Contract with Consequences

CHAPTER NINETEEN

‘HAVE you had a lot of women?’ Scarlet asked.

She was lying across the bed with her head resting on John’s stomach, her face turned towards his, her left hand playing with the mat of damp curls on his chest. John was stretched out with his hands linked behind his head and his eyes on the ceiling. They’d not long returned to the bed after a rather lengthy shower.

‘You promised not to ask me any more questions.’

‘I did no such thing. I just let you off while you were resting. So I repeat… have you had a lot of women?’

‘Yes,’ he replied bluntly. ‘I’ve had a lot of women.’

‘I thought as much.’

‘Does it matter?’

‘I suppose not.’

‘Not jealous, are you?’

‘Not at all. Just curious. But when did you have time to have all these girlfriends? From what you told me, you’ve spent most of your adult life climbing up mountains and trekking through jungles.’

‘I didn’t say I’ve had lots of girlfriends, Scarlet. I said I’ve had lots of women. There’s a difference.’

‘Oh. Oh, I see. You’re a one-night-stand type of guy.’

‘Generally speaking, yes. I had a couple of steady girlfriends at uni but nothing serious. I don’t have time for long relationships these days. Or the inclination.’

‘But I’m sure you told me the night of your mum and dad’s party that you’d just broken up with some woman.’

‘I lied.’

She sat up abruptly. ‘But why?’

‘To avoid you asking me questions, of course’

Of course…

As much as Scarlet wanted to know everything there was to know about John, she knew when she was beaten. He’d already told her more than she thought he ever would. To press further could spoil things. He was already glowering at her.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘No more questions.’

‘Thank goodness. Silence is golden, you know, especially when one is totally knackered.’

Scarlet laughed, then lay back down with her head on his stomach. This time, however, she was facing the other way. She glanced down at his penis, which wasn’t totally knackered. But wasn’t erect, either. It didn’t look quite as daunting when it was like that. She suspected, however, that she only had to take it into her mouth and it would soon be revived.

‘Hey!’ he exclaimed, when she took hold of his penis with a firm grip. ‘What in hell do you think you’re doing?’

‘What do you think I’m doing?’

He groaned when she began sliding her hand up and down, her fingers tight around his flesh.

‘Woman, you have no pity in you.’

‘Not for you, I don’t.’

‘You’re going to be the death of me.’

‘Possibly. But what a way to go.’

He laughed, then gasped. ‘Don’t you dare do that!’

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t.

John’s jaw clenched down hard at the sensations which were rocketing through his body. Damn, but she was good at that. Hard to believe her claim that she had so little sexual experience. Yet he did believe her. Scarlet was no liar. He was, however, when need be. His protest over her going down on him had been a lie of sorts. He’d wanted her to do just that. Wanted her to re-arouse him. Wanted her to have climax after climax.

Because that was his plan, to make her body addicted to having sex with him. And then, next Monday, two days before she entered the period when she was most likely to conceive, the sex would stop, giving his sperm count time to recover and her body time to become increasingly needy. By Wednesday, she’d be ready to fall pregnant, her mind not on babies so much but on pleasure.

It was a perfect plan, John thought as he reached down and splayed both his hands into her hair, meaning to stop her. After all, he didn’t want to get her addicted to giving pleasure, but in receiving it. But, damn it all, it was delicious, what she was doing. His fingertips pressed hard into her scalp. Instead of pulling her off him, he found himself holding her head captive whilst he spun out of control and surrendered to temptation.

Afterwards, when she crawled up the bed to snuggle against him, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

‘That was incredible,’ he said, trying not to sound as shaken as he still felt. ‘Thank you.’

‘My pleasure,’ she murmured, and pressed her still-moist lips against the base of his throat.

His heart squeezed tight as a wave of emotion washed through his body.

I’m the one who’s getting addicted here, he realised. Addicted and involved. Emotionally involved.

The idea that he might be falling in love with Scarlet was so surprising, so startling, that John didn’t know what to think or do. It seemed an impossible idea at first. He didn’t do love. But gradually, once he put aside his initial shock, John began to see that it wasn’t such a weird idea. He even considered the possibility that he’d been a little in love with Scarlet ever since his teenage years.

‘You’re going to think me very naive,’ she said suddenly, lifting her head up enough to lock eyes with him. ‘But I used to think that I would have to be madly in love with a man before I really enjoyed sex. I mean really enjoyed it, the way I have with you.’ Her head lowered again to rest across his chest. ‘I guess that comes from being a hopeless romantic all these years. I didn’t realise that all it would take was a man who knew what he was doing in bed.’

The ironic timing of Scarlet’s statement did not escape John. But her very sensible words were a relief in a way. Of course it wasn’t love he felt for Scarlet. It was still lust, the same thing he’d always felt for her. Too much great sex with her was addling his brain. He needed to stop for a while.

‘Thank you for the compliment, Scarlet,’ he said. ‘I’ve also made a discovery about myself and sex since going to bed with you.’

Her head lifted again. ‘What’s that?’

‘I can’t keep going for ever.’

‘Neither can I. In fact, I can’t even keep my eyes open,’ Scarlet said as she snuggled back down, her head on his chest, her right arm flopping across his rib cage.

‘I could do with a sleep too,’ John said, glad she couldn’t see the grimace on his face. How in God’s name was he going to go to sleep with her lying all over him like that?

He didn’t, of course. He just lay there beneath her, struggling to control his breathing, and his body. Scarlet fell asleep first, for which John was grateful, because it enabled him to move her off him onto the bed. She immediately curled up into the foetal position, John covering her naked body with a sheet before rolling right away from her.

Once he’d put some physical distance between them, John began to relax. But it was still quite a while before he surrendered his mind and body to the welcoming oblivion of sleep.