Bet on It (40)

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Walker had insisted on following her home in his truck. She’d had no problem with it, content to let him be the sweet Southern gentleman he was so eager to be in the absence of a more … traditional … first time. Had they been in her apartment, Aja had no doubt that he would have stayed over. Curled around her as they slept, big hands on her belly and hips. And when they woke up, he probably would have made them pancakes. Then he’d have flashed her one of those smooth, charming grins before he went on his way.

Because that was the kind of man he was. The kind who didn’t need to lie or scheme to get women into bed. The kind who didn’t try to coax out physical attraction with promises of the love of a lifetime or happily ever after. All those things were unnecessary when held up against the sheer reality of him.

She’d been bold, leaning into the window of his truck and giving him a long, hungry kiss before pulling away and running upstairs. She could still taste him when she got inside, so much so that she seriously contemplated not brushing her teeth before bed. She decided against that ultimately, on the grounds that doing so might mean she was on a whole ’nother level of sprung.

It was just after eleven when she got home; around the time she normally would have gotten into bed. She was going to need rest if she expected to focus on work tomorrow. But she was so damned wired. Her skin felt alive, and her brain buzzed, and she was ridiculously close to spinning around in some kind of lovesick circle. She felt at a loss for what she was supposed to do now. She also felt the deep, aching need to tell someone about it.

One moment she was leaning against her door and the next she was calling Reniece, hoping and wishing that her best friend was awake.

“Your brother says you need to stop calling us while we’re watching The Bachelor.” Reniece didn’t bother with pleasantries, so Aja decided not to either.

“Niecy, I just had sex.”

“Hold up.”

The silence on the other end seemed to stretch on forever. Then she heard movement followed by an annoyed objection from Tyson. When Reniece spoke again, it was quiet in the background, and her voice was a whisper.

“Can you repeat that for me, please?”

“I. Just. Had. Sex.” Aja hoped her eye roll could be detected over the phone.

“With who?” Her best friend’s voice got a little louder.

Aja realized then that she hadn’t mentioned Walker in any of their conversations. She hadn’t known how to. It wasn’t like he was her man, or even her prospective man. But it had also never felt totally right to bring him up as a new friend. That was what he was, technically. But she’d known that wasn’t all he was to her.

“J-just this guy,” the words stumbled out and Aja silently begged Reniece to keep it moving without forcing her to expand on that.

“What guy? I didn’t know you were seeing somebody.”

“I’m not.”

“Oh, so it’s a one-night stand?” Reniece sounded impressed. “You had a one-night stand on a Monday? Damn, girl. When I told you to get out there, I didn’t think you’d go all out like this.”

“It just happened.” Aja put the phone on speaker, using one of the hair ties on her wrist to put her braids in a low bun. “I really didn’t plan it.”

“But you used protection, right? You were safe?”

“Yes, Reniece, of course. I was impulsive, not reckless.”

“Hey, we’ve all been there. I’m just making sure we don’t have any surprises in a few months—in any form.”

Suddenly Aja felt the need to roll back her previous statement. She and Walker had used protection, but they hadn’t had the full talk. The one where they discussed the existence or statuses of their latest STI tests. Her last test had been over a year ago, before she’d moved to Greenbelt—and long after the last time she’d had sex with anyone other than herself. She supposed that had been reckless. Even if she and Walker never had sex again, she made a mental note to get tested, and to remind him that he probably should too.

“I’m fine,” Aja stressed.

“Good,” Reniece breathed. “Now tell me what happened. Did you do it in your place? Is he still there? Put him on!”

“Girl, no! He’s not here. And if he were, I sure as hell wouldn’t let him talk to you.” She laughed at the absurdity of it. “We, uh … we actually did it in the Honda.”

“Excuse me?” Her tone was deadpan.

“Yep. I rode his dick right there in the back seat.”

Reniece released a sound that at first sounded like a wounded animal. Then she squealed. Aja could picture her sitting downstairs on the couch in the dark, trying not to disturb Tyson or wake Justin up and failing spectacularly.

“That’s what the fuck I’m talking about,” she stressed, sounding like her teeth were gritted. “I knew you had some of my bad-bitch energy in you.”

“Oh please.” Aja pulled her dress off, laying it over a chair. “You act like I’m some innocent little virgin. My anxiety didn’t always get in the way of me getting dick, you know. That’s a recent development.”

“Even when you were out here doing your thing, you never had stories like this. They were always pretty tame.”

She wasn’t wrong. Aja hadn’t had a bad sex life—not by a long shot. She actually considered herself lucky; the string of boyfriends and flings and one-nighters and situations she’d had in her life had been pretty good. Better than most straight women had, she figured. The majority of them had even managed to make her come most of the time. What they hadn’t been though, was very adventurous.