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I could have offered to sleep on the floor, but the idea of doing that sounded fucking awful, and I had no issue sleeping beside her if she didn’t.
“Fine,” I said as I started to write it down on the paper. “We agree we sleep together in the same bed.” I looked up at her. “I don’t cuddle.”
“Me neither,” she said with a smirk as she picked up her juice to drink.
“Okay, what about sex?”
“What do you mean? I’m pretty sure we’re going to be expected to have sex while here. A lot of it from what I’ve heard.”
“I mean when we are alone in the room.”
She paused from eating and locked eyes with mine. “The way I see it, our room is no different than the rest of the manor. Sex is on the table. It is what it is.”
“Right, it is what it is,” I agreed, noticing that her nonchalance on the matter was oddly refreshing, and also sent some warning bells through me. Why would she not care if we had sex or not?
“What about you?” she asked. “Do you want to have sex when we aren’t forced to?”
I shrugged, looked down at the paper and began writing. “I’ll just put down that both of us don’t care one way or the other if we have sex or not in our room. If it happens, then it happens.” I looked back up at her. “Any hard limits of what you won’t do?”
She was quiet for several moments as she studied my face. “Do you?”
I hated when people answered a question with a question but decided to go ahead and answer. “I won’t kiss. Kissing is for love and emotions. It changes things and could make our situation messy. I prefer to conduct business as black and white and cleanly as possible.”
She gave a slanted grin and slowly nodded. “Yes, I remember that from our first time. No kissing allowed. Got it.”
I annoyed her. I could see it in the way her posture stiffened and how her jaw tightened. But I could also see that she was very skilled in keeping her cool. I liked this fact because getting past these Trials would take exactly that.
“I have no hard limits,” she said. “Wait… yes, I do. You can’t piss or shit on me or anything like that.”
I chuckled. “Seems fair.” I wrote it down on the contract but couldn’t stop smiling as I did so.
“Do you do this with every woman you’re with?” she asked. “You do a contract first?”
I finished writing and looked up at her as I took my first bite of breakfast. “I think we both can agree that our situation is different from a normal relationship. It’s not like we chose this.”
“But we did,” she countered. “You did. You chose me. Twice.” The smirk was back.
I sighed as I finished chewing and could clearly see that Abilene wasn’t going to let that night in the bar be swept under the table. I had to address it head-on whether I wanted to or not.
“About that night. I would like to apologize. I’m sure me not calling you afterwards…” I cleared my throat. “I don’t usually do one-night stands. I went out with my buddies that night, had entirely too much to drink, and I regrettably acted out of character. I apologize if you think I didn’t value you enough to remember you. That’s not the case. I don’t remember much of that night.”
She tilted her head and simply stared at me. “I didn’t expect anything beyond a hook up. Don’t worry.” She smiled as she swallowed the last of her juice. “But thank you for apologizing for forgetting me. I have to say that not being remembered is a first for me.”
That I believed. I looked back down at the contract after I took a bite of bacon. Between chews, I asked, “So, this contract. Is there anything you would like to add?”
“I want to go all the way to the end,” she stated simply. “I intend to get what I came here for.”
I nodded. “So do I.”
“As you said earlier,” she said. “This is business. I want the payday at the end.”
“I don’t blame you. It could be life changing.”
“Yes, life changing.”
“I’m going to add something to the contract,” I said, writing. “I need to be left alone during the hours from nine to five. I’ll take a break for lunch, but I’ll need to work. I can’t be responsible for your entertainment.”
“And what exactly am I supposed to do?”
That was an honest and fair question. I sure as hell wouldn’t know what to do for 109 days if I didn’t have work to keep me busy. “Think about what you want, and I’ll make arrangements to get it to us. A hobby? Certain books? Whatever you want and need, just ask.”
