Chapter Ten - Kyle
I couldn’t remember the last time I had woken up to a woman in my apartment, let alone another person in my house. I had a strict no staying over rule with all the girls I slept with. I liked to fuck, get my fill, and then see them out of the door. I liked to sleep alone in my bed and I liked to wake up early, by myself, and have my breakfast in peace.
But here she was, another person. I had woken up at six, as usual. I ate my breakfast, took the elevator down to the gym in the basement, and by the time I was back in the apartment by eight, Erica was up and pottering about the place.
It came as a shock, initially, because I’d forgotten she was even there. The previous evening, after she arrived, we had a small dinner in silence and then she had spent the rest of the night locked up in her room. I had to make do with my fantasies of imagining her naked, in the room, pinned against the wall, her long legs spread open for me. I wanted to leave her alone for that night, to let her get accustomed to this arrangement.
But now that it was morning, a new day, I was surprised to find that my heady rush of desire for Erica had suddenly disappeared. I had expected to feel turned on by her. She was in a pair of small cotton shorts and an oversized t-shirt. Her legs were on display, her hair was messy, and she had no makeup on. As she sat on the couch, sunlight streaming in through the French windows, sipping from a cup of tea, my gaze softened as I looked at her.
She looked so natural sitting there, reading the newspaper with her legs folded up in front of her. She looked fresh, like she had had a good night’s sleep… like she was comfortable being around me, in my house.
“Morning,” I said as I came up to her from behind, catching her by surprise.
“Oh, hey. Morning.” She fumbled with the newspaper and straightened her legs. She looked a little embarrassed. “Sorry, I took the liberty to make myself a cup of tea,” she added.
I shook my head and smiled. “Of course. I want you to feel at home, not like a prisoner,” I told her as I sat down in the armchair across from her.
We looked at each other in silence, and then a smile spread across her face. “So, this is what it’s going to be like for the next few weeks. We’re both going to be trapped in each other’s presence.” She said it like a joke, smiling, but I knew she wasn’t joking.
“I don’t feel trapped. Do you?” I asked her, serious.
Erica looked around the room and shrugged her shoulders. “To be honest, it’s more like a holiday to me. Your house is pretty nice. It’s like a fancy hotel room,” she said.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Glad to hear it. It is a business transaction, after all,” I added.
She raised an eyebrow. “Much like our previous business transaction,” she replied and I licked my lips. She really knew how to shoot me down. Repeatedly.
“That’s not what I meant,” I said, but she ignored it.
“Will we have to make public appearances?” she asked me, and I sank back in the armchair.
“Not many. Lewis is issuing an official statement from me, and then we’ll release a picture of us together. Then a few grocery shopping trips. Maybe you attend one of my games and get photographed. That sort of stuff,” I explained and she nodded.
“I hope this works,” she said, and I smiled at her. Erica Lee had been an object of desire for me, even the previous night when she walked into my apartment. But in the morning light, for some reason, she felt more like a friend.
“Even if it doesn’t, will it be so bad?” I dared to ask her.
Her face darkened as she looked at me. She seemed to have been in a good mood, but she suddenly stood up. “This is not what I wanted from my life,” she said in a low muted voice and then ran out of the room and into the bathroom at the other end of the hallway.
I sat in the armchair, feeling stupefied. I was hoping that she was slowly warming to me, to the idea, to the plan. I was hoping that if she could grow more comfortable, I could rip her clothes off her again. We had ample time for that anyway.
But her recent reaction to me told me that Erica was a little more complicated than that. She was withholding herself from me. Sex was far from her mind. But I was almost certain that it had been as good for her as it was for me. She had screamed my name, she had orgasmed all over my fingers, her body had shuddered and she had sighed after she came. She had shown all the signs that she was happy when we were together.
I had no idea why she was so against it now. I wanted to utilize all the time we had with each other in close quarters to repeat what we had done. And why not? Especially now that we were pretending to be a couple. But Erica didn’t seem to want the same things as me, and I was intrigued. If there was one thing I had learned about her by now, it was that she wasn’t like any other girl I had met before.