“That’s too personal...”
“No it’s not. Tell me.”
I sighed. “Of course I gave him—”
“I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about you.”
“No...But that doesn’t mean—”
“Ever?” His eyes widened.
“My ex was very straightforward. He always said that wasn’t his thing. I was a virgin when we got together so it never really bothered me. You can’t miss what you’ve never experienced, you know? What we had was good.”
He stared at me a long time, slowly blinking, shaking his head in disbelief. “Okay...Let me ask you another question. Did you two ever have sex outside of your bedroom?”
“He never f**ked me in a room full of people if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Did he talk dirty to you?” he whispered in my ear.
“Jonathan!”
“Did he?”
“These questions are completely—”
“Necessary. I’ll take that as a no...” He trailed his fingers down my backside. “Did he ever explore you here?”
“No...And that’s not something I ever wanted him to do.”
“Why not?” He gently squeezed my ass.
“Because that’s...It’s—”
“Immoral?” He laughed and pulled me down onto a bench. “We’ll discuss it one day.”
“How many women have you been with, Jonathan? Fifty?”
“Fifty?” He smirked. “Including you?”
Oh my god, there’s MORE? “Is that number too low?”
“Too high.”
“Forty nine?”
He laughed. “Seventeen.”
“Wow...”
“Why do you look so shocked?”
“It’s...It’s less than what I expected, but that’s still a lot of women...Were you in relationships with any of them?”
“A few. One was a friend with benefits who I saw whenever I wasn’t in a relationship.”
“And before you had sex with me, when was the last time you’d had sex?”
“Six months before you.”
“Well, that’s actually quite shocking. Were there no other women at corporate who wanted to be dragged into secret rooms or bent over your desk afterhours?”
He shrugged. “No reason, really. I was too busy and I have to be extremely careful when it comes to women.”
“Because you have attachment issues?”
“Would you like to be f**ked on the Golden Gate Bridge tonight?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t have attachment issues...I have to be careful because some women are only into me for my money, or are more interested in going to the press and blackmailing me than dating me.”
“Has that ever happened?”
“Not unless you’re going to attempt it. Should I be worried?”
“No...” I leaned back. “So, where do you honestly think you and I are—”
“I told you to stop thinking about that.” He moved me so my back was flat against his lap.
“I just want to know if—”
He bent down and kissed me. “It doesn’t matter right now,” he whispered. “I’m not dating anyone else and neither are you. Let’s just see where it goes...”
I lay like that for a long time, gazing into his eyes as he gazed back into mine. I wanted to ask him more questions, questions about all those women he’d slept with, but after he kissed me for the umpteenth time, I forgot what I was going to say.
Over the sound of the sloshing waters, I heard the roaring of a car in the distance and realized the limo was driving back towards us.
“Mr. Statham, the bridge will re-open in ten minutes sir.” His driver pulled in front of us and rolled down the window.
“Thank you, Greg.” Jonathan eased me out of his lap and helped me back inside the car.
I thought we were going to continue our epic-long-silence-saga and ride back to my place without talking, but he pulled me into his arms as soon as the car pulled off.
He crushed his lips onto mine and kissed me passionately, making me wish he would take things further and undress me. But he didn’t. He used every single second of the ride to explore my mouth with his tongue and possess my lips with his.
When the car stopped outside of my house, he slowly moved away from me and sighed. He walked me up to my door and slipped his arms around my waist. “Did you have a good time tonight?”
“Yes. Thank you very much...Are you sure—”
“No one saw anything. You and I are a secret—just like you wanted.” He gave me another open mouthed kiss that made me lose my balance and fall right into him. He held me tighter, rubbing his hands up and down my back, kissing me so intensely I lost all my thoughts.
I didn’t want our kiss to end. I didn’t want our night to end, but I wasn’t sure if Ashley and Caroline were in the living room; I hadn’t told them anything about him yet.
Before I could consider the idea any further, Jonathan gave me one last passionate kiss and stepped back. “Goodnight, Claire.”
Chapter 13