Page 23 of King of Players

“Okay. So, you decided to break that rule.”

“Not exactly. The rule wasn’t anywhere near me then. It was like it never existed.”

“Was it, perhaps, his appearance? Would you say he looked… exceptionally attractive to you?”

“He is. I mean, not just to me. He is a very handsome man; he makes a living based on that. Well, partly.”

“Alright. So, we can say that maybe… hormones, brain chemistry, mother nature took over? The evolutionary tendency to—”

“Mate with a physically superior partner?” I interrupted him. “I thought about it. But you know? I’m not thinking of having children at the moment.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way.”

“Then how?” My frustration seeped through my tone.

“Did you use protection?”

“No. Nothing was planned.”

“Did you take your precautions this morning?”

“Immediately after he left, of course.”

“You had that at home?”

“I had a twenty-four-hour drugstore send it over.”

“You landed on your feet.”

“That’s what’s driving me insane. Before and after the… incident… my head was in the right place. I had my wits about me.”

“But?”

I hesitated, unsure of the words to select. The all-understanding look in old Marvin’s eyes, however, urged me to speak the words as they came, without filtering. “From the second he kissed me to the second he pulled out of me,” I said quickly, as if afraid to stop mid-sentence. “My head wasn’t there. My logic had abandoned me. All the self-preservation, all the caution… everything was out the door when his lips took hold of mine.”

“Took hold of yours,” he repeated. “Interesting choice of words. Why not… the second his lips touched mine?”

“Because it wasn’t like a touch. It was like…” I started gesturing with my hands, searching for an accurate expression. “A claim? A power move?”

“But you enjoyed it, no?”

“I—” I whispered, struggling to push my voice out. If I wanted this to work, I knew I had to be honest. Finally, I confessed, “I did.”

He smiled, tilting his head in the same way my late grandfather used to while listening to me. “How did that feel?”

“What?”

“The… enjoyment. What accompanied it? Can you attach names to the feelings?”

“Mostly it was calm, except for when my logic tried to refute it.” He nodded, so I continued, “It was a sort of bliss… the kind I could only compare to when I had smoked weed that one time in college.”

His smile grew wider. “I remember your grandfather telling me about that one.”

“Yeah, I knew he’d tell you.”

“Okay, so it was sort of a high, right? What else?”

“I think because of that high, I also felt—well, and I’m ashamed to say this—immense trust in that man. I only met him days ago. Can you believe that? Me! A virtual stranger, in my home, the house manager was gone… we were completely alone. I mean, he could’ve done anything to me—”

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