Page 19 of Pretty Please Me
I cover my mouth as I chew. “Oh my God, it’s incredible.” I shove another piece in my mouth and glance over to see Sam staring at me with a grin.
“I’m glad you like it.” He picks up his chopsticks and dives in. “Wow, you were right. This is the best sushi I’ve had in Chicago.” As he wipes his mouth and sips his drink, I watch his Adam’s Apple bob.
A strange electric sensation jolts down my spine, and I stiffen.
“So, I wanted you to know that I found a contractor for the studio. He owes me a favor, so don’t even worry about it. He went by today after the plumbers left and assessed the damage. He thinks he can have it finished in four weeks if he can get enough guys.”
“Wow, Sam, that’s… that’s incredible! You didn’t have to do that–”
“I wanted to help, and I know every contractor in this city. Really, Maggie, it was nothing.”
A warm, fluttering sensation jolts through me from the relief. “I… Sam… I don’t know what I would do without you. Thank you for taking care of this… of me.”
“That’s what friends are for.” He pops another piece of sushi in his mouth like what he just said was the easiest thing in the world, no big deal at all.
“Speaking of friends…” A sudden wave of courage comes over me. “I couldn’t help but notice all the feminine products in the bathroom. I know we’re sharing, and I just don’t want to be in the way if you have someone over. I don’t want to put you out, and I want you to know that I can make myself as scarce as you need me to be when you have a guest. Just send me a text, and I’ll disappear into my room–”
“I don’t plan on having any women over while you’re staying with me, but I appreciate the thought,” he says in a clipped tone before going back to eating his sushi.
“Really, though, I don’t want to be a distraction for you. I don’t mind–”
“Mags, I’m not seeing anyone right now. Relax. You’re not an inconvenience in the slightest.”
“Oh, okay,” I say in almost a whisper. “Is that because you just broke up with someone, or you’re just taking a break–”
He turns to face me. “No, I’m not seeing anyone right now. Is there anything else you’d like to ask me?” He lifts a brow and studies me. I wonder if he knows what I found.
I swallow a gulp and wet my lips. “No. I… I was just thinking that I don’t really know that much about your dating life… and we didn’t really get to talk about who you were hiding from last night…”
His eyes narrow. “I’m not sure you can handle that information, Mags.” His words hang in the space between us.
“Who? Me? I can handle it.” My voice comes out a few octaves higher than normal.
I shimmy a little closer and catch a whiff of his cologne. He smells like worn leather and amber. It’s seductive and masculine and has my mind going in a million different directions as I sit on the edge of my seat, waiting for him to reveal whatever it is he thinks I can’t handle.
He looks down at the glass in his hand. “Not many people know this about me—other than Benjamin and Jack—but I’m not really much of atraditionaldater.”
“So, what, you like to hook up with a lot of women?”
“Not exactly.” He takes a sip of his drink, sucking a small piece of ice in his mouth, and I watch as his muscular jaw moves around it until he finally bites it and swallows. My neck warms at the strangely erotic feeling of it.
“You see, I don’t like to get attached… or bored.” He pauses as if considering how much more he wants to reveal.
A million questions burn through my mind, but I don’t dare interrupt him. I’m afraid with one wrong word, he’ll back peddle, and I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted to hear a secret so badly in my life.
“I don’t like to sleep with several different women. I enjoy learning exactly how to pleasure a woman and delivering on that over and over again. I also really like to be in control.”
I suck in the tiniest gasp, drawing his eyes to my heaving chest. His eyes scan my body before landing on my lips and then back to my eyes.
Over and over again. I swallow a gulp, and Sam blows out an amused breath as he takes another sexually charged sip of his drink.
“I’m what’s called a dominant, and I had an arrangement with my submissive for nearly a year. She met someone recently, and I was looking for her replacement. The woman I was hiding from was a past arrangement that didn’t work out. She didn’t like my one-year rule and got a little too clingy.”
“You were in a relationship for almost a year, and you never told me?” I blurt out, causing Sam to laugh.
He scratches the back of his head and smiles. “There’s nothing to tell. It’s not a relationship, just consensual sex with some basic rules for each party to follow.”
I lean closer and prop my chin on my hands. “What kind of rules?”
