Page 73 of Secrets, Lies and Love

Cecily

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

“Who didyou make the promise to that brought you to New York?”

I’m startled by the question because I thought he was sleeping. It’s night again, and we have just under two hours left.

Soon, I’ll put aside my fantasy of Cinderella, of the sexy Greek’s girlfriend, and I’ll go back to being a mere stray cat.

No, a voice warns.Maybe it’s not the end and there will be consequences to this forbidden encounter.

My God, what if I’m actually pregnant?

I feel like a fraud because it would allow me to stay with Joseph forever, as well as stay with the man I now know I’m in love with.

But it’s not what he wants. He used the wordresponsibilityto define what he would do if I was expecting a baby. He already has a son, and from what I know of him, he isn’t looking for a new wife.

Jesus, what a mess!

I think about the question he just asked, in fact, a continuation of the conversation I escaped from in the kitchen.I could try the maneuver again, but he’s no fool. He will be even more suspicious.

Besides, my body is exhausted,I think, hiding a smile.

Dionysus kept his promise to make love or at least have foreplay in almost every room of the house. He gave and demanded everything in equal measure, and after a marathon of sex, I’m sore and exhausted but sated and happy too.

Apart from a few naps, his mouth, hands, and sex explored my body, making me scream with pleasure and beg for more.

The whole time he wanted light so he could look at me, and at first, I was ashamed. I knew that making love to someone would require a good deal of intimacy, but it’s so much more.

The surrender is absolute, especially at the time of orgasm. After all the many things he’s given me, I’m sure he knows all my vulnerabilities.

I don’t understand how people can have casual sex, change partners every week. I think if I did that, I would feel empty.

The pleasure of possessing and being possessed by someone I’m attracted to is delicious, but what about afterward? Because with him, no matter how well I know that what we have has an end date, I feel special.

I will never forget the way his expression is tense a few seconds before coming and how, as he surrenders to our pleasure, his handsome, masculine face relaxes, his mouth seeking mine without stopping, even after we are almost passed out from exhaustion.

And as for stamina, I have to say that he beats me by a mile. Dionysus is twelve years older and yet has inexhaustible vigor.

“I thought our time together was aimed at teaching me the pleasures of sex.” I pretend to joke, but really it’s because I don’t want to bring up Keith’s name. Not yet, at least.

“Tell me, Cecily. What made a girl from Kansas come and risk herself in a jungle like Manhattan?”

“Love.” I’m lying on top of him, and after I say that, I feel his body stiffen with tension.

“You came for a man?”

“Yes.”

“Look at me.”

I obey, even though I’m afraid, because I know we’re treading on thin ice. “I came because of a promise and love for someone, but not the romantic kind.”

“Friendship?”

“Yes. I was raised by my stepmother. She’s not a good person. She already had a daughter, and when my father died, I was left in her care.” I look away, embarrassed.

“Why did you stop talking?”

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