Page 85 of Tell Me What You Want, Or Leave Me

Without pause, Eric takes me all the way up to our room and throws me on the bed as if I were some bundle. “Get that off,” he says as he drops his trunks.

I’m grinning ear to ear as I strip off my bikini. Eric throws himself on me and touches the cleft of my sex.

“You have me going a thousand miles an hour, sweetheart,” he says.

We give in to our wild side and make love as if possessed.

15

I wake up at seven in the morning. It’s Sunday, and I’m going to be competing in a motocross race. I leap out of bed and go straight to the shower. I dress in a pair of jeans and go down for breakfast. I find just Dexter in the kitchen.

“Good morning, my queen.”

I get some coffee and sit at the table with him. He offers me a madeleine, and I give it a nibble.

“Eric is pretty anxious,” Dexter says as I devour everything in sight. “He barely slept knowing you are going to be in that race today.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because when I came down to get a glass of water at four in the morning, he was sitting in that very chair.”

“And what were you doing awake at four in the morning?” I ask.

Dexter smiles. “I couldn’t sleep. Too many headaches.”

I take a sip of my coffee. “Do those headaches begin with G-R-A and end with C-I-E-L-A?”

Dexter leans back in his wheelchair. “I’m confused. I’m not sure being with her is fair.”

“From what I know, she’s thrilled, Dexter.”

He nods, but something’s seriously bothering him. “When I had my accident, my life did a one-eighty. I stopped being a desirable man, someone whose cell never stopped ringing, and became a man with desires but whose cell never rang. There was a time I struggled to accept what had happened, and I managed to get over it when I stopped having romantic feelings toward women. Everything was under control until Graciela—”

“But you like Graciela, right?”

“Yes, so much.”

“And you’re especially surprised because of what you and I know, right?”

Dexter nods. “I’m afraid I’ll hurt her or that she’ll hurt me. I’m well aware of my limitations and—”

“She knows about them too, and I can assure you she doesn’t care,” I say, cutting him off. “Maybe if you were a more typical couple, that would be important and worrisome to you, but you’re not, and I think you both walk the same sexual path. I wouldn’t worry.”

“And what about kids? Shouldn’t that worry me? She’s a woman, and, sooner or later, she’s going to want a baby, and I can’t give her that.”

Talking about kids is the last thing I want to do. “What do you mean you can’t?” I ask.

Dexter looks at me with amazement. I think he thinks I’ve gone crazy.

“There are many kids in this world in search of a family,” I say. “I don’t think a baby has to come from you for you to love it, care for it, and protect it. I’m sure that, if and when the moment comes, you and Graciela can have your child if you both want one. You just need to talk about it. For the moment, enjoy it. Enjoy Graciela and let her enjoy you. Now is the time for the two of you to love each other, to have a good time, to get to know each other and not let anyone or anything get in the way.”

“I understand my friend more and more each day,” Dexter says as he takes a sip of his coffee. “You’re a beautiful woman, not just on the outside, but on the inside too. May God grant you many years, my dear Judith.”

“Thank you, handsome,” I reply.

“Wow, trying to make it with my wife behind my back?” teases Eric as he bursts into the kitchen.

“Dude, my hope came alive again after she said she liked dark-haired men!” Dexter says.

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