Jane Doe(53)

He shrugs and rubs his palm over the wounds.

“Or maybe I scratched you during . . . you know.”

He grins. “The superhot sex?”

I mean, I’m not sure what his standard is for hot sex, but it’s obviously pretty low. Still, I giggle and drop back into my chair to eat breakfast. When the machine stops brewing coffee, I pour us each a cup. I hum a little to show that taking care of him makes me so happy.

Before I can move away after delivering his cup, Steven snags my waist and pulls me onto his lap. “So,” he murmurs into my ear, “it seemed like you relaxed after all.”

I titter as he nuzzles my neck. “Maybe.”

“Did you like it, baby?”

“I did. It was better with you than my ex.”

“Hell yeah it was.”

I know I shouldn’t. I really know I shouldn’t, but I didn’t get to carve him open last night and I need a little fun to make up for that. “With him . . . with him it hurt sometimes because he was so big. I hated it.”

Steven jerks back to glare at me and it’s nearly impossible not to burst out laughing at his outrage.

“With you it was real nice.” I try to relax into him with a dreamy sigh, but he’s having none of it. He pushes me off his lap, his mouth twisting in a snarl.

“What a slutty thing to say.”

“What? Why?”

“You’re telling me about another guy’s dick? Are you kidding me?”

“But I said I like yours better! It was a compliment!”

“You shouldn’t even know the difference! But, oh, I forgot: you’ve had a few dozen inside you. You’re running a slut survey of the world.”

“Steven!” I make my chin shake. “Don’t be mean! I liked it, and I don’t always like it, so it was—”

“Oh, I’m being mean? You just threw some other man in my face the morning after we had sex. Do you think I wanted to know about that?”

“No. I—”

“Do you want to hear about my exes? Because my last girlfriend had a great rack. Way bigger than yours. And, yeah, she was skinnier than you too. Fucking hot.”

“I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Whatever.” He shoves his plate away and stalks to his bedroom to shower.

I lean against the table, laughing too hard to support my body weight. God, I hope he obsesses about my ex’s penis for days. Weeks.

I finish my breakfast and steal his bacon, then scrape the remains of his eggs into the trash. I leave the dirty plates in the sink to give him one more thing to chastise me about later.

He’s supposed to drop me off early so I can change clothes and put on makeup and still have time to get to work, but the shower keeps running and I figure he’s now aiming to make me late. Whatever. I’m not super worried about my thirty-day evaluation. In fact, it’s going to be very hard to drag myself into work today when all I want to do is watch the video of last night over and over again.

But I shouldn’t. Each time I watch I’ll hope for a different ending. I’ll hope for blood and guts and joyful vengeance, and all I’ll get is disappointment.

When Steven finally emerges to drive me home, I’m waiting with an insulated cup I found in the cupboard. “You didn’t get to drink your coffee.”

“Thanks.” He still seems surly about his size issues, but he accepts the coffee and off we go.

As we drive, I spy a small lake at the edge of his neighborhood and recognize a great chance to put the first step of my plan into action. “Is it too cold to go fishing right now?” I ask.

“It’s never too cold for fishing. If the lake freezes over, just drill a hole.”

“I’d love to go sometime. Your dad suggested a fishing trip.”

“Yeah. We could do that.”

I watch him for a moment, then reach out to touch his shoulder. “Steven? Can I go to the cabin with you this weekend if I promise not to tell your dad?”

His eyes widen with surprise. “You really want to go that much?”

“I want to be with you. And I think it would be romantic. No one needs to know.”

“If I take you, I won’t have a hunting partner.”

“I could hunt with you. I won’t make any noise or anything, I promise.”

“It seems like a bad idea. We’d be out in the woods all day. Where would you pee?”

I roll my eyes. “In the bushes. It’s not that hard.”

“I don’t know.”

“Pleeeease? You don’t have to take me out while you hunt if you don’t want to. I could just wait in the cabin for you.” I circle his biceps with my hands and lean in to kiss his neck. “I love you and I want to like everything you like. I promise I’ll make you happy you brought me.”

He chuckles at that. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. You’ll be very, very glad. Cross my heart.” When I make the motion, his eyes fall to my breasts.

“Well, how can I pass that up?”

“Eee!” I kiss his cheek several times. “Can I go?”

“Can you be ready on Saturday morning bright and early?”

“Yes.”