Tempting Him by Isabel Lucero
11
After allowinghimself a couple minutes to get his breathing under control, Aleksander gets up and hops in the shower without any parting words. The man is an enigma. I truly don’t understand why I’m so drawn to him. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s a mystery—a puzzle. I want to find all the pieces and put them together to figure him out.
I got a hint that the relationship he had with his parents might’ve been a little rocky. He hardly seemed affected by their deaths, but I know some people can handle their emotions better than others. It’s not like he’s the best at showing any emotion anyway.
There have been brief moments where I’ll catch him grinning or laughing, and I find myself waiting for those, wanting to be the one who creates the crack in his wall.
When we fuck, he does it without emotion. There are never times where he’s gentle or soft. He doesn’t kiss, and apparently doesn’t suck dick, but I’m determined to get him to break that last rule. But the fact that he’s so anti-intimacy sparks curiosity. How can you be with men and yet not want to perform blowjobs?
Regardless of all that, I still enjoy our time together. It’s not like I require whispered love declarations while in the midst of getting fucked. I’ve only felt close to being in love once before, but that didn’t work out because he was never gonna come out of the closet. I had a girlfriend say she loved me, but I didn’t feel the same way, and she ended things shortly after.
While he’s in the shower, I think about joining him, but I doubt he’s interested in that. Instead, I go to the bathroom in the other bedroom and clean up quickly, grabbing my lounge clothes from my backpack to change into.
When I emerge into the living room area of the suite, I find him standing over a table littered with papers and an open laptop, talking on the phone to someone about business.
He looks sexy as fuck, all business but wearing a plain white T-shirt and a pair of navy colored pants. It’s the least dressed up he’s ever been around me, well, besides when he’s naked.
His eyes flicker over to me as I take a seat that allows me to keep him in my line of sight. He calls me over with two fingers, and when I get there he hands me the room service menu.
I slide into the chair as he keeps talking, and look over the options for food.
Aleksander ends the call. “Sorry about that. Know what you want?”
“You don’t have to apologize. Are you actually ever off?”
He grants me a small grin. “No, not really.”
I hand him the menu. “The chicken marsala sounds good.”
He nods, grabbing the phone on the table and placing our order. “Drink?” he asks me.
“I’ll go to the vending machine.”
He shakes his head slightly before finishing up and hanging up the phone. “I forgot you get your joy from taking trips to the vending machines.”
I laugh, remembering what I told him my first night here. “Don’t forget the ice. I’ll grab us a bucket of ice, too.”
“I think there’s ice in the freezer.”
“There’s also a fridge, oven, stove, and microwave, and yet we’re ordering room service.”
“I don’t have time to shop.”
“You can now order your groceries online and have them delivered to you, you know?”
“Well, I don’t have time to cook.”
“You have time to fuck,” I say with a grin.
“Priorities.”
I laugh before having a sobering thought. “Do you...never mind.”
His eyes meet mine. “What?”
“Nothing. Doesn’t matter.”
I don’t want to ask if he’s fucking anyone else. It would force us to have a conversation about what we’re doing. Is this the second and last time? Or is this going to be ongoing until one of us gets tired of it? Are we being monogamous? Isn’t monogamy only for people in relationships? Thinking about it all makes my head spin, so I move on.
“Want to join me on my ice and drink trip?”
He moves like he’s about to start walking with me, but stops. “Maybe next time.”
I shrug. “Okay.”
Sliding my feet into my Nike sandals, I leave the room and follow the signs until I find what I’m looking for. There isn’t one on this floor, because the suites don’t need them I guess, but on the floor below, I find an abandoned ice bucket and a box of liners. After lining it with the small plastic bag, I fill the bucket with ice and then grab too many drinks and snacks from the vending machines.
When I get back to the room, Alek opens the door and arches a brow. “You know I just ordered food, right?”
I lift my arms, full of chips and candies, and grin. “I’m a big guy, in case you didn’t notice. It takes a lot to keep me satiated.”
His piercing eyes look me up and down. “Mm. I noticed, and I’ll keep that in mind.”
I start taking the drinks and putting them in the fridge. “I got Gatorade. We may need to get our electrolytes up later.”
He grunts in response. “How can you eat all that junk and stay so fit?”
“Oh, you think I’m fit?”
He gives me a look. “I’m not blind.”
“No cataracts yet?”
“Funny.”
I laugh and lean against the counter in the kitchen. “Well, I’m pretty active, and I try to keep from eating too much crap when I’m actively playing sports. But, you know, I’m young. Got that good metabolism.”
“I see.”
“You look good, too. You know, for a guy your age.”
“Are you trying to piss me off?” he says, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Maybe. Could be hot.”
He shakes his head and goes back to work at the table, so I grab my phone and reply to several texts. As soon as I respond to Trevor’s message, he calls me.
“Hello?” Alek’s eyes snap to mine, but I shrug. “Hey, what’s goin’ on?”
“Where the hell are you? We’ve had four different people trying to get in touch with you.”
“I’m...with someone right now.”
“Oh.” Trevor laughs. “He’s hooking up,” he tells someone in the background.
“Who you tellin’ my business to?”
“Dom.”
“Of course. Couple’s tell each other everything.”
“Well, that’s the way it should be. Anyway, you gonna be held up all night, or you gonna be able to come out later?”
I eye Alek. “Uh, I think I’m stuck for tonight. I’ll meet up with you tomorrow.”
“Ooh, I think it’s serious,” Trevor tells Dom with a laugh.
“Since when have I been serious with anyone?” I ask, walking to the balcony.
“There’s always a first time. Is it a guy or girl?”
I glance over my shoulder and find Alek watching me. “A man,” I answer.
“A man,” Trevor says, chuckling again.
“Are y’all drunk?”
“Maybe. Your ass should be here. Everyone’s asking about you.”
“I am the life of the party,” I joke. “Y’all will be fine without me tonight.”
“Whatever. Go get laid.”
“If you insist.”
Once I end the call, I spin around and find Alek back at work. Without looking up, he says, “If you’re needed elsewhere, you can go.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m needed. More like, wanted.”
“Either way.”
As I make my way closer, I ask, “Do you want me to leave and this is your way of saying it without saying it?”
“If I wanted you to leave, you’d know.”
I grin. “Then I’m staying. You don’t have to beg, you know?”
I watch as his lips start to draw up, his head shaking. When I’m up close, I reach down, putting a finger under his chin. When he gazes up at me, there’s a brief moment where something passes between us. But it doesn’t last. There’s a knock on the door and he shoots up from his seat and pushes past me.
