Page 39 of Stroked
“Why are you so fucking sexy?” she whispered as I nibbled at her ear.
“Do you want me? Because I want you so badly it hurts.”
“Valentina, I—wait,” Amy said as her hands stopped massaging my legs. They flew to my shoulders, gently pressing me away from her. “Fuck. I do want you, but we really need to talk.”
I leaned back, scooting from her lap and back to my corner of the sofa. After fixing my dress, I grabbed my wine and knocked the rest of the dry red liquid down my throat.
We were both catching our breath, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed her smoothing her hair before she grabbed her wine and did the same.
“More wine?” she asked as she stood.
“Definitely, more wine.”
Chapter 21
Amy
I deserved a medal. No, a trophy. No, a day in my honor. There was a hot-as-hell woman in my lap, trying to ravage me, and I stopped her.Who is this person? Because that sure as hell wasn’t me.
Only several minutes were left on the timer on the oven when I went to grab the wine bottle. Maybe it was best I stopped it when I had. We would’ve ruined dinner otherwise.
Who gives a fuck about food?
Clenching my jaw, I grabbed the bottle and walked back to the living room to pour her some more. “The oven will be done soon. I’ll grab some plates down if you want to come sit at the table.”
Valentina grabbed her glass and went to sit. I grabbed plates, bowls, and utensils and placed them on the table. I grabbed a heat mat and took it with my glass and bottle of wine to the table before pulling the lasagna from the oven.
Once I sat the hot dish on the mat, I took a seat and poured the rest of the wine into my glass.
We grabbed our food and ate quietly for several minutes, though we both caught each other staring at the other several times. The mental and sexual tension were more than I could take.
I dropped my fork. “Okay. How will this work?”
She stopped her fork from entering her mouth and her arctic blue eyes were like saucers staring back at me. After several seconds, she gently placed her fork on the plate.
“Well, if that means you want to keep seeing me, I guess we have to figure that out. I suppose that’s why I’m here.”
I was trying to keep my tone calm and neutral, so I didn’t sound sarcastic. “Yes, I would. But I don’t know how it’llworkif we can’t tell anyone or ever go anywhere.”
Valentina sighed and leaned back in her chair. “I understand your concerns. But let me ask you this…you say you have not had a relationship in years, so why can we not make our own rules on what that looks like?”
She was right. I hadn’t since college, andthatrelationship was very typical of a college relationship. Mostly sleeping together and eating cold pizza after playing beer pong all night at shitty parties.
“You’re right. But part of why I haven’t is because I haven’t found anyone I wanted to be open with. You unlocked something that nobody else has.” I tossed my napkin on the table. “And maybe it’s totally cliché, but I like you, so I imagined us hanging at the club together, grabbing food at swanky overpriced restaurants, and checking out music festivals together.” I threw my hands in the air. “Or, shit, me going with you when your clients have shows. Isn’t that what couples do? Be together?” My pitch was gradually getting higher as I spoke.
Valentina nodded but was tight lipped. “Sure, that may be what a lot of couples do, but it is not whatallcouples do. I enjoyed just beinghere, withyou. Having food, being together, sleeping next to you. Why do we need to complicate it?”
“It wasn’t complicated until I was told we canneverdo those things.”
Valentina looked away, grabbing her wine. I grabbed mine and drank half of it.
“We have only known each other a week. I cannot ruin mywholelife for a week. Do you not understand?”
“How do you know it would be ruined?” I lifted my shoulders in frustration. “What if your family didn’t react how you thought they would?”
“You do not understand. I was raised differently. And your family is different from mine.” She pointed at me. “I justcannot. But Idolike you. And Iwouldlike to spend time with you.”
“What if things got serious?”
