AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Like riding a bike or going to the gym. It is a way to relax and not think about things for a few minutes. When it’s over, we go back to life as usual.”
“What do you think, Del?”
It was unnerving that Angeline had brought up the subject because that was precisely the type of relationship she was in right now. “I happen to agree with you.” She told her friend mildly. “We put too much expectations on a physical relationship.
We go in with all these hopes: will he respect me in the morning? Is he going to call me? Will I feel like crap when I see him around and about with another woman? The point is- he did not commit – it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. The attraction was there, and we acted on it. That should be it – period.”
“Thank you!” Angeline said feelingly.
“Not you, too.” Sara shook her head. “We were created to be feminine and soft – we go in with our emotions. We are not men who can just have sex and be done with it. Our sex drive is tied to our emotions. We feel things. It’s called being intimate for a reason.”
“Well, that should change. It puts too much pressure on us as women, and we end up getting hurt.”
“But what about love?” Sara insisted, pointing her glass to Angeline.
“What about it?”
“Are you saying that you want to exist in a world where all we do is gratify the flesh, and that’s it?”
“Why the hell not?” Angeline demanded. “What has love done for us? I thought I was in love several times and ended up getting my ass kicked sideways. What is love anyway?”
“It is when a man and a woman come together in perfect harmony, and the chemistry is just right. It has not happened to me, but I am still hopeful. I will not allow past disappointments to make me lose hope.”
“Well, for myself, I am going to start acting like a damn man. Get a quick roll and bang his brains out, and if he calls, he calls; if not, then to hell with him. I am not going to set myself up for disappointment ever again.”
*****
He had contemplated calling her but certainly did not want to give her the impression that it was anything but an arrangement. He had lowered his guard during the interlude, allowed the control to slip away, and actually found himself thinking about prolonging the intimacy.
The fierceness of the passion and explosive intimacy of it had shocked and scared him. He had never felt anything like it before and had cursed the fact that he was using anything – he had wanted nothing between them, not even the thin protection he had used. He had wanted just to feel her and had almost resisted the impulse.
That was what was giving him pause. After she left, he had spent a sleepless night tossing and turning on the rumpled bed. Her scent was still there, the subtle scent of her perfume and the indentation of her head on the pillows.
He wanted her with a yearning that frightened him, so he had not called. He had to get some sort of control over his emotions before reaching out.
Perhaps that was why he had decided to accompany Sylvie to the party at the Royalton. He had initially said no but had decided that the night out would do him good.
"Fancy seeing you here," Jackson murmured in amusement at his right.
"I could say the same about you." Sylvie had gone to mingle, and he was relieved to be left alone for a bit. "Where is Jerri?"
"Having an avid conversation with some of the other wives. Adam and Wyatt are around somewhere."
"It's a damn crush." Deacon was nursing a glass of scotch as he looked around the room. "I would rather be at my place doing anything else."
"You and Sylvie a thing again?"
"No. I-" His voice tailed off, and for a second, he thought he had conjured her up. But there she was, talking to a guy who insisted on touching her arm. She wore an electric blue romper that showed every slender curve and was dipped dangerously low in the back. Her hair was loose and flowing in curls and waves past her shoulders.
"Deacon?"
"Yes?" He could not take his eyes off her and did not want to acknowledge that the awful tearing inside him was jealousy. He wanted to march right over and rearrange the bastard's face!
"Is there going to be a problem?" His friend asked him mildly.
"Pardon?"
"You are looking at the guy as if you want to rip his head off. Is there something I should know about you and Delores Pennant?"
