm lying on top of her, I'm reluctant to pull out and end this moment where our bodies are still joined and we're drunk on pleasure.

I kiss her cheeks, her nose, her chin, and then her mouth, trying to soak it up before I have to move, take off the condom, and let the moment pass. I break the kiss and stare into her eyes, looking for a sign that she's finally over her reluctance. Her body is responsive, but it's her mind I want to see respond to me.

"That was so good," she whispers, and runs her fingers through my hair. "You can do that anytime you want."

I smile. "You said that once before, and then you asked Chris how much your stocks would be worth if you cashed them in now."

She glances away, guiltily.

I turn her face back and meet her eyes. "Don't be mad," she says softly. "I wanted to know what they were worth if things didn’t work out between us and I felt I couldn’t stay."

"I'm not mad. I'm surprised and worried. I can’t imagine Pacifica without you at the helm of technology. You're an expert now in this field, you know."

She says nothing for a moment and looks into my eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Good," I say, but there's still this tiny sliver of doubt inside of me that she might just up and leave if she feels unsure of what we have together. I'll have to work hard to prove to her that while I won't say her word, I'll show her its meaning.

I try to put my doubts to the side so I can enjoy her in the current moment.

Reluctantly, I pull out of her body and remove the condom, tying it off and throwing it into the trash can by her bed. Then, I roll back on top of her, taking her hands in mine and pinning her beneath me, not letting her escape the way I know she wants to.

"I really should get up and pee," she says, giggling when I lick her neck and nibble on her earlobe.

"It can wait," I say, refusing to let her up.

"It's for the health of my lady parts," she says, stifling a laugh as I bite her shoulder playfully.

"Well, in that case," I say and roll off, letting go of her hands. "Don't want to threaten the health of your lady parts."

I watch her get up and walk to the bathroom, admiring her curvaceous butt and narrow waist. She disappears behind the bathroom door and I hear her peeing, and smile to myself. Hopping up, I follow her inside. She's sitting on the toilet, crouched over, a wad of tissue in her hand.

"Jon!" she says while I stand in the doorway and watch her.

"India!" I reply. "I just ate you and fucked you. I've seen a woman pee before."

Her eyes widen. "Please, give me a moment!"

She waits until I leave before finishing. I stand outside the door and shake my head at her. When she's done and I hear the toilet flush, I come back in the bathroom and take my place at the toilet to take a leak. I catch her watching in the vanity mirror. She's not used to the familiarity between us.

"Do you have absolutely no sense of shame?" she asks, and while I can hear humor in her voice, I know she means it.

"None. You'll have to get used to me being here," I say. "Being myself."

I flush and then wash my hands at the dual sink, watching her in the mirror.

"It's just a real change," she says and runs her hands over her hair. "You have to give me time to adjust."

"Immersion therapy works best, I find," I reply and pull her into my arms once my hands are dry. She slips her arms around my neck and smiles up at me.

"Patience works, too."

I bend down and kiss her. "I'm an impatient man, India. I want you now. Fully here and now with me."

"I'm here."

"Good."

We kiss again and then she leaves the bathroom and returns to bedroom.

I smack her butt playfully as I follow her. "Now I have to cook supper for you."

"Hey!" she says with a laugh. "No spanking."

"Aww," I say and grab her, tickling her. "I like the way your butt jiggles when I give you a love tap."

"I'm not a bad girl," she says and tries to squirm out of my arms. "I don’t need a spanking."

"You were a very good girl and deserve an orgasm."

"I already had two," she replies, laughing again when I squeeze her, my fingers at her ribs.

"You'll get a guaranteed two more when I'm finished cooking and we're ready for round two."

We kiss, lingering over it. I could fuck her again right now, the way my body feels.

But then I hear her stomach rumble and feel pity for her.

"Time to eat food." I let her go and together we dress. "I'll eat you again later."

I cook for India, making my signature chicken marsala, with Marsala wine, cremini mushrooms, and fresh fettuccini noodles. I love to cook, and was in charge of chow for my team when I was deployed in Iraq during the last two years of my military service.

"You're good at this," India says, helping me with the preparation and cooking by keeping my glass of wine topped up. I do the rest, not trusting her with a chef's knife. I've seen her injured fingers when came in one day after having cut herself chopping onions.

While the chicken is simmering in the wine-mushroom sauce, we sit together on the patio overlooking the bay and enjoy the nightfall.

"This is my favorite time of the day," she says wistfully. She's sitting on my lap on one of her huge deck chairs, her head leaning back beside mine. We're staring at the horizon where the sun has set and the sky is a deep purple-orange.

Once the meal is done, we eat our supper on the patio by lantern light, toasting the success of the meal and talking about Pacifica and what's next on our agenda.

