CHAPTER 4
IT WAS STRANGE TO BEHOLD a furious man with an erection.
He leered at her, briefly glancing at his groin. “Yes, you did that all night. You can probably make me hard all day, all week and I’m far from sated. But I asked for a hustler in the sack, not a…a…” he gestured towards her with his hands like she was a freak.
It was definitely time to exit this place.
“You let me believe you were…” he dragged his fingers through his hair. “You let me come inside you without a fucking condom!”
Now, wait a goddamn minute! Was he accusing her of setting the whole thing up? “Is that my fault? I’m not the one with the dick!” she shot back at him angrily, then went weak. “Oh God, you’re not sick, are you?”
“What? No, I’m clean, dammit! I’m in the military, I get tested regularly and I always use a fucking rubber. In fact, this is the first time I didn’t want to use one!” He uttered a slew of self-berating curses this time.
“So, you’re blaming me for that, too? How gallant of you, officer,” she retorted sarcastically.
He turned redder in the face. “Alright, that wasn’t your fault.” He turned away from her, giving her a view of his rigid frame from the back. What tight, glorious ass.
She wanted to slap herself for getting distracted by his splendid physique in the middle of this humiliating conversation.
He faced her again. He was looking more agitated now than angry. “I was very horny, alright? I was out of civilization for more than a year and all I wanted was an all-nighter with three girls and I got you and it was too late to get a replacement! But a fucking virgin, for crying out loud! Shit!”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Three girls?!”
He thrust his hips at her. “It takes more than one pussy to satisfy this.”
She couldn’t stand his crudeness and mocking censure. She leaped from the sofa and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, locking it.
——*****——
Craig stared at the little stains on the sheets, shaking his head in disbelief.
He should have known. She had a totally different feel from everything he had experienced sexually. His instinct was telling him something was off last night but he was too horny to even care. All he wanted to do was to be inside her all night long. And he was, for the most part.
A virgin.
Fuck him if he wasn’t hard like a scud missile again.
He growled, pissed off at himself for wanting her still despite this revelation. He didn’t need this shit right now.
He marched towards the bathroom door intending to kick it open but he heard the shower running. Inhaling deeply, he walked out of the bedroom. He found his pants in the hallway and put it back on. He and Miss Virgin will have a one-on-one in a few minutes.
Ex-virgin.
Fuck me, indeed.
Despite his shock, he was feeling a weird joy. He felt like he’d blown a MiG out of the sky. Now, he hadn’t done that yet, as the Iraqi Air Force that flew them was destroyed during the Persian Gulf War more than two decades ago by the US and NATO Forces. MiG encounters were none-existent during the Iraq War where he was mainly involved in air-to-ground combats. But this must be how he’d feel if he’d blitzed a Mig 25 or 29 in a dogfight. A major, unforgettable score.
He couldn’t help it.
He grinned like a smug Neanderthal and pumped his fist.
——*****——
Having a mother who was a perpetual hopeless romantic that resulted in three children with different fathers was not a happy thought for her growing up. It was an embarrassment. It was proof that love, when mishandled by starry-eyed fools fucked up lives. She should know. She was a living testament to it.
Love? Hah! Her mother was a sucker for that. Her mother wanted the fairy tale. She believed every man she was with would be THE one, that one man who would love her unconditionally for all time.
She was in for a rude awakening, three times, the poor woman. News flash Mama Mia! All that blasted love brought you for believing in it like a devoted pilgrim were bastards. Two half-whites, one half-black. All minus their fathers.
Ah love…true love for that matter was a unicorn indulged in by men and women with charmed lives. They had plenty of time to worry about petty stuff like relationships. They didn’t have issues with money, identity and surviving life in general.
Now, she hadn’t kept her virginity all these years because of some romantic sentimentality. She just didn’t have time for romance and all that shit. Her goals for her future came first than anything else. Her eye-popping GPA would prove that.
She had more important things to think about than having a boyfriend. She’d reckoned she had to lose her V-card at some point. Practicality dictated she should get rid of it before she graduated from college, at least, to prepare her for her professional life. A woman who knew sex was a woman who knew how to navigate the corporate world ruled by men, which she intended to conquer in the near future.
