by Young, M. L.
“The chef left about fifteen minutes ago, so the food is still nice and hot. Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starved,” I said, as I set down my purse and took off my jacket.
We didn’t go into the dining room, instead to a small table just off his kitchen that was a bit more casual than the other one. The food was all there, including our plates already made. I sat down across from him and looked it all over.
It was an Asian dish in a large white bowl. There were darker noodles, chicken, tons of vegetables, peanuts, some basil, and a sweet sauce that looked light when I dipped my fork in it. I twirled some up on my fork and ate it, my taste buds taken on an expedition to a land of flavor.
“Oh my God,” I said, after swallowing.
“I know, it’s good, isn’t it?” he asked, taking a bite of his own.
“I can’t believe how good it is. It’s like the perfect marriage of sweet, salty, and just everything else. Damn,” I said, before starting to shovel the rest of it into my mouth.
“So, did you miss me?” he asked.
“Yes, did you miss me?” I asked.
“Of course. I also missed you know what,” he said, as he raised his eyebrows a few times.
“Yeah, about that,” I said hesitantly.
He looked at me, and I knew I was about to let him down and possibly make him mad. It was so bad, too, because we had been together five minutes and we were having such a good time already. It made me wonder what the rest of our time together until tomorrow morning would be like. Why did I have to have a period? Why?
“I’m actually on my period. It just started today, so I don’t think we should have sex,” I said, waiting for him to get frustrated with me.
“Okay, that’s no problem,” he said, continuing to eat.
“If you’re mad and want me to leave, I can call a cab. I know Gustav has a date with—”
“Penelope, I’m not mad at you. It’s not like you did anything wrong. You can’t help it. It’s fine,” he said.
“So, you don’t want me to leave?” I asked.
“I won’t stop you if you want to go, for whatever reason, but I’m not asking you to leave, no,” he said.
“I thought this was all about sex, though. You know, the arrangement,” I said.
“I also like spending time with you. We’ll do it once you’re off your period,” he said, taking a bite of chicken.
I smiled before taking another bite, as I felt a few tingles and butterflies in my stomach. I had hoped he would react this way, but I really had no way of knowing, with our arrangement and all. He could’ve gone either way and I would’ve just had to deal with it. It almost made me feel relieved that he was being so nice and cool about it.
“So, did you have fun with your roommate the other day? You told me you went to eat with her?”
“Yeah, it was fun! It’s nice to catch up with her and hear about her personal life. We live together, but we’re both busy and she sometimes stays late at work or goes out on dates and whatever,” I said.
“That’s good,” Blake said.
“Something funny happened, though. This guy asked me out when we were sitting there. Took me off guard,” I said, laughing.
“I see,” he said.
“Nicolette was very protective and told him I was seeing someone, which made it even weirder,” I said, laughing a little.
“And did you like him?” Blake asked.
“I didn’t know him. How could I like him?” I asked.
“You didn’t know me, yet that didn’t stop anything,” he said.
“Why are you being like this?” I asked, as my demeanor changed.
“I’m not being like anything. I was just asking a simple question. I don’t want to hold you back from anything if you meet somebody you could see yourself with. I want to make sure you’re happy,” he said.
“I am happy. With you. I don’t mean that in a relationship sense, because of everything, but I like what we have. I’m comfortable with it,” I said.
“I’m happy to hear that. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t holding you back,” he said.
“You’re not,” I said, getting out of my seat and giving him a kiss.
“Good,” he replied.
We finished our dinner and Blake said to leave the dishes for his housekeeper, who came daily. I felt a little guilty, since it wasn’t like we were in a restaurant or anything, and I had to admit that I dropped a few noodles and got some sauce on the table. He insisted, though, and it was his place, so I went along with it.
Blake said he felt a bit tired and wanted to watch some TV in bed before going to sleep. I obliged, as I was happy I brought along some pajamas that I had crammed into my bag. Well, I only brought the bottoms, anyway.
“So, this is a weird question, but do you have any shirts? Like any regular T-shirts?” I asked.
“Yes, why wouldn’t I?” he replied, as he took off his dress shirt.
“Well, I’ve never actually seen you wear any, you know. And I need to borrow one for tonight. I only have this dress,” I said.
He walked into his closet before coming back and tossing me a gray V-neck that was incredibly soft. It was a little too large for me because of his build, but comfortable nonetheless. We crawled into bed clothed, which was a first for us, and as he lay back with his shoulders and head propped up, I snuggled up to him and wrapped my arm around him before laying my head on his chest.
I could hear his heart beats one by one thumping gently against my ear. I breathed in deeply before letting it out slowly and feeling the calm come over me. He was watching some business show, the kind with a stock tracker at the bottom that whizzed by and made no sense. I wasn’t really paying any attention, though, as I was just happy to be here with him.
