Object Me: A Bad Boy Lawyer Romance

by Roxy Sinclaire

  “Thank God!” Martin exclaimed. “I was afraid that I was going to have to eat you if they didn’t come back with food soon!”

  I raised one eyebrow at him.

  Reg and Sasha had done well. I opened containers filled with rice, lo mein, and General Tso’s chicken.

  “Aw, man” Martin said, disappointed. “They forgot forks. I’ll call Reg.”

  “No, don’t,” I said quickly. “I think they’re, uh, busy.”

  I dug through the bag to double check for silverware.

  “Here,” I said. “There’s chopsticks in there.”

  “I don’t know how to use them,” Martin said, a little embarrassed.

  “I’ll teach you,” I said.

  I arranged the chopsticks in his hand and used my hands to manipulate his.

  “Got it?”

  “I think so,” he said.

  I let go of his hand and the chopsticks crossed and slid out of position almost immediately. I tried not to laugh. I didn’t want to make fun of him, but his concentration was adorable.

  “Try again,” I said, repositioning the chopsticks.

  He managed to pick up a single piece of chicken and slowly brought it to his mouth. As he opened his mouth, it fell back onto the container, splattering sauce on his face.

  I couldn’t hold back my giggles. I found a napkin and dabbed at the mess on his face.

  “I’m going to starve,” he said dramatically. “Can I just eat with my fingers?

  “No,” I answered. “You’ll make a huge mess. I’ll help you.”

  I picked up a piece of chicken with ease and held it to his lips.

  “Is it okay if I just feed you?” I asked.

  “Normally, I would find this demeaning,” he said. “But no one is around, and I am starving, so it’s perfectly fine with me.”

  We alternated bites; one for him, one for me. There was something oddly intimate about feeding Martin like this.

  “Where did you learn how to use those?” he asked, pointing at the chopsticks.

  “When I was younger, my dad traveled a lot for work,” I said. “He liked to take me with him. We spent a month in Asia, just me, my dad, and my nanny. I tried sushi in Japan when I was ten and absolutely loved it. Let me tell you, when your first sushi experience is in Japan, every other sushi restaurant in America will pale in comparison.”

  “Isn’t that raw fish?” he crinkled his nose.

  “You’ve never had sushi?” I asked, shocked.

  “It never appealed to me,” he answered.

  “I’m so taking you out for sushi sometime soon,” I said, forgetting that we agreed there would be no “going out” at all.

  “So where else have you traveled,” he asked.

  “Oh, lots of places,” I said nonchalantly. “I’ve been all over Asia with my dad and I went to Australia after I graduated from high school. My mom loves traveling around Europe, so we usually go to some fancy resort once a year. My mom once took me to Paris to buy a dress for the prom. What about you?”

  As soon as I asked that question, I regretted it. He looked away.

  “Well, I certainly haven’t traveled like you. That’s for sure. My family mostly stayed in Colorado. My mom and I went camping and hiking quite a bit. Every summer she would take a week off of work and we’d go up in the mountains and pitch a tent in a campground. We’d go fishing and mountain biking.”

  I had never been camping in a tent. The thought of it seemed terrible, but I didn’t want to shatter his pleasant memories.

  “And I went to Disney World when I was eight. That was pretty awesome,” he added.

  I felt sorry for him. I bet he didn’t even have a passport. I had gone through a few passports at this point, because the pages always filled up so quickly.

  I pretended that I was full so he could eat the rest of the food. He held the box of rice up to his mouth and used the chopsticks to scrape the sticky rice into his face. For as much as he ate, it was a wonder that he stayed so trim.

  I found two fortune cookies in the bottom of the bag and handed one to Martin. I opened mine, crunching on one shard of the cookie.

  “What does yours say?” he asked while he unwrapped his cookie.

  “You will reveal a deep, dark secret.”

  “Well… what’s your deep, dark secret?” he asked.

  I thought for a moment. There were a few things that I should probably tell him about. I didn’t want to spoil such a good afternoon, though.

  “I don’t think I have any,” I lied.

  “Wow, you are a terrible liar,” he chuckled. “Spill it.”

  “It’s nothing much. You promise you won’t be upset?” I asked.

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Do you remember that party at the end of last season? You guys had lost the final game and everyone was trying to drink enough to forget all about it.”

  “Yeah, I was in rare form that night.”

  “I know, and you were pissing me off. What else do you remember about that night?”

  “Not a lot, to be completely honest.”

  “I’ll tell you what I remember: I was dancing with a guy on the track team. We were hitting it off pretty well. All of a sudden, just as this guy is about to kiss me, I see you in the corner of the room, alone. I watched you pull the fire alarm and sneak away. Some of the sprinklers went off, and the dirty, stagnant pipe water got all over my hair and dress. I had just dyed my hair the evening before, and the water caused the color to bleed all over my new white dress.”

  Martin was silent.

  “So anyway, I was a mess and I had to go home and clean up. I never heard from the guy again.”