She had some vague fantasies about how to lose her V-card to some lucky bastard but none of them included a guy who looked at her like she was a damn freak after satisfying his lust with her thrice.
That ungrateful wretch! A woman would only lose her virginity once. The least he could do was say thank you! He got it way too easy! Though she wouldn’t put the blame on anybody but her stupid self, she will not stand for any man ridiculing her choices in life no matter how hot-looking he was!
She just planned to doze off for a few hours last night, bone tired from cleaning the entire apartment after coming off of her day shift at a restaurant she was working in as a waitress. She took two jobs to save extra cash for her expenses not covered by her scholarship next semester. She was entering her third year now at the University of Miami, taking up a Bachelor’s Degree in Accountancy.
She had a headache so she took a paracetamol. No wonder she was slow to wake up when that bastard started molesting her! By the time she came to, it was too late. He already lay siege to her body.
He forced her. Had she been awake, she would never—
She sighed. That was not true. She could have fought him for real. But she didn’t. She allowed him to take her. Because she wanted it, too.
That was the truth.
She scrubbed her skin harder, wanting to remove the memory of his touch. Okay, she was not the first idiot to commit this kind of screw-up but it was certainly not the end of everything. She can walk away from this and carry on with her life, with her plans. Move forward. Forget this ever happened.
She finished her bath quickly. Fresh from the shower, her self-recriminations draining with the water, her composure was restored to a certain degree. She hoped she could hold it down until she was out of this damn building, never to return again.
He was in the military, he’d said. Owning a digs like this, he must be high-ranking now. All the more reason to get out of there fast. The last thing she needed was to get involved with a man from the service. She detested his kind. Silver-tongued liars who promised the moon and stars to every woman who was stupid enough to fall for it.
Yeah, yeah, serving the American people with their very lives. I get that and thank you, American soldiers, but my father was a bastard for spawning a bastard like me and leaving me to live with my mother who’d slept with enough GIs that could fill an entire USS.
But still, she had to thank that mother who was able to identify the father of her eldest child and wise enough to appeal to him to help her enter the United States so she can have a better future. Luckily, her mother had a sister in the US too, who turned out to be a decent human being married to some decent Puerto Rican migrant.
Now here she was, six years in the United States, struggling to get a college degree. She wasn’t totally down on her luck as God had blessed her with enough IQ to be able to graduate as valedictorian in high school and score a scholarship at a university, but it was apparent now, she wasn’t endowed with enough common sense to excel at the University of Hard Knocks.
Ah well, bitter as it may to swallow, that had to be chalked up to experience. Indeed, experience was the best teacher and she’d learned this particular lesson the hard way.
Yeah, harrrrd way, indeed, her conscience mocked her.
If her conscience were a bitch, she’d know what would come next.
Yeah, you could use a slap in the face, smartass who isn’t so smart after all.
She pulled a deep breath. Her conscience was a merciless heathen today, but she had to get past the devil himself.
——*****——
She emerged from the bedroom fully dressed.
Craig was standing in the hallway, impatiently waiting for her. He’d been burning holes on the carpet as he restlessly paced the expanse of the living room back and forth, looking intermittently at the wall clock. She stayed a good thirty minutes in the bathroom. It felt like goddamn forever.
She continued walking, not meeting his eyes, gripping her books tight to her chest. Her impassive demeanor set him off again. She actually meant to just walk away. Just like that?!
He blocked her way.
She stopped and met his eyes. She was small, the top of her head barely clearing his shoulders but she was looking at him with such superior air he was momentarily taken aback. Very few men would look at him that way and even his superiors treated him with grudging respect despite his occasional insubordination. His kill record in the cockpit had accorded him some tolerance. The rest steered clear of him. They knew better than to raise the demons inside him. One stupid comrade did that once a long time ago and landed in a hospital with broken ribs. He, in turn, was sent to the shrink for a thorough check-up in the head. However, his skills in the skies were genius level and they couldn’t afford to suspend him for long. He was back in the cockpit after a week. Nobody dared to talk shit at him ever since.