I was still a little happy that he didn’t care about my whole period thing. I knew it sounded stupid, but with our sex-only arrangement it made me think he’d only want that and never want to actually spend any time with me. He did, though, and he was happy to go without anything. I guessed I didn’t know if he would’ve reacted the same way had I texted him earlier and told him, but I was just happy I was here now.
“This is nice,” I said, with my hand on his chest.
“What?” he asked, as he stared intently at the screen.
“This. Being here with you in bed,” I said.
“Yeah, it is. I don’t know the last time I just snuggled with someone in bed like this,” he said.
“I like that we can have this aspect of our arrangement. You know, the whole affection thing without it being just lust. It’s not that I don’t like that—I love it, but it’s still nice to have this, too,” I said.
“It’s almost like we’re in a trial relationship,” he said, without skipping a beat.
My heart skipped a beat even if his words didn’t, and I smiled a little as my fingers drifted along his chest. Did he mean what I thought he meant? An actual relationship? I knew it wouldn’t be anytime soon, but he did say it was like we were in a trial one. That had to be good.
“Yeah, it is. I like it,” I said.
“Me too,” he replied.
I looked up, with my head off his chest, and leaned in to kiss him as he reciprocated and kissed me slowly back. I put my hand flat against his chest, feeling his lips tingle against mine before his tongue made a quick appearance before retreating. It was like a little taste of what I could have had tonight.
I licked my lips and went back down to snuggling with him for another ten minutes before he turned the TV off and said he was in for a lot of meetings tomorrow and needed to sleep. I kissed him goodnight again before he turned off his bedside lamp and the room was cast in darkness, the only illumination the moonlight finding its way through his blinds.
He soon fell asleep and I was left there wide-awake. All I thought about was our talk before he went to bed. What if this did lead to a relationship? My time since I’d been with him had taught me one thing, though, and t
hat was that I didn’t want to be dependent on him. Being bought things was nice, and never worrying about spa visits and shopping was nice, but I wasn’t a gold digger and I wanted to support myself and have a career just like every other able-bodied woman out there. Besides, I wasn’t the type of girl who could fill her days with shopping and brunch. I wanted to help people and make a difference in this world just like he had, even if that was with random, sometimes unprotected sex between strangers.
If this ever did get to that stage, I was going to make sure he knew all this, too. I’d keep my mouth shut for now so I didn’t make him think I was jumping ahead, but when the time came, I’d be ready.
As I finally closed my eyes, all I could focus on was the beating of his heart and the intermittent breaths he took. It calmed me. I felt safe and secure when I was with him and my body was against his. He was my shield, and I knew he’d always protect me.
I woke up the next morning to a more than welcome sight. Blake’s cock was as stiff as a rod as it crept up his pajama pants and started to push through the edge of the band. I looked up at him, seeing he was still asleep, before I pushed down the covers a little to get a better look.
I was on my period, so we couldn’t have sex, but that didn’t meant I couldn’t do other things for him. I didn’t think about it last night, but with him right there I could, and should, let him know how much his sweet words last night mean to me. After all, how better to show it than with actions instead of words?
I rolled his pajama pants down below his balls as he slept. His cock stood straight up and his morning wood started to make me nervous with anticipation. I had no clue how he would react to this, but what man would be angry about being woken up with a blowjob? Not many, I’d assume.
I grabbed his cock before starting to stroke him up and down to assess his tolerance. He groaned a little, though it was clear he was still asleep. I saw his eyes twitch a little as my warm hand gripped his head and started to jerk it slowly before my palm ran down his shaft and gripped it at the bottom.
I moved in closer and opened my mouth, enclosing him inside it. It was so hard to take a lot of him because of his size. I wasn’t even sure I could get past halfway in this position, but I tried anyway. I closed my eyes as my right hand jerked him up and down while drops of my spit that had dripped downwards provided the lube. I could hear him moan before he stopped and he grabbed my hair and pulled it back.
I looked back, seeing him looking down at me with tired eyes before he flashed a quick little smile.
“Don’t stop,” he said.
I smiled before going back down and wrapping my tongue around his mushroom head. There was something sensual about sucking on a huge dick that you didn’t get from average-sized ones. It turned me on to know I was with a man so big and that he could barely fit inside me. It almost made me feel like he was the alpha male and I couldn’t get much better. I wasn’t sure I could. He was the total package, after all.
Blake, with his hands still on the back of my head, pushed me down a little. I felt my eyes tear up as his cock went further down my throat. He let go and I came up, gasping for air, before grabbing onto the trail of spit that connected me to him and using it to jerk him before coughing a little.
“Too rough?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, before going back down.
He controlled my movements, though he didn’t push me down that far again. Each stroke of my tongue caused his breathing to become a little shallower and a bit less frequent. I could see his balls start to contract, and I knew what was about to come. He was about to cum.
“Fuck yes,” he moaned, as he gripped my hair harder.
I kept sucking, not even taking my grip off him, before I felt him explode into my mouth. I winced, not ever having done this before, as stream after stream entered my mouth while he moaned in intense pleasure. I continued to jerk him, seeing his toes curl up underneath the covers, before he let go of my hair and my lips left his head.