  “How is this your secret?” he asked. “That was my secret. Nobody saw me do it, and everyone blamed Donny. I didn’t think you knew.”

  “Now, this is where my secret comes in,” I continued. “The next weekend, you were hosting a big party. I overheard you telling someone how excited you were. I was still furious from the weekend before. I wanted to crush you. Since you invited mostly football players and their friends, I sent a mass text telling them that the party was being moved to my place.”

  “That was you? I spent so much money on drinks and snacks for everyone. I was pretty upset when no one showed up. I didn’t really talk to anyone on the team for a week.”

  “I feel terrible about it now. I was just so upset that you ruined my time at that party that I wanted to ruin yours too. I’m really sorry.”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry that I ruined your new dress and your night. It was a stupid decision.”

  “Why did you pull that fire alarm anyway,” I questioned.

  He smiled sheepishly. “I couldn’t stand the sight of you being so close to someone who wasn’t me.”

  I forgave him with a soft kiss on the cheek. I kissed him again, this time on his lips.

  “No more mean pranks,” he said.

  “Agreed.”

  He got up to clear the empty food cartons and when he returned to the bed, he crawled toward me, cupping my face with his hands. We wordless agreed to take off our clothes and slide back underneath the covers.

  The last time we made love, it was urgent and hasty. We had spent years fantasizing about what it would be like to sleep together, and when the moment finally came, we had to act before we burst from built up sexual tension.

  This time, we took things slower. We took the time to explore each other’s bodies, to see what got us really going. I wanted to take my time, touching every inch of his taut body.

  In the past, sex was always like a business transaction. I was just looking to receive pleasure. Now, I felt like I was making a deeper connection with him. With Martin, I had it all. We took great pleasure from the good sensations we gave to each other. I felt a closeness to him that I had never felt with another person in my whole life.

  When we finished, we laid on our sides, facing each other. We kissed, leisurely for what seemed like an hour. I pulled back and he t
ucked a strand of my hair being my ear.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked, dreamily.

  “You never told me what your fortune cookie said.”

  He reached over to his nightstand grabbed the little white strip of paper.

  I read it.

  The one you love is much closer than you think.

  Martin

  I was starting to suspect that Reg and Sasha made special personalized fortune cookies for us. How else could the little fortunes be so spot on?

  Usually, fortune cookies had stupid messages. They usually said things like “You will live a long healthy life”, or “Help! I’m trapped in a fortune cookie factory!” I remember one time; some friends and I went out for Chinese food. Between the six of us, four of our fortunes were the same.

  I wasn’t even a superstitious type. For as long as I could remember, I’ve had friends with weird quirks. A kid I went to high school with would never wash his jersey after a win.

  After a few good games, I nearly threw a bunch of intentional interceptions just so we’d lose and I wouldn’t have to smell him. Even Reg will eat the same meal the night before and the morning of a game.

  One time, the dining hall ran out of the right kind of cereal on game day, and he drove to the store to ensure we would win.

  Those fortune cookies were too coincidental, though. Is this what it was like when people fell in love? All of our fighting over the years could lead to these kinds of feelings? This day didn’t even seem real. I was worried that I’d wake up, alone in my bed. It all felt like a dream.

  Alexa handed me my phone. Reg was calling.

  “Hey man,” Reg said. “What’s going on in there?”

  “We’re just talking,” I said, pulling the sheets up to my chest.

  “You’ve been talking for hours, now. Don’t you think it’s time to come out?”

  “I don’t know, Reg. I still think there’s more stuff to work out.”

  “Sasha’s going home and I need to get to the library. I’m coming to let you out.”

  “Don’t open the door!” I said quickly.

  “Alright, alright, I won’t. Damn, what are you two doing in there?”

  “Like I said, we’re working things out.”

  “I think it’s a fire hazard to keep this door locked, though. Are you sure you don’t want me to unlock it? I probably won’t be back for a few hours,” he said.

  “We’re fine,” I replied. “Let me know when you’re coming back,”

  “Alright,” he said. “Later.”

  I turned to Alexa after I hung up the phone. “You didn’t want to be let out, right?

  “Nope, I’m perfectly content here. Besides, I don’t want to put clothes on again.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “And you know I’ll only take them off the second you put them back on.

  Just then, Sasha called Alexa. I tried to listen in on the conversation.

  “Hey,” Sasha said. “Reg just said that you refuse to be let out. I wanted to make sure everything was okay and you weren’t being held hostage or anything.”

  Alexa laughed. “No, everything is fine. Don’t worry about us.”

  “For real, though,” Sasha lowered her voice. “What is going on in there?”

  “I’ll tell you all about it later,” Alexa said. “By the way, have you been with Reg this whole time?”

  “Yep,” she responded. “It’s been a lot of fun keeping you in that room.”

  “I think you have some explaining to do later, too.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to you later,” Sasha said, changing the subject. “Let me know if you want me to let you out.”

  She hung up the phone and tossed it back onto the table. “Where were we?” she asked, stroking my side with her fingernails.