Now this slip of babe didn’t know him, had no idea how dangerous he could get. She was eye-sparring with him like a little Valkyrie, goading him, challenging him.
Somehow, that really pleased him. He couldn’t stand hysterical or simpering women.
“Let me pass,” she said in a clipped tone. That sounded like an order, too.
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About…what happened.”
“Look, what happened happened. Will you just say slam bam thank you ma’am like a typical guy and let me go? I promise I’ll not think badly of you.”
In spite of her antagonistic tone, he was amused. She was giving him a clean way out, free of any responsibility. The best deal any man could ever have under the circumstances. Really, he should grab it and show her the door.
Yes. Now.
“C’mon, have some coffee.”
“No, thank you.”
“You’re not leaving until I say so.”
“I will scream.”
“Go ahead.”
She gave him a withering glare. “What do you want from me?”
You. I want you again.
Fuck.
“C’mon. Just one coffee won’t hurt, would it?”
——*****——
His immovable stance and the implacable look on his face told her he wasn’t taking no for an answer. The man commanded quiet authority and she recognized that. She didn’t have any energy left to go head to head with him. Not today.
So, okay, she will spend a few more minutes with him to indulge whatever he wanted to talk about. Anything to get him out of her hair.
He gestured for her to lead the way to the kitchen. Seething with restrained anger, she walked ahead with him following closely behind her, self-conscious that he was watching her back.
He pulled one of the high stools for her at the island counter. She flinched when he held her hips to help her up, her nerves jumping.
“I can manage, thank you,” she said curtly, hating her physical reaction towards him at the tiniest contact. It seemed that after last night, her body now recognized a familiar stimulus, the touch of this man.
Without a word, he went behind the counter and got busy with the coffee maker. It was hard not to stare. It wasn’t everyday that she had a shirtless hunk serving her breakfast. He was tall and built solidly, compact all over…ripped and strong and…
Her kitty clenched in remembered bliss.
She averted her gaze, feeling her cheeks heating up. Would she ever forget this man? The way he looked wasn’t easy to forget as it was. How much more the way he felt, smelled and tasted? The way he touched her?
He placed a steaming cup of brewed coffee in front of her.
“Creamer?”
She nodded.
“A sweet tooth.” He poured liquid creamer onto her cup and stirred it for her. She waited silently. It was both sweet and weird, being taken care of like this, especially by this man.
“Drink your coffee while I finish the French toasts.”
She took a sip. The warmth instantly traveled to her stomach, relieving some of her tension.
He worked efficiently on the flat stove. His kitchen was designed like a chef’s dream, equipped with the most sophisticated appliances.
A few minutes later, she had in front of her a plate of French toasts with scrambled eggs and fried bacon strips. Damn, how can she forget this colossal stupidity when it came with a sumptuous-looking breakfast?
“Let’s eat.”
He drank from his own mug of coffee.
She dug into her own plate. Strange, but how come this tasted so good? It was just French freakin’ toast. But she finished her food in only a few minutes.
She caught him staring at her with amusement.
“You want more?”
“Uhm…”
He put the remaining scrambled eggs and bacon strips from the skillet onto her plate. The bread on his plate, he transferred to hers.
She couldn’t help but smile at him in appreciation. If a man spent the whole night making you delirious with pleasure and then fed you breakfast he cooked himself in the morning, how would you feel?
Crazy stupid volume 3. But understandable. Thrice is a charm.
“Aren’t you hungry?” she asked him.
“Not as hungry as you.”
“Sorry. I just remembered I hardly ate last night.”
“Then finish that. I don’t want you losing weight.”
What did he care if she lost weight? Like they would still see each other after this. That put her back in the real world. For a while there she got lost in some fantasy, of lovers spending an idyllic morning-after together.
She quickly finished her food and her coffee. She’d been avoiding “the talk”, pretending to concentrate on her food but now, she had to end this. She schooled her features into a neutral calm and met his eyes. “So?”
Apparently, he was ready with his questions and was just waiting for her to be done eating. “How come?”
“How come what?”
“How come you were still a virgin last night?”
