His response was immediate.
Quinn: Sorry I woke you. x
My heart fluttered. It was only five days till Sunday.
My eyes drooped, closed, and I fell asleep thinking of Quinn and his crooked smile.
Ella and I had bonded a lot over the last few days. It was Thursday, and I found that if I avoided Mrs. Dietrich as much as humanly possible, Addison Ltd could be a pleasant working environment.
I heard Ella’s heels clomping my way before she sat on the edge of my desk and ran a hand through her hair, poofing her curls. “Mia, honey, what are you doing Saturday?”
Typing the last of my sentence, I looked up at her and smiled. “Got nothing planned, really. Of course, my gay neighbors will probably do outrageous cocktails and make divine, extravagant food, dragging me over there to watch trashy reality TV.”
Her brown eyes wide, Ella muttered, “Well, shit. That sounds better than what I was going to offer. I got some serious competition on my hands.” I rolled my eyes, but softened it with a smile. She leaned forward and rushed out, “Okay, listen, there’s this guy I like, and my girl Tanya told me he’s going to be at a bar in the city on Saturday for this guys’ night out thing, and I really want to go, because I’ve been dying to see him again, and maybe if you come with me, I’ll actually have the balls to talk to him this time.” Her face pleaded. It was adorably pathetic, really. “Please?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. She held her hands together and fluttered her lashes at me, smiling innocently. But when it came down to it, I had little friends here at home and it would be nice to hang out with a girl my age. I shrugged. “You know what? I’m in.”
Ella gasped. “Really? You’re not shitting me, are you? Because I will cut you.”
I chuckled. “No, I’m not shitting you. Saturday night. I’m there.”
She silently squealed. “That’s what I’m talking about. We’re going to dress up sexy-like, go out, and get our drink on!”
In her excitement, she grabbed my shoulders and shook me. My head swung around like a ragdoll. Laughing, I pried her long red nails off me and shooed her away.
I got home around seven, a little later than intended, but it was worth it to know the desperate and dateless ball now had five possible hosting locations.
All but running to the shower, flinging my clothes off on the way, I jumped under the spray and showered quickly. I didn’t even have time to sing my usual playlist. I dried, slipped on panties and my nightshirt, and then ran and jumped onto my bed. I found the remote, turned on the TV, and then picked up my phone and dialed.
He answered immediately. “If you were an animal, which would you be?”
A single brow rose as I muttered a confused, “Huh?”
“Animal. Which would you choose to be for the rest of your life?” He sounded lost in thought. “I think I’d be a meerkat. They’re kind of cute.”
I mumbled, “Um, okay then.” I cleared my throat and thought. “Well, I could be a lapdog and have myself pampered for the rest of my life. Or I could be a wild horse running out in the open with my peers. Or maybe I’d be a sloth and just sleep forever.” I hissed in a breath then added, “Although I did see this documentary once about sloths and how they’re so dumb that sometimes they go to reach for a branch but grab their other arm by mistake, ultimately falling to their deaths.” I nodded to myself. “Yeah, sloth is out.”
He sounded amused. “So which animal are you choosing?” He added quickly, “Remember, you’re stuck like that forever, so choose wisely.”
I sat up straighter. “Zebra. I’ll be a zebra.”
He sounded impressed. “Zebra, huh? Why?”
“I don’t know. They’re majestic.”
I could hear his approval. “Oh, yeah, majestic as fuck.”
“What a random question,” I muttered to myself.
He huffed out a breath and I could almost see him shrug. “I’m a random guy, Maya.”
My lips pursed and I nodded. “This is true.”
“Hold on a second.” Rustling came down the line and then he was back. “Okay, I’m comfortable. Are you comfortable?”
My eyes glanced around my room then I placed a pillow behind my back, affirming, “I’m comfortable.”
“Good. I’ve got a few hours before I have to leave, so we’re going to talk about what exactly you want Sunday to be.”
Oh, I did not want to talk about this. I would talk about anything—anything—but that! “Uh, I really don’t want to talk about it. I sort of hoped we could wing it?” What should have been a firm statement came out as a weak question, and three decibels too high.
His response was gentle but firm. “We should talk about this.” His speech quickly softened. “Don’t you want to have a good experience, Maya?” I grunted and he asked, “Will you help me out then? Talk to me. We’re probably on different sides of the city. I can’t see you. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
I was being a wuss. “Of course I want to have a good experience; that’s why you’re the one doing the deflowering. I thought you did this kind of thing all the time.”
He went silent, then, “I’ve never been with a virgin before. This is a first for both of us.”
My mouth gaped. I just assumed he took on virgins on a weekly basis. But that was what happens when you assumed. You make an ass out of u and me. So that was why I asked a hushed, “What do you want to know?”
Chapter Seventeen
Quinn
What did I want to know? Hell, what didn’t I want to know? I wanted it all, everything. Her entire sexual history.
Obviously, I had to be smart about this. I didn’t want to scare her away. “I know you’ve only dated two men. Why don’t you tell me about it?”
A choked noise escaped her. “I’d rather not. There wasn’t anything remarkable about those men, or the experiences they so kindly took part in.”
She was getting defensive. I needed to soothe her beast, stroke it. My voice turned gravelly as I asked, “Did either of them do something you didn’t like? Did they touch you in a way you felt uncomfortable? “ Because if they did, I would find them and fuck them up.
She sighed lightly. “No, Quinn. It was nothing like that.” Then she paused, “Well, actually…”
Her hesitance was met by my, “Go on, Maya.”
“Well, the first guy was pretty rough with me. Not in a rape sort of way, but I think he just liked it like that. He was very dominant and bossy. Every touch on my body was harsh. When he put his fingers i- in—” She stumbled then added quietly, “You know where, it was rough and I wasn’t ready for it. Either he didn’t know or he didn’t care, but he persisted. It didn’t feel good. He’d squeeze my boobs hard then pinch my nipples. I didn’t get any enjoyment out of it. But I tried one more time with another guy.”
“The guy who used oral sex as a lullaby,” I confirmed.
Her husky laugh washed over me, bringing a smile to my face. “Yeah, he was sweet, but he had a feather touch. I barely felt a thing, and he was always looking for confirmation. It was a big turn off. I didn’t think sex needed instruction every minute or so. It was weird. And that’s it. I never saw either of them again.”
I didn’t think that was it. I wanted more. So I asked, “Okay, good. That’s that from your experience, but what about them? What had you done with them, with their bodies, and did you like it?”
Her groan sounded muffled, as if she’d stuck her head in a pillow. “Do we have to talk about this?”
I clucked my tongue. “Maya, Maya, Maya…relax. This is nothing. Just talk. You’re doing great, so keep it going.”
She blew out a long breath. “You’re right; I’m being silly. Um. Okay. The first guy, I-uh…touched him. Well, he grabbed my hand and put it on his…uh…penis…then kept his hand over mine as a guide. He liked it rough and hard, to the point I thought I was hurting him, but he came, so I guess it didn’t. And the second guy asked me to touch him, so I did. He felt harder than the first guy, but I couldn’t see, because both times, we’d been in the dark. I’ve never seen one up close or in the light. Well, not in real life. Anyways, the second guy took longer to come, but I could see his face in the moonlight, and the face he made when he came…” She lowered her voice in embarrassment. “…well, I liked how he looked then. It made me feel sexy, powerful.”