AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That makes me laugh. “Fair enough.”
He kisses my lips, long and luscious, then lifts his head and kisses my nose. “Am I squashing you?”
“Yes, but I like it. All the things you said about me—I like how we’re different, too. Women are encouraged to believe they can do anything men can do, and it implies we’re the same, but we’re not.”
He moves his hips against mine. “Clearly.”
“Mmm, but it’s not just about that. You’re taller, broader, stronger, and more muscular.” I run my hands up his biceps, feeling the hard bulges there. “Your hands are larger. You have hair in places I don’t—your face, chest, and belly. Your voice is deeper, and you have this.” I brush a finger down his Adam’s apple.
“But it’s not just that,” I continue thoughtfully. “Before she fell ill, my mum was spirited and independent, and she brought me and Charlie up to be the same. But she also thought it important that we be ladylike and feminine. She taught us to sit with our knees together, and to be conscious of our posture and our movement. You don’t think about that, though.”
“I manspread, you mean?”
I smile. “You’re not too bad, but you do sit with your knees apart. You move confidently, as if you expect the world to be watching you. And you speak differently. You’re more succinct, you use fewer adverbs, and you don’t use flowery language.” His eyebrows rise; he didn’t know that. “You’re also less apologetic than me,” I add. Maybe some of that is due to him having money and influence. He’s used to being a billionaire boss. I guess that might be one reason why he’s so aggressive in bed. I wonder whether his brothers are the same? I won’t ask him. It’s obvious there’s some measure of competition between all three brothers, and somehow I don’t think he’d like me thinking about them and sex in the same sentence.
“You like these differences,” he observes, and smiles.
“I do,” I admit, “but the thing is that I hadn’t considered any of it whenever I wondered what sex would be like. I don’t know why—I’ve watched enough nature shows on TV. In the animal kingdom, although the female often chooses her mate, it’s the male who mounts her, and she just has to wait for him to do his thing.”
“Sounds about right,” he says.
I stroke a finger along his jaw, scraping my nail against his bristles. “Hardly. I just didn’t expect you to be so…”
“Bossy?”
“Yeah.”
“I guess it’s always beneath the surface, covered with a thin veneer of civilization.” He kisses my nose. “It’s different in the bedroom. It’s a place to explore fantasies. I’m guessing you wouldn’t want a man to tell you what to do in everyday life.”
“No,” I admit.
“But did you like me taking charge when we had sex?”
I suck my bottom lip.
“Be honest,” he scolds.
I give a reluctant nod.
His lips curve up. “Good,” he murmurs. “Because it’s going to happen again, and the sooner you get used to it, the better.”
He kisses me, and his words whirl around in my mind, while I brush my hands up his back to his strong shoulders.
Eventually he shifts off me, pulls me toward him, into his arms, and we settle down, pulling the duvet around us. He sighs and kisses my hair. “There’s not enough time in the world to do all the things I want to do to you. With you. So many delights. So little time. But it’s not just about sex. I’d love to watchGame of Throneswith you. See you record one of your podcasts. Eat at every restaurant in town. Take you places—Fiji, Singapore, Tokyo. We could have such fun.”
I draw circles on his chest, fascinated by the brown curling hairs. “It’s a nice fantasy.”
He’s quiet, and I guess he’s thinking about the fact that it’s just not a possible future for us.
After a while, his hand stops moving on my back, and I assume he’s fallen asleep, but when I lift my head, I see the starlight glint in his eyes, and I know he’s still awake.
“Turn over,” he murmurs, and I roll and let him pull me back against his chest and wrap his arms around me.
I can just see the tattoo of the cross on his upper arm, and I brush a finger across it. “I’m so sorry about Christian,” I murmur.
He sighs.
I follow the line of the cross. “Are you religious?”