  “I was just thinking,” I said. “We’ve known each other for years and I feel like I don’t know a lot about your life. I know that your family is loaded. I know that you’re a good cheerleader. I also know that you’re smoking hot.”

  She giggled. “What else do you want to know?”

  I paused to think for a second. “If you could be any animal, which would you be?”

  “Out of all the things you could possible want to find out about me, you go with ‘what kind of animal would you want to be’?”

  “Answer it,” I insisted.

  “Okay,” she took a second to think. “I would probably be a cat because I like to take naps.”

  “You’re more of a tiger,” I corrected. “You’re beautiful, mysterious, and dangerous. And you like to take naps,” I added quickly.

  “Ha. What about you?”

  “I think I’d be a border collie. I’m a hard worker and I’m loyal.”

  “And you’re cute,” she added.

  “Alright, it’s your turn to ask a question,” I said.

  “If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?”

  I knew the answer immediately.

  “I would go back to Denver if I could,” I said.

  “Out of all the places in the world, and you choose where you grew up?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I love it there. I love being in the mountains and living in a city, but being so close to nature. It’s my dream to be able to play professional football there. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

  I loved my friends at school, but I wanted to get away from the east coast. It all felt so elitist and foreign to me. I wanted to be nearer to my mom, since she could never find the time or money to come visit me. I wanted to be a part of my family’s legacy.

  “Where would you go?” I asked back.

  “I’ve been a lot of places and where I live doesn’t really matter to me. I’ve found that who I’m living with makes all of the difference. I’ve lived in big houses and stayed in five star hotels and tropical villas. The happiest I’ve ever been was while I was living in a little, shared dorm.”

  “My turn,” I said. “How many guys have you dated?”

  “Why do you ask?” she fired back. “Not feeling jealous, are you?”

  “Not at all. I’m just curious.”

  Her eyes pointed toward the ceiling while she counted. I was getting worried.

  “It depends what you count as dating,” she said hesitantly.

  I laughed. “Guys you’ve seen regularly, for a time span over three months,” I clarified.

  “Maybe, like ten or so,” she answered, but it sounded more like a question.

  “Damn,” I responded. “You are popular, aren’t you?”

  “You don’t understand,” she said. “I dated a lot of these guys as a courtesy to my parents. Many of them were my mom’s friends’ kids. I was expected to go on lots of dates.”

  Once again, she was telling me things about her life that made no sense to me.

  “Are you saying that you’ve dated fewer than ten girls?” she asked. “The star football player always gets the girls.”

  “I can only count three,” I answered.

  “Seriously?”

  “I had a long term girlfriend in high school. We started dating my sophomore year and we thought we were going to be together forever. We even tried to date in college.”

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “We decided that it wasn’t going to work,” I said. “Well, I decided that after I drove halfway across the country for a surprise visit. I walked in on her with someone else.”

  “Ooh, another guy?” Alexa interrupted.

  “Actually, another girl,” I laughed. “I wasn’t too upset about it. See, I had my eye on this cheerleader,” I trailed off.

  She smiled and kissed me.

  “I would love to have Sebastian walk in on us,” she said.

  I raised an eyebrow. She could be pretty adventurous in bed, but this was pretty crazy.

  “Not like that,” she continued, seeing my reaction. “I would love it if there was some way to make him give up on me. Especially, if he thought it wa
s his own decision.”

  “Now I understand. I didn’t think you were that freaky.”

  “Oh,” she responded casually. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

  I was ready to climb on top of her. There were no clothes to get in the way this time. She could tell that I was ready to go. She reached her hand underneath the sheet, coming into contact with my member. I scooted closer to her, so I could kiss her neck.

  I whispered in her ear, “Are you ready for a third time?”

  This time, she took full control. She hopped on top of me and slowly rocked her hips back and forth. I grasped the fleshy part where her hips met her thighs. I spanked her muscular ass and she gave me a devilish grin.

  She took my wrists and pinned them above my head. I could hardly bear it—this girl was too good. I finished the second a soft moan escaped her mouth.

  She rolled back onto her side. I wiped a bead of sweat from my hairline. She was giving me a workout.

  “How long can we go on like this?” she asked.

  I wanted to say: a lifetime, but I just shrugged my shoulders.

  Alexa

  “I’ve got a question,” he said, resuming our game. “What’s your best childhood memory?”

  “That’s easy,” I said. “When I was six, I wanted nothing more than to have a horse. I know it sounds super cliché, but I was obsessed. I covered my room in pictures of horses and only read books about horses. My parents said I couldn’t have one until I was older. She was afraid that I would fall and break a bone and have to be in an unsightly cast. She tried to persuade me that horses were dirty and smelly.”

  “Did it work?” he asked.

  “Not at all. In fact, it just made me want one even more. The week before my seventh birthday, my parents took me on a trip to Mexico. I got to build sandcastles on the beach and swim with dolphins. I just assumed that they took me on the trip to make me forget all about the horse I’d been begging for, for months. When we got back, there was a freshly built stable and a little speckled pony inside. It was small, just like me. It was the happiest day of my life.”