It seems completely natural for us to do this – mix business with pleasure. We move flawlessly between talk of Pacifica and enjoying each other's touch. After cleaning up and returning to the porch, we spend more time talking about Pacifica and our plans for the future. Around nine thirty, when there's a pleasant lull in the conversation, there's a knock at the door.

"What the fuck?"

India glances at me. "No one comes over to my place without texting me first," she says and grabs her bag from the office.

"Oh, crap," she says when she has her phone in hand. "It's Marina."

I stand there, watching her panic. "Just answer the door."

"She'll freak if she finds you here."

"I've been here before," I reply.

I go over to the door while India stands there like a deer in the headlights. I open it and there stands Marina, her cell in her hand.

"Hey," she says.

"Hey," I reply. "Come on in. India and I were just talking about Pacifica."

"I figured you were here when I saw your car."

Marina comes in. India's standing there, her phone in her hand.

"Sorry," she says and shrugs helplessly. "My cell was in my bag in my office and I didn’t hear your texts."

"Obviously," Marina says. "I just came over to check on you since you didn’t answer. You always answer."

"Thanks for being concerned," India says.

"It smells really good in here," Marina says and goes to the kitchen. There's a container of leftover chicken marsala in the fridge and I'm surprised at how free Marina feels to just barge into India's house and check out her food. "What's this?" she asks.

"Chicken marsala," I reply. "I cooked tonight."

"You cooked?" Marina asks, eyeing me.

"I did," I said. "I'm renowned among my former Army buddies for my grub-cooking skills"

"Do you want a glass of wine?" India offers and holds up her own glass. Her voice wavers, and I know she's nervous.

Marina glances from me to India. "No, that's fine. I'll go."

She turns and heads out the door and I can see India panic.

I grab India and stop her. "Nice seeing you, Marina," I say.

Marina turns back and glances at us once more. I can tell she's really fighting not to say something about me being there alone with India.

"We'll talk later," she says to India and makes the phone sign with her hand.

"Sure," India replies, forcing a smile.

The door closes and India turns to me, her eyes wide. After we hear the car's engine, India bursts out laughing.

"Oh my God," she manages between laughs. "What the hell just happened?"

"Busybody Marina just happened." I go to India and pull her into my arms. "I think the cat's out of the bag now. You'll probably get an urgent call from her warning you off. You better practice your response."

"I know what she'll say." India wraps her arms around my neck. "She'll say you're totally wrong for me and that I should be meeting the new man that MATCHED found for me.”

"Yeah, another pencil-necked professor," I say with a laugh.

"Hey, my dad is a pencil-necked professor," she replies, punching me playfully in the shoulder.

I pretend to wince. "But he's really nice," I reply.

"He is," India says and adjusts my collar.

"But you don't want someone like your father," I reply.

"He is too much of an egghead for me."

"That's right. You want a man of action." I grin at her, pulling her against my hips. "Speaking of which, I want to get some more."

She smiles up at me, a coy look in her eyes. "You're insatiable."

"I am."

I kiss her and soon, she's forgotten all about Marina's little trip to check on her.

Later, we're lying together, basking in the afterglow of our mutual orgasms when India rolls over and lies on top of me.

"So, are we going to be out as a couple? I mean at work?"

"People already suspect," I reply. "If you want people to know, you can let them know. If not, I'm fine with it."

"You don't care?"

"Not at all," I reply and run my fingers down a strand of her hair. "I don't care if they know or if they only guess. It doesn't matter."

She nods and sighs. "I'll play it by ear."

Then she rolls off and gets up, grabbing her dress and thong, and walking to the bathroom for her ritual after-sex pee. I lie on the bed and listen as she finishes and washes her hands. I don't feel a need at the moment, so I stay on the bed.

She dresses and leaves the bathroom, taking the hallway to the living room. I wait for her to return, but she doesn't, so I get up and pull on my boxer briefs.

India is in the living room, and she's reading texts, her hand over her mouth.

"What's up? Marina already working on you?"

She glances at me and holds her cell out.

I take it and read the text. Just as I thought. Marina's at work.

MARINA: It felt suspiciously like you and Jon were together when I was over there earlier. What’s going on?

I hand it back to India. "What are you going to say?"

"I'll tell the truth," she says. "That you came over to talk about some upcoming business and made supper. It was nice. That's true."

"Okay," I say, narrowing my eyes at her. "That's not the entire truth. But like I said, I’ll leave it up to you what to reveal."

She nods and types on her cell then hits send. She hands it back to me so I can see what she's written.

