CHAPTER 29

Chapter 29

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“Of course,” I reply, suddenly eager to prolong our interaction, however painful it may be. I stop breathing as his huge frame enters my small bedroom and slowly makes his way over to me. He doesn’t break eye contact as he comes straight over, looking down into my eyes, then gently takes the laundry basket from my hip and sets it on the floor. Then he sits down on the bare mattress of my bed, his weight making a considerable plent. He pats the space next to him, and my body moves involuntarily to take a seat at his side.

“I owe you an apology, Chrissy,” he growls.

“Isn’t it me who owesyouan apology?” I laugh softly, a note of bitterness in my voice. “For invading your private space and starting that crazy game?” Brad shakes his head, closing his eyes momentarily, both in shame and in memory of the wonderfully sexy time we shared together.

“I should never have gone along with it,” he confesses. “I thought it was fun and games, and I wanted you real bad.” My whole body runs hot as he says this, and I wonder whether I’m blushing. “But it was irresponsible,” Brad continues, staring at the floor in front of us. “I knew it was you all along, and I should have made that known. But what I’m the most sorry for is today. For turning you down. For telling you off like that, as if I didn’t have a part in it.” He looks up at me, staring into my eyes. Then he gently lifts one giant hand to cup my face. I shiver at his touch, the roughness of his skin only just touching the peachiness of mine. “For making you cry,” he adds in a low voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.”

“You didn’t understand what?” I breathe, looking up to meet his gaze.

“The way women are nowadays,” he grimaces while taking his hand back off my face, causing a sinking feeling in my gut. I don’t want this intimacy to end.

“What do you mean?” I ask in a soft tone. “Tell me.”

Brad takes a deep breath and then turns to face me again, his blue eyes almost black.

“I saw your mom tonight,” he says in a slow voice. “At a sex club, Chrissy. I went there to meet up with two of my friends,notto have sex. It was random chance to bump into Janine.”

I nod

“Okay. But what was my mom doing there?”

Brad never takes his laser blue eyes off

my own.

“Janine was working as a hostess. She was wearing little to nothing, serving cocktails, and then… she had sex with two men,” he says, choosing not to gloss over the situation. “Your mom was enjoying it too, and I saw how much she loved the

attention.”

I sigh. I know that this is the life Mom wants to lead, and at least she has the freedom to do that now.

“Janine has to choose her own path,” I say in a resolute voice. “She’s a grown woman, and she’s clearly moved on. Shouldn’t

you move on, too?”

Brad

pauses

for a moment.

“Thavemoved on,” he says in a low voice. This wasn’t about your mom.”

“What then? Task.

He turns to me once more.

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15:53 Tue, Jul 23 G.

Chapter 29

*It made me realize that I’m an old codger.”

“No you’re not! You’re only forty–five!”

He nods.

“Yeah, but there’s also a difference in the way women behaved when I was nineteen, and now. I thought women were still repressed creatures, who only parted their legs for one man at me, I didn’t realize that they’dwantto engage in the kind of depravity that I enjoy myself

I stare at him.

“Yes, but you’ve been to sex clubs before, right? I mean, this wasn’t your first time. So why was it a surprise to see women being… I don’t know, nasty?”

He shrugs.

“I-guess seeing Janine brought it home for me. She’s someone that I know. A woman that I dated, even. Previously, I thought skanks and hos only existed in certain areas: clubs, bars, and brothels. But Janine made me re–think things. She made me question my values because although we didn’t date for long, it was real, which means my pre–conceived notions about women were dead wrong.

This makes me frown up at him.

“You know that women want it just as much as men do,” I chide. It doesn’t make us slutty, or easy, or whatever.”

didn’t say that,” Brad replies quickly.

“But you thought it?” I offer. He thinks a moment. “No,” he says finally, resolute. “I didn’t think you were being slutty or easy. But I thought it was perhaps a little childish. I didn’t see your game for what itactuallywas.”

“Which is?” I ask him sassily, wanting him to say it.

“You wanted me,” he growls, looking down at me. “Right?” I blush, forcing myself not to look away. “Pretending to be a sex doll was your way of expressing yourself, however nasty and debauched it might be.”

“Yes,” I murmur, unwilling to hide the truth. “But I knew you would never have played along it if I’d flirted with you openly, Because of my mom. Because of my age.”

“And you’re right about that,” Brad confesses. “Even though I wanted you too, I probably would have rejected you on those grounds alone. But that’s why I’m apologizing, Chrissy. Because actually accepted your advances by playing along with your game, and it wasn’t the right choice.”

“It wasn’t?” I breathe, disappointment seeping through me. Oh shit. He’s ending it for the second time, and my stomach drops to my feet.

“No,” Brad rasps, looking into my eyes. The sexual tension between us is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“So what are you trying to say then?” I mewl, utterly confused now. “I don’t get it.”

The alpha male takes a deep breath before clasping my hand in his broad palm.

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