Page 58 of The Liar's Reckoning

He stands up. “I wonder where my phone is.” After a brief hunt through the clothes on the chair beneath the window, he wanders out of the bedroom. He comes back in with his phone in hand, studiously staring at the screen. “I have a conference call at noon.”

So much for that nap. “Maybe we can talk for a few minutes before you have to go?”

He looks up from his phone at me. “Yeah, of course.”

He really is nice. Maybe one of the nicest guys besides Christian I’ve ever met. I don’t know how to deal with nice sometimes. I feel too harsh—too cynical. Like a literal bull in a china shop. Not that I’m incapable of being sensitive. It’s just that sometimes it doesn’t occur to me until I’ve already done a healthy amount of damage. I am, in other words, an acquired taste.

“In terms of earlier…I hope you don’t feel like I um…like forced myself?—”

“No,” he says. “No, I didn’t feel like that. I know what you mean, but no. You know what you want.”

“I do, but that doesn’t mean it’s what you wanted.”

“I wanted it,” he says firmly.

“You sure? Even without the…”

He nods while I picture the healthy load of cum in thecondom I took off him. The way I still feel some of it trickling from my recently cleaned hole.

I make myself swallow before clearing my throat and averting my eyes. “If you’re sure. I mean, I realize it’s too late now…”

“If it doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t bother me,” he says.

It does bother me. That’s why I’m asking. I tuck the towel tighter around my waist and see he brought my clothes in here with his. “Guess I should get going.”

“I could order some food—if you don’t have to leave right this second.”

“I have to work tonight,” I tell him. “I should get some rest.”

He sighs. “So what’s the deal? Are we pretending this never happened or what?”

“No pretending here,” I say. “Also, it was pretty unforgettable, and you can take that however you want.” There. That was nice, wasn’t it? I hope so because it feels like a real putting myself out there moment. I could have substituted it withuse me anytime, Senator, I’ll keep my ass ready, but I’m hoping he can read between the lines—Harvard grad and all that.

There’s a huge “what now?” hanging in the air between us, but I don’t know whether my answer would be different than his. So, the answer is going to depend on who asks first.

It’s not gonna be me.

I pass him on the way to the pile of clothes on the chair. I pick up his t-shirt first and have a weird urge to wear it instead of my own shirt, but I hand it over. He pulls it on while I pick up my pants.

“Was that all you needed to talk about?” Graham asks.

“I don’t know,” I mutter.

“Can I text you?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Anytime.”

“Okay.” We finish getting dressed in silence. I leave the bedroom, find my pack and make sure I have everything I came in with. I was right. It’s just past nine according to my phone.

Just past nine, and this place couldn’t be more inviting. I glance at the couch which is a million times nicer than the one I might be going home to sleep on, and the TV, which takes up half the exposed brick wall.

I turn to find him watching me. “It really is a nice place,” I tell him.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “It’s not bad.”

Rich boy, I think. I should take him to the house where I grew up in Queens. Mom and Trixie would die of embarrassment, though, and I would never do that to them.

“So,” he says, approaching me. “When you say anytime…”

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