INDIA: Jon wanted to go out for dinner and talk about Pacifica's upcoming contracts before he goes out of town. I didn’t feel like going out so he offered to cook. It was nice.

"That's not really true," I say and hand her back the cell. I can't help but feel a bit impatient with India because she won't stand up to Marina. "I never offered to take you out for supper."

She makes a face. "I know…" I hear a little ding, indicating an incoming text. She checks the cell.

"Huh," she says, and hands the cell back to me.

MARINA: Don't forget what I said about him. He can't commit to any one woman. You have to decide whether what he can give is enough for you. I know you want someone you can rely on – someone who knows what he wants and it's you.

"That meddling little –" I stop before I say ‘bitch.’

"Jon," she says and takes the phone back. She texts a response and sends it. Then she hands it to me.

INDIA: Jon is who he is. Any woman with him has to accept him for what he can give. If she can't, she has no right to be with him.

I read it over and glance at her. "You mean that?"

"I do," she says and takes in a deep breath the way you do before you leap out of a plane with only a parachute on your back. "I'll do my best to take you as you are. We'll see where this goes. It may go nowhere. Or it may go somewhere. I'm willing to give you a chance."

Her cell dings. She reads Marina's text and then sends off a reply, gets another response and sends another reply. Then, she hands the cell back to me.

MARINA: I hope you know what you're doing. I have a great guy lined up for you if you want to check out his profile on MATCHED. You could come to my party on Saturday. Mid-thirties, wants to settle down, Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford, lots of publications. Six feet three, built, dark hair and eyes. He's a hunk. You won't regret it.

INDIA: I can look after myself. But thanks for the offer. I'm going to take it easy for a while and just focus on other things besides finding someone through MATCHED. I'm sure you have other female Stanford grads you can use to test it.

MARINA: K sug, you know I love you.

INDIA: Back at you! <3

I smile and shake my head before handing the cell to India once more. "It's quite the insight into how your mind works, seeing your conversation with Marina. She obviously thinks she knows what's best for you and it isn't me."

"No, she's made that very clear." She stuffs her cell into her bag.

"You're so afraid of her that you won't just tell her the truth?"

She sighs and sits on the sofa. I sit beside her, my arm around her shoulder.

"It's just that she thinks she's this great matchmaker because she had success with a couple of our friends. So she thinks she has an instinct for people who belong together. She doesn’t think you and I belong together."

"She's wrong. We obviously want to be together."

"No," she says and shakes her head. "She means forever-together. You know, love and marriage and babies. The whole shebang."

I nod. "What about her? Why is she still single?"

India leans her head against my shoulder. "I don't know… She says she hasn't met her match yet. But she totally believes she will. She's the eternal optimist."

"You have to put yourself out there," I say and run my hand over India's hair, which is down and soft, flowing over her shoulders. "She's so busy matching other couples up that she's denying herself."

"She'll find someone."

I think of Marina, with her black hair in her signature pig-tails and her dark-rimmed Harry-Potterish glasses. She looks so bookish and geeky that it's hard to imagine her with a man. She looks like she's ready to play some LARPG.

For the rest of the evening, we never talk about work. Instead, we spend some time watching Netflix, and then it's late and I should really go home and hit the sack if I'm going to get up early and get ready for my trip.

Now comes the moment when I have to leave and I don't know what India will think about it. Will she want me to stay?

"I have to go," I say and kiss the top of her head. "I have the early-morning flight to Washington tomorrow. I have to pack and get some shut-eye."

"Okay," she says and kisses me back when I kiss her. "You're back on Monday night?"

I nod and pull her onto my lap. "Yes, and I want to come right over and drive you crazy with lust. At least four times."

She smiles and nuzzles her face in the crook of my neck like she's still a little embarrassed.

"I'll be waiting with bated breath for your return."

We sit for a moment, enjoying each other's warmth and then I get up, picking her up as I do, and she slowly slides down my body until she's standing on her tiptoes.

"You're going to make me want to stay for another hour," I say with a chuckle.

"No, you should go," she says and runs her fingers through my hair. "Do your packing and get a good sleep. Text me when you can."

"I will."

I kiss her again and then go to the bedroom to gather the rest of my clothes. I dress while India watches me from the doorway, leaning on the doorjamb, her arms crossed. When I'm finished, she follows me to the front door, where I slip on my shoes. We embrace, kiss once more and say goodbye.

I hop into my car, and drive off, watching her wave to me in the rear-view mirror.

A completely successful night.

While I'll miss her, I'm looking forward to a weekend with the guys from my old Army unit. I know I'll have a great time with them and we'll get some real work done on the security business they're thinking of starting.

Still, it will be great to return on Monday and drive right over here from the airport to find her waiting for me.

Ready and willing.