Chapter 5 #3
I lied shamelessly and ended the call, seeing the surprise drawn on his face.
Then I stared at the phone as if it could help me decipher that man.
I sighed and stood up. It was better not to overthink the matter, but suddenly I felt tired and didn't feel like doing anything.
I wasn't going to let myself be overcome by discouragement, so I decided to go to the hotel bar to chat with Billy for a while.
Talking with him always improved my mood because he was a very funny and cheerful guy.
First, I changed my clothes because at that moment I was wearing shorts.
I put on white jeans and a black blouse.
I took the elevator and pressed the ground floor button. On the following floors, people started getting in and I moved to the back. Obviously, when we reached the ground floor, I was the last one to leave the elevator, but as I was about to step out, I froze in place. Henry was waiting to go up.
“What are you doing here?”
“And where are you going?” he asked, looking me up and down.
The people who were waiting to get into the elevator were watching us attentively, so I stepped out to let them pass and approached him.
“I asked first,” I said.
“I came to see you. I don't like being left hanging mid-conversation.”
“I told you I was getting another call.”
“But you were talking to me!” he exclaimed.
We stood staring into each other's eyes, or rather, challenging each other with our gazes for a full minute. He was the one who broke the silence, though not the eye contact.
“Let's go to your suite,” he ordered.
“Henry, I don't know if you noticed, but I was on my way out.”
“At this hour? Where to?” he asked, with a serious look.
I exhaled with resignation; I had no choice but to have a long conversation with him.
When we entered my suite, Henry tugged at my arm and pulled me into his arms.
“You didn't even greet me,” he said, looking at me seriously from just inches away from my face.
“You didn't greet me either, you just confronted me with that expression,” I said, pointing at him, as he was still looking at me with a frown.
“This is my face, not an expression,” he responded. “But let's fix this situation,” he stated, and lowered his lips to mine and kissed me.
His kiss silenced all my thoughts. I wrapped my arms around his neck and surrendered to that kiss with passion.
Our tongues danced together, seducing each other with caresses.
My heart rate increased considerably and my nervous system also accelerated while I delighted in his taste.
It was a dangerously seductive kiss. Henry pulled away after nibbling on my lower lip.
“Now I can consider myself properly greeted,” he stated.
I was trying to catch my breath and had remained frozen in place while he walked naturally and went to sit on the living room sofa.
Damn you, Henry Woollardy!
“Tell me the reasons for your visit,” I said, sitting on the same sofa as him, but at the opposite end.
“I already told you, I didn't like that you cut off the call that I made with the intention of checking in on you and talking.”
“I hung up because I had another call, and besides, it seemed to me that we had already said what we wanted to say. I told you about my lunch with my brothers, and you told me about having lunch with a friend,” I stated, looking at him seriously.
“Aaaaah, I see. It bothered you that I had lunch with a female friend,” he stated.
“Yes, it bothered me. And to be clear, it's not because I don't want you to see your friends.
I can understand that because I also make a habit of it and I understand that it makes us happy.
We need the support, laughter, and unconditional understanding that friends provide.
The problem I have is that I don't know your female friends and I don't know if you've had or have some kind of romantic or sexual relationship with them, whatever you want to call it, and in that case, it is difficult for me to handle. And I say this because we proposed an exclusive relationship.”
When I finished my explanation, I waited for some comment, but he just looked at me seriously, though it seemed his mind was working at full speed.
“Well?” I asked, not hearing anything coming from his mouth.
“What do you want me to say?”
“Let's start with you telling me if with the friend you had lunch with you have...”
“Yes, I've had sex with that friend,” he interrupted.
Silence again. Without taking my eyes off his, I continued asking:
“Did you have sex with her today?”
“Today we just had lunch,” he responded, evaluating me.
I took a few minutes while he continued to evaluate me.
“You know, Henry, this isn't going to work between us,” I finally said.
“Why? I think we were working very well last night.”
“In bed, but I want more than sex,” I stated, having decided to make things clear.
“What is it that you want?”
“I want a secure relationship, respect, honesty. I want to get to know you, spend time with you, and I’m talking about time outside the bedroom and...”
