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She looked back and forth between my eyes. “Where were you planning on moving?”
“I was going to stay with Calliope and Nigel for a few weeks while I found myself a new flat.”
“Well, how about this. Why don’t you do that? Go stay with Calliope for a week or two. But don’t get a new place just yet. Let’s keep some distance between us and see if we can be adults about it. Maybe our libidos will cool off, and we’ll be able to resume cohabitating after a little while.”
I fucking hated the thought of leaving her, even if she was right that it needed to happen. “If that’s what you want, okay, I’ll go stay with Calliope for a while. But I’d like to ask two things from you, first.”
“What’s that?”
“One. I’d like to amend our original agreement to one day of sex, twenty-four full hours, rather than one act. Because I want you in my bed tonight, and I plan to fuck you several more times.”
She swallowed. “Okay. We can do that. What’s the other condition?”
“I want you to agree to my definition of sexual relations. Because on the off-chance you beg me to make you come, I want to be clear on the methods I’m permitted to use.”
Bridget laughed. “You’ve got a deal. But you should know, I’ve never begged anyone to make me come in my entire life. So no matter how handsome, well endowed, and witty you are, I doubt that will be happening, Simon.”
I smiled from ear to ear—loving hearing that she’d never begged a man. But even more so, I couldn’t wait to be the first for her.My good mood had plummeted the first night I slept at Calliope’s. I wanted to be back at home with Bridget in the worst way.
Back at home with Bridget.
What the fuck?
It wasn’t my home. My home was in England.
Frustrated, I punched my pillow a few times to fluff it up and laid back down, staring at the ceiling in the dark. For the most part, I lived a very simple life. I didn’t need fancy cars or money. I worked hard, yet didn’t need to be the chief. But every once in a blue moon, something came along and lit a fire under my ass. My desires were limited, but when they struck—they were consuming.
There were no two ways about it, I desired Bridget Valentine.
I shouldn’t.
We shouldn’t.
But the woman was addicting.
At four-thirty in the morning, I still hadn’t slept a wink, so I decided to go into the hospital early. Maybe the change of scenery would help, and I could catch some shuteye in the residents’ lounge.
I was surprised to find Calliope in the kitchen standing in front of the coffeemaker.
“Does it brew faster when you stare at it?”
Calliope jumped. She turned clutching her chest. “You scared the fuck out of me, Simon.”
“Sorry. I thought you heard me walk into the room.”
“It’s four-thirty in the morning, and I haven’t had my coffee yet. My hearing is still sleeping.”
“Why are you up so early?”
“This is what time I get up every day. I teach a 6AM, private, sunrise yoga class over on Gooseberry Beach.”
“Damn. I didn’t know that.”
“Why are you up? I thought you said your shift didn’t start until eight today?”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Calliope nodded. The coffee pot beeped to indicate it’d finished brewing, and she grabbed two mugs from the cabinet above her head. “Still take your coffee the same way?”
“I do. I don’t change good things.”
Calliope fixed us both coffees, and together we sat at the kitchen table. “Is the bed in the guest room not comfortable?”
“No, it’s fine.”
She sipped her mug and watched me over the brim. “You look pathetic, Simon. Like someone just ran over your dog. When are you just going to give in?”
“Give in?”
“That you have feelings for Bridget, and you belong together.”
I wouldn’t even attempt to lie about the first part. “I do have feelings for her. But we don’t belong together—we want very different things. That’s the problem.”
“What does she want that you don’t?”
“A family, for starters.”
“Why are you so adamant that you don’t want a family to begin with? You’re still so young. You’d make an incredible father. You shouldn’t rule that out as a possibility.”
“Look who’s talking? I don’t see your house filled with a bunch of little buggers running around. Tell me, Calliope, why is that? Because I’m pretty sure that our reasons aren’t all that different.”
Calliope looked away for a minute and then her eyes met mine. “Nigel and I have been trying for two years. I’ve had three early miscarriages.”
“Fuck. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I didn’t tell you to make you feel bad. I told you to prove a point.” She reached out and took my hand. “I was there, too, Simon. I feel as responsible as you do. We were stupid kids when the three of us went out on that lake together. I think of Blake all the time. But I’m not punishing myself by not having children of my own.”
