Page 29 of Doctor's Demands
“Student loan problems. My mother’s marriage made it impossible for me to get any money at all for college,” I tell him as he makes it hard to even concentrate by kissing one of my fingertips. “And my stepfather is an ass who will never even make me a loan to finish my last year of college.”
“That’s right. Isabel told me you were in college to be a school teacher. A noble profession,” he says. “I can see why you did it, and I’m happy I was the one to win the bid and help you out. You should also know that I gave you enough money to set you up for the rest of her life if you invest the money in the right ways. And since you know who I am, I’ll help you do that. I never want you up on the auction block again.”
“I’m never getting up there again. And thank you for your help in investing the money. I have no business sense,” I admit as I run my hand along his muscular arm.
I love this. I love the way he’s talking to me and allowing me to know him this way.
A light fills his eyes as he says, “Petra, I have to tell you that I have a hard time thinking about any other man touching you. I’m glad to hear you never want to get back up there. Do you think you could be happy with things the way they are for an extended amount of time?”
“I can’t stay here for any longer than the summer,” I remind him.
“I don’t mean here.” He leans over and kisses me on the forehead. “I mean in Los Angeles. After you graduate, I could set you up there. And in the meantime, I could make visits to you in Ohio. You wouldn’t be a secret, Petra. But I would keep you somewhere besides my home. Only come to you when I wanted. Do you think you could live that way?”
My mind is full of questions, but my heart is shouting at me to tell him the truth. “Owen, I don’t know if that would be enough for me. I know I care about you. And I would love to continue to see you. I will gladly follow our agreement for the term of the contract. After that, though, I don’t want to be the woman who waits around for a man to come to me only when he wants sex.”
His eyes dart off to one side, and he looks like he’s contemplating telling me something, but he only says, “I don’t want a normal relationship.”
Propping myself up on the pillows, I ask, “And why is that, Owen?”
His frown makes me think I might be digging into old wounds he’d rather not revisit. But he’ll have to if he wants me.
Owen
Although I can’t understand why my mouth is moving, telling so much about myself, I do it anyway, “My father and mother divorced when we were kids. They did terrible things to one another in the name of love and family. They pulled and pushed, ripping us all up in the process, each claiming all they did was for the love of their family. What they did showed me how marriage really is. I don’t believe in the fairytale most couples talk about.”
Petra’s soft hand moving over my chest makes me look at it. “Divorce must be hard to go through. I wouldn’t know. I never knew my father. He left mom early on. I had no father figure at all. Then this rich guy met Mom at the bank where she worked and swept her off her feet and away from me. Now I have no one.” She sees my sad face and leans up to kiss my cheek. “Don’t look at me that way. I’m making my own way in this world. I don’t need a safety net.”
“But you do need people you can count on,” I tell her.
“It sounds like you don’t have that either. And you’re doing great, might I remind you. I have my education, my career that will sprout soon, and, thanks to you, enough money to make my life easy.”
“I didn’t have a safety net either. You’re right,” I agree.
“As far as thinking that love can last forever, well, I have to admit that I have a hard time believing that. My mother told me my father preached his love for her and he left soon after I was born.”
“Then we have similar ideas about what we believe and want out of life,” I say as I pull her close to me and think I might get her to do things the way I want.
She places her hand on my chest to stop me from pulling her all the way to me. “Owen, I know I said I have a hard time believing love can last forever, but I’m a romantic at heart. If I were to trek clear across the country for a man, I’d want to be more than a woman he comes to when he feels like it.”
“What if I felt like it a lot?” I ask her as I cuddle her. “I might want to more than I normally want to be with a woman. I mean, I’ve felt more for you than anyone else.”
“And I believe you,” she says, then looks up at me. “But even so, I’d want something stable. You and I will be spending three months doing things the way you want to. I can see how that would become a pattern you’d see nothing wrong with. And I get it. But I’d want more.”
“Like how much more?” I ask, as I have no idea what she wants.
“It felt good waking up in your arms. Did you like waking up the way you did?” she asks as she blinks up at me.
Her doe-like eyes compel me to kiss her and I lean in to grab a little kiss. “I loved the way I woke up this morning.”
“Well, that’s what I want, long-term. I want to go to bed together every night possible. I want to wake up with the man I fell asleep with. I want to plan our days, nights, and weekends together. Go out together, stay in together, and be ourselves at all times. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin with a man and I want him to feel that way with me too.”
With a frown, I say, “The fairytale, Petra. The story every supposedly happy couple tells those of us who hang onto being single and happy all alone. Don’t you see how you’re falling for what they want you to believe?”
“Maybe I am falling for that happily-ever-after that so many couples talk about. But what kind of life would this be if we never thought there could be more? You tell me how you think your life will be if all you ever do is come to me when you get the urge to fuck.”
“Well, you might hate this, but I think it would be fucking awesome!” I laugh and tickle her.
She laughs and wiggles as I tickle her, until she’s wiggled herself off the pillows and is lying flat on her back. “Owen, stop!”