“I suppose in the bedroom too,” he interrupted, with his crooked smile.
“Yes; that too,” I affirmed, rolling my eyes. “What I’m trying to say is that...”
“You want a boyfriend,” he stated, interrupting me again.
“I can express what I think without you needing to do it for me. Can you stop interrupting me?” I scolded, and he looked at me, nodded his head and smiled.
“What I want to say,” I indicated, and stopped speaking for a few seconds, challenging him with my gaze to see if he would cut off my argument again, but the sly fox only made the gesture of zipping his mouth shut.
“Is that I want a partner to share everything with, but without sharing him with other women, and those women of course include previous ‘sexual friends.’”
“I believe that when we connect with someone in whatever way, as a casual or long-term partner, the important thing is to be ourselves, to show who we really are, not to hide behind appearances with the intention of pleasing the other person, to be sincere and not just say what is supposedly going to be agreeable.” I sighed.
“What I’m trying to say is that I get the feeling you’re showing yourself in a way that isn’t you, in a way that doesn’t make you comfortable, and you’re doing it to be able to sleep with me, but that’s not what I want.
I know you’re not the faithful boyfriend type, the loyal boyfriend; you like being free and going out with all the women who want to be with you.
“And I’m not judging you, everyone is how they are, it’s simply not what I want, and I don’t want to pretend to agree with something I don’t,” I finished.
Henry looked at me with complete attention and seriousness. I gave him a few seconds to process what I had said. When I thought he wasn’t going to say anything and I was gathering courage to continue, he beat me to it.
“I’m not pretending to be someone I’m not, I don’t have a ‘good guy’ mask on so you’ll sleep with me. I told you how I am, but I also told you that I wanted to be with you, and if that means fidelity, then that’s how it will be, not because you’re imposing it, but because I chose it.
“Let me be clear that I don’t feel pressured, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.
I’m a grown man, Dalina, I don’t need to pretend to sleep with a woman.
If a woman wants to sleep with me, perfect; if she doesn’t want to, that’s fine too.
I also don’t do things I don’t feel, if I’m here it’s because I want to be, because I desire it.
“On the other hand, today I only had lunch with that friend because she called me and it seemed like a good idea to go out and clear my head a bit. When I left here I wasn’t in a good mood, but I didn’t meet up with her with the intention of having sex, in fact, she proposed it and I refused.
“I admit she wasn’t very happy about it, but as I told you before, I do what I want, not what others expect of me, so I did what I felt and told her no, without excuses.
“In short, if you’re proposing that I be your boyfriend with everything that means, which you’ve made very clear to me, I say: I accept. What do you say?”
At that moment I was the one left speechless.
I was convinced he would firmly refuse to be ‘my boyfriend’ with all that it implied, but once again he surprised me with his decision.
It was up to me to give him a vote of confidence or decide not to risk it.
Could I trust him? Or better said, was I willing to trust him?
I was clear that trust was the cornerstone on which any attempt at a relationship rested; without trust there was no possibility that the relationship would have a future.
“I accept,” I affirmed, with conviction.
Henry smiled. Without leaving the couch, he moved slowly toward me and looked into my eyes.
“Shall we seal the deal or whatever this relationship is?” he asked.
“It might be a contract, one with very implicit content, but I have the impression that we’re going to have to make it explicit,” I said, almost against his lips.
“In that contract, can I put a clause that says the girlfriend has to talk less when the boyfriend is seducing her with the intention of having fantastic sex?”
“What if the boyfriend silences her with a kiss instead?”
“I like that,” he said, and took possession of my mouth, unhurriedly, without restrictions.
With the expert caress of his lips, he played with mine and then plunged his tongue into my mouth.
That kiss subjugated me, because I surrendered as soon as his lips touched mine.
I tangled my hands in his hair and he moaned into my mouth.
The kiss became more intense, while his arms surrounded me and the kiss increased in passion.
Henry pulled away and without taking his eyes off me, took my hand and forced me to leave the couch.
“Let’s go to bed,” he said, and pulled me toward the bedroom.