She sighed, her ire rising back quickly. Not that topic again! “Are you one of those insecure guys who have such little manhood you need to rub in every lay you’ve scored?”
He smirked. “We both know I’m hardly little.”
She rolled her eyes. “Insecure then.”
“How so? I just asked you a question.”
“You know, if you find it so weird that I’ve kept my V-card this long, please don’t flatter yourself in thinking I was saving it for you.”
“Regardless, I popped your cherry. Why me?”
“It wasn’t for lack of opportunity.”
“I know. A lot of guys would have wanted the honor for sure.”
The way he said honor, with that mocking look made her bristle all the more. Why the hell were they having this stupid conversation? Only a man who cared about her would still bother to inquire about her lost virginity. And he clearly didn’t give a shit.
“I was going to get rid of it. You just happened to be there,” she fibbed to save her pride.
“I see. How old are you?”
“Do I need to answer that?”
“Yes. Just making sure you’re old enough to fuck.”
“And if I’m not?”
“If you mean to frame me for rape, you’re messing with the wrong guy. Save yourself all the pain and trouble. I’m not a good person. I’ll be your worst nightmare.”
As if he wasn’t already. “Don’t worry, I’m old enough to fuck, officer, who IS NOT a gentleman,” she sneered.
He didn’t even bat an eyelash. “Gentlemen are fools. Bitches make mincemeat out of them and feed them to the dogs. So how old are you?”
“Twenty.”
“I see. Are you protected from pregnancy?”
She swallowed. “Of course,” she uttered the bald lie, not wanting to look even more stupid than she already was. Oh God! Please don’t make me regret this one-time lapse of common sense. “I told you I wanted to get rid of it.”
“How come you didn’t lose it sooner?”
She shrugged. “I was busy.”
“Busy clubbing?”
“Clubbing?”
“Yeah. How else would you meet Tommy?”
“Tommy?”
“Yeah. I wonder why he sent you when he knew my type.”
She had no idea who the hell Tommy was and she didn’t really care. Correcting him would only prolong their conversation and that was the last thing she wanted.
It was really time to beat an exit. She slid down from the high stool. “I’m sorry if I disappointed you. I’ll remove myself from your presence now. Thank you for the breakfast.”
“I’m not disappointed.”
Oh really now? “Then you have a very nice way of expressing your appreciation,” she replied sarcastically.
He shrugged, not bothering to apologize. “I want you.”
She raised a brow at him.
“I mean I want to have more sex with you,” he added, as if she would mistake his statement for anything else but THAT! His self-entitled demeanor infuriated her.
She widened her eyes in exaggerated surprise. “Me? I thought you wanted three girls and I’m not your type at all.”
“I take that back. You weren’t that bad at all.” He gave her a devilish grin that made her stomach knot in longing.
That curve ball totally threw her off, damn him! “I don’t think—”
“I’ll pay you.”
Her jaw dropped. She blinked at him. “You pay women to have sex with you?”
“No. But I think you could use the money. You’re not exactly like the others.”
He was not only propositioning her like a common tramp but making her feel like a freakin’ charity case, too. The nerve! “How am I different from the others?” She couldn’t let that pass.
He shrugged. “Aside from being a virgin, nothing on your body seems touched. Your boobs are still natural.”
“My…” She looked down her chest.
“Most girls I’ve been with have double Ds. Those will cost you. I don’t think you can afford them.”
She had never felt more insulted. “There’s nothing wrong with my boobs!”
“I didn’t say there was.”
“And how would you know I can’t afford them?”
“If you can afford ‘em, you’d have ‘em.”
“Excuse me, I’m quite happy with my boobs!”
“Then you must be new to the club circuit. Most women I know would find your rack inadequate.”
“Inadequate? You find them inadequate?!”
“No. They’re quite perfect.” His gaze dropped to her chest and lingered there.
Wow. A compliment in the middle of the most bizarre conversation she’d ever had with a man.
Her nipples unfurled, remembering how he’d lavished them with attention last night. Too much attention the feel of his warm mouth sucking and licking them would probably stick there for some time. And don’t get her started on the other parts of her he’d sucked and licked and… Oh shoot, stop it!