I swallowed it all, closing my eyes as I did so, before licking my lips and looking back at him. He looked at me with awe, his forehead covered in sweat and his heart beating quickly.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” he said, out of breath.
“Ready for our shower?” I asked.
“Definitely,” he replied.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Blake
I had started to feel as if I’d gotten myself in over my head a little bit.
This wasn’t supposed to be anything but a way for me to keep my ass in the clear with the board of directors and the media. I wasn’t supposed to actually like this girl and want to spend time with her outside of fucking her. I was supposed to buy her a few things here and there, pay some paltry bills, fuck her a bunch of times, and get the fuck out. That wasn’t what was happening, though, and it scared me.
I was finding that I liked my time with Penelope. She was a bright girl who wasn’t that far off from me in age, and she acted differently than every other woman I’d dated or been with so far. She wasn’t a little princess who required the finest things in life. She was a down-to-earth girl who was fine not having two nickels to rub together as long as she was surrounded by good people.
Why did she have to be the way she was? This could be so much easier if she were some snotty bitch who had to have it her way or the highway. Not only that, but I’d been finding that I didn’t care as much about the sex with her as I did just being around her. She made me feel things I hadn’t felt in years, and even though we hadn’t been together for terribly long, I could feel those feelings strengthening every time I talked with her, and especially every time we were together.
I wasn’t ready to date her, at least not officially, but I thought I was heading in that direction. I hadn’t had any desire to date ever since things went sour years ago, and I’d only wanted to tame my most exotic of desires, but I found I was slipping from those thoughts, and I wasn’t sure it was an entirely bad thing. I definitely wouldn’t be worse off with a caring, loving, nice girl who didn’t care about diamonds and cars. A girl who liked just being around me even if we were in our pajamas in bed instead of traveling to Paris for dinner overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Those were the types of girls I was with before—demanding. Not her, though. Not her at all.
As I drove myself to work in my blacked out SUV, I thought about what I could even do to remedy this situation. Should I fight it? Should I fight the urges and let them go away so I could go back to the controlling, manipulative, crass man that made me what I was today? The same traits that gave me everything I currently had and loved? I couldn’t give all this up, but then again, what value did I give to a woman who was unlike all the others? How much weight did she have against everything else? I knew that RandomMeetX would eventually either fail or be sold off, it happened to all companies of this nature, and I’d lose what I built either way. It would be nice to at least have somebody there beside me, holding my hand, as it crumbled.
After finally reaching the office after what seemed like an eternity, I parked in my usual spot and was met by my security officer as well as my secretary, Grace, who had really cleaned up her act after I caught her using the app and securing herself dates while on the clock.
“Sir, you have a meeting that’s already started. They’re waiting on you,” Grace said, as she tried to run alongside me.
“I don’t care. They can wait until I’m good and ready,” I said, as I buttoned my suit.
“You also have to deal with the report that came out about the girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered because of the app. The board wants you to make a statement,” she said.
“It’s always something, isn’t it?” I asked as we got into the elevator.
“Don’t you even care that that happened?” she asked.
I looked at her with sharp eyes before she looked down and away like a whimpering dog. I wasn’t sure where she got the idea that she could talk to me like that, but she was already skating
on thin ice. One more fuck up and she was out of here. Secretaries are a dime a dozen in this world.
“What room are they in?” I asked, as my private elevator stopped at our floor.
“Conference room C,” she said, handing me a manila envelope of papers.
I walked past my employees and they yielded to the side as I went. Penelope might have me slipping a little in my personal life, but everything looked to be running like a well-oiled machine here.
“Mr. Hunter, it’s good to see you,” an older gentleman in a suit said as I walked into the conference room.
“Talk to me,” I said, as I sat down in my oversized leather chair and opened the envelope.
“First quarter ad revenues have far exceeded our expectations—thirty percent, actually. We have found that only one tenth of one percent of the users have complained about them, and most people end up clicking on them because of relatable content. We have all the major advertisers vying to advertise on the platform,” Jonas, my trusty numbers guy, said.
“How can we make it more than thirty percent?” I asked, looking at him.
“But sir, that’s already well over what we projected. I’m not sure—”
“Maybe you projected too low, then. We should aim higher. Use our inflated numbers to nickel and dime more out of the advertisers. We won’t ask so much that it will make us seem greedy or hurt our relationships, but we’ll send a message that our advertising is powerful and we deserve to be compensated for it,” I said.
“Brilliant,” someone said.
“Now, what’s this about the murder-rape situation? The board wants me to make a statement? In print or live?” I asked.
“Print, most likely. She was a twenty-year-old engineering student from a small college in Minnesota. Met a guy on the app, talked for two days before meeting, and he roofied her before taking her back to his apartment, sexually assaulting her, and then dismembering her body and scattering it through the woods where, bless her soul, wild animals started to eat her,” Matthew, my PR executive, said.