Page 28 of Stumped

“Immensely,” I say and she grins. Once she takes a swig of the wine, she hands the bottle back to me.

“You a batter?1 or bowler?2?”

“For someone who doesn’t like cricket you seem to know the right terms.”

“I used to love it. These days it’s all about the celebrity and fame, it’s about the attention and noise. I preferred it when they played the sport and nothing else.”

I chuckle, because that’s what the boys and I always talk about too. “I don’t like being acelebrity, but it’s the price I pay for playing a sport I love.”

“Isn’t that what the ICL is, though? It’s about boosting the ego of players, making them tons more money and treating them like gods.”

“For me, the ICL is a platform to show the BCCI?3 they were right to take a chance on me.”

She nods slowly, joint tucked between her lips. “So the end goal is to play for India?”

“I’m already on the team. This is more about proving myself.” I take a large gulp of the wine and find Vera staring at me curiously. “What?”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-three. You?”

“You never ask a lady how old she is.” She matches my smirk, taking a long pull of her joint. “Forty.”

“I did always have a thing for older women.”

She laughs, head tipped back as smoke floats out of her mouth.God, she’s a feast for the eyes. There’s something so powerful between us when I’m in her presence. It sets my soul on fire and my skin feels hot to the touch. The hairs on my arms stand up and every inch of me aches for her.

“What are you expecting from me, Elias?”

Her question catches me off guard and I choke on the wine, coughing slightly as I swallow. How do you tell a woman you spent one evening with that youwant everything? Because that sounds fucking ridiculous. She’s got a whole life that doesn’tinclude me, a life I have no right to even encroach on. But I want to be there as much as possible. I want to attach myself to her, be a barnacle and coast along for the rest of her life.

“Whatever you want to give me, Vera.”

“If I said I havenothingto give you, what would you say?”

I sit up and drag a hand through my hair. Now my thoughts are scrambled and I don’t know how to respond.

“Elias.”

“I’d get up right now and walk away if that’s what you want.”

“What if I want something from you too?”

“Whatever you want from me, Vera, I’ll give it to you.”

She arches an eyebrow at my candour. “How do you feel about sex?”

“With you? I feel great about sex with you.”

She laughs and puts out her joint. She stands in front of me, hands on my shoulders, nudging me to lean back. I’m almost afraid to breathe, in case I do or say something wrong. She climbs into my lap and wriggles before she settles. My hands land on her thighs, the tips of my fingers brushing against the bottom of her T-shirt. It takes everything in me not to yank her roughly against my dick.

“Just sex,” she whispers, hands sliding up my neck to tangle in my hair. “You, me and every comfortable surface we can find.”

I love itandhate it in equal measure. Yet, I say, “Okay.”

“Nobody else gets to have you. It’s just you and me.”

“Okay,” I repeat. I’m never going to be able to share her even though I’m most certainly notokaywith this arrangement.

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