Page 62 of Rafferty's Rules
‘That’s what mum’s do. The good ones, at least.’
‘But I resent becoming her life’s sole focus. I mean, I get it, I was a sick kid. But things haven’t changed since my second surgery. I still get treated the same, as I wasn’t allowed to grow. I feel like I’ve had every one of my developmental milestones pushed back, right into adulthood. I mean, come on—who has sex for the first time at the age of twenty-five?’
‘Well, there’s you.’
‘Exactly. Me, myself, and I.’
‘But can you blame your parents for that? What I mean is I can’t imagine many kids consult their olds on the date of their first screw?’
‘I just feel like so many decisions in my life have been taken out of my hands, and yes, it’s partly my fault. I think I just didn’t know what I wanted, so I let them lead me around by the nose.’
‘But now you know what you want?’
‘I do. I want to travel, to sail around the Greek Islands, and eat pizza in Rome. To experience—to take risks. Get a pet! Get a tattoo. And I want to have lots and lots of sex with someone who’s really into me! I don’t want to be treated like an accessory just because my ass looks good in Lululemon. I want someone who looks at me like I’m something more than wife material. And I don’t want to live in Myers Park!’
‘I don’t even know where that is, but I reckon I can help you check a few of those things off our list.’
‘Oh, yeah?’
Fuck yeah, because that sounded more like an inciting purr.
‘First off, you wanna eat pizza in Naples, not Rome, for the true pizza experience.’ She sets off laughing, the sound startling. Beautiful. ‘Second,’ I begin, ‘it looks like you’ve already got yourself a pet, though I’m not one hundred percent certain he is a cat, even if that is the name you’ve bestowed on him. It’s a bit like that Johnny Cash song.’
‘What?’ There’s a touch of incredulity to her tone.
‘You know,A Boy Named Sue. A rat named Cat.’
‘But you said I couldn’t keep him.’
‘I also said I wasn’t going to have sex with you and look at what happened there.’
‘As much as I want a pet and as much as I’d love to keep Cat, I can’t. For one, I’m so poor, the ducks throw bread at me!’
‘I’m not asking you to pay for him.’
‘And for two, I can’t just because you feel sorry for me.’
‘Sorry for you? It’s me I’m saving my sympathies for because you’re relentless, woman.’
‘And for the record, I was absolutely planning on taking him to some kind of animal shelter tomorrow.’
‘Cut the indignant act, darl. I’m sure between haring through the traffic on two unsuitable wheels and scaling a few trees, you’d have found some reason to keep him here for another day. And then another day.Andanother day.’
‘I’m only here for twelve days,’ she says, giving into her obvious amusement now.
‘By which point, you were counting on him and me becoming firm friends.’
‘Well, now that you come to mention it, that would dill my pickle.’
‘And what dills your pickle is... I dunno, my reason for living?’ Obviously, that’s just a guess because this chick speaks another language sometimes.
Uncurling my arm, I grasp her shoulders, her smile faltering, her gaze becoming dark and languid as I push her down against the bed. The time for talking has ended as I slant my mouth over hers. She tastes of strawberries, submission, and the sweetest kind of sin as she moans into my mouth, pliant for a moment, content to let me lead until she’s not. Her hands feed around my neck, sliding through the soft hairs at my nape, and as she presses her heel into the back of my thigh, bringing us closer, it’s my turn to moan. I kiss her harder, firm lips and stroking tongue. ‘Like I said,’ I rasp into her neck. ‘Fuckin’ relentless.’
‘That doesn’t feel like a complaint,’ she responds as she rubs her pussy against my stiff cock. And I almost,almostslide right in.
‘Jesus, Lis, let me get a condom.’
‘You could. Or you could just... not.’ And if that doesn’t hold a fuck load of enticement, I don’t know what does.