“I need a sexual companion for a week. I’ll pay you thirty thousand dollars. Stay the week with me.”
No. Just. NO.
A week? A week of more megawatt sex with him?
Her conscience was screaming bloody red alert. Get the hell out of there now now now!
Wait. Thirty thousand dollars?!
What are you, a prostitute?
Yeah, being a moralistic conservative was a bitch when she was offered a sweet deal like this. What would a girl in dire need of extra cash do?
Her practical mind was doing the math. That money would cover a lot. She won’t have to work part-time while studying next year. She can send some cash to her siblings back in Asia. A whole lot of worries taken off her shoulders. It was like doing business WITH pleasure!
Turning into the woman who’d spawned you?
Excuse me. I’m not like her at all who was stupid enough to expect anything from the men she slept with, or maybe she didn’t expect anything at all and didn’t put any real price to her self-worth, that was why they all left her. That woman was a dreamer. A perpetual damsel in distress. What man would want a woman who depended too much on a man for her happiness and well-being?
And what are you?
I have dreams. But that does not involve falling in love with every man I sleep with, hoping each of them is the knight who will save me from my dire circumstance. I’m gonna save myself. I’m my own knight.
Besides, he’d already slept with the man. She was a slut for doing so and for enjoying it too much, no other way to put it, but she gave her V-card away for free. A prostitute, on the other hand, if her conscience would be so politically correct, would get paid for enjoying him. Wasn’t that a much better position?
Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.
——*****——
It was hard to decide between respectability and a six-pack with that V-shaped ridges of muscles bracketing a man’s massive erection which she knew she had roused. When she let her practical hormones win in the end, her conscience wasn’t so antagonistic anymore.
“I have three conditions,” she stated in this no-nonsense tone, which was difficult to do when a serious man-candy was eye-fucking her from across the bed.
“Name ‘em. You got ‘em.”
“One. No asking questions. I don’t wanna know you and I don’t want you to know me beyond this brief association.”
His eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “Okay.”
“I wanna set my limits. I can say stop at any point while we’re engaged in sex, whether you like it or not.”
“I’m not a savage.”
She raised a brow. “Only my worst nightmare?”
“Point taken. But I’ll tell you this, I’ve done things I’m not proud of but none of them involved sexually abusing a woman.”
“That’s a relief. Three, you’ll use condom every time we have intercourse.”
“Of course. But I don’t have one right now.”
“Tough. Then you can’t come inside me.”
He turned a bit red in the face. “I won’t. Anymore.”
“I mean you can’t put it inside me unless you’re wearing one. You can’t go to battle without a helmet, officer.”
He clenched his jaw, clearly not used to women lecturing him about protection.
“You were not complaining the first three times.”
She hoped she wouldn’t get pregnant from their three unprotected rounds last night and this morning. What were the odds. But she won’t be so irresponsible this time around. She was indulging her crazed hormones with a rare walk on the wild side with this man with some fringe benefits. Since he already took her cherry and she had no way to reverse that fact, might as well get her fill of this hottie for a week. Just a week, she swore to her currently very happy kitty. After that, back to the real world and her goals.
“It’s because I wasn’t sober the first time, I wasn’t myself the second time and you caught me by surprise the third time. But no more. Rubber or this conversation is over.”
He cursed. “I had a stack at the table over there but it’s gone.”
She swallowed. Oh boy. She saw the box months ago while cleaning and she was scandalized by its contents. Magnum XLs! She put it away so she won’t see it every time she came over.
“Uhm, I think I saw a box in the bathroom. Inside the cabinet at the vanity counter.”
He scowled. “How the hell did it get there?”
“Uhm…”
“I hate it when my things are moved. There are fucking flowers in the kitchen. I hate flowers. I’m gonna fire the goddamn housekeeper.”
She swallowed again. This was one of her aunt’s high-paying accounts for a year now and she was about to fuck it up, no pun. Her aunt would be furious. “Uhh…”
He jumped from the bed and went to the bathroom.
When he came out, his disposition had brightened. He raised his hand with the box of Trojans. It was overkill with that XL of an erection pointed right at her.
“Are we done talking?”
She nodded.
“Good.”