Taylor sat beside him, took a long, happy breath, and then leaned against him. “I’m really glad you went shopping for lingerie,” she said.
“I never even bought any,” he chuckled.
“I’d be happy to help you on a return trip, sir,” Taylor said in her best salesgirl voice, then laughed. “Okay, so…I like this. Us. But I can’t do this as a steady thing. Are you okay if we’re not a couple?”
“Yes. Are you?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” She smirked at him suspiciously. “Anyway. You. How many other girls so far?”
Alex blinked. He didn’t expect her to jump right to that. “Lorelei and your boss and you and Jocelyn…not that Jocelyn or your boss are gonna happen again. And Onyx.”
Taylor snorted. “You slept with someone with a name like Onyx? Is there anyone else?”
“Rachel. I haven’t slept with her, but we’ve kissed. There’s something there. I think that one might be serious, too.”
“Your guardian angel?” He nodded again, and she just laughed in amazement. “You talk to your guardian angel. That’s gotta be crazy. This whole deal is crazy. You’re crazy for not being made crazy by it!”
“It’s sinking in now, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, kinda. How do you deal with it?”
Alex pondered her question. “I just keep thinking that I couldn’t stand going back. In that chapel, I figured I’d never live with myself if I just left. And with everything that’s happened since, I just know I couldn’t stand backing down from the good anymore than I could back down from the bad.”
“Like those guys at the mall,” Taylor suggested.
“Yeah, I guess. Not like that was all me, though,” he reminded her. “You’re kinda bad ass.”
She didn’t let him change the subject. “I wish I had known you were this ballsy back in high school.”
Alex shrugged. “Nothing this crazy happened then. But would it have made any difference? I really was a spazz back then.”
“Was? Back then?” Taylor grinned. It hung there a moment before he pushed her back onto the bed. The two wrestled together, soon finding that their robes didn’t hold closed very well.
“You know this isn’t a good way to make me not make fun of you?” Taylor giggled.
“I know,” he smiled, kissing her.
“Mmmhhh, what were we talking about again?”
“Who else I’ve slept with or might have something going on with,” Alex answered. He sat up again and put his hands over his face. “Ugh. I’m such a slut.”
Taylor laughed at him. “I’m sure most guys in your position would be. You’ve got no reason not to be.” She giggled at a random thought. “Oh God. I can totally see you in a smoking jacket in your trophy room showing off all the panties mounted on your wall.” She affected a deep, melodramatic English accent. “‘And I claimed this one in Hawaii. She nearly gave me the slip, but in the end, I had her!’”
“Jesus, if I ever get like that please shoot me. I so do not want to be Relentless Arrogant Seducer Dude. That’s just creepy.”
“I think you’re fine. But seriously. It’s only been a week and look at you already.”
“That’s kinda what I mean,” Alex said. “I don’t think of you like a notch in my belt or anything. You or anyone else.”
Taylor smiled at that. “I know you don’t. I’m here right now and I know everything and all I feel is happy and appreciated and spoiled. I don’t feel pressured. I chose to be here and it’s fucking wonderful. So I can either drop you in a jealous huff, or I can admit that there’s something kind of sexy about you turning into such a stud. At least you’re not doing it behind my back. Or anyone else’s, right?”
Alex shook his head. “They know. Well. Onyx knows I have someone else, but she’s got someone else, too…kinda need to talk to her about the rest when I get a chance, but I will. Rachel can apparently see me anytime I’m not with Lorelei. She says angels don’t feel jealousy.”
At that, Taylor snorted and waved to the open air. “Hi, Rachel!” she called out. “Fuck him! I did! It’s great!” Alex’s eyes bugged out of his head with shock, which left Taylor cackling with laughter.
“Don’t joke about that!” he said, laughing but also mortified. “I’m not kidding! I have no idea when she’s watching and when she’s not.”
Taylor laughed harder. “Oh man. Alex, that’s not a bodyguard, that’s a stalker.”
“Maybe, if you think your stalker’s awesome.” He looked around the empty room. “I’m probably gonna pay for that later.”
“You’re welcome,” Taylor giggled.
“You’re bad.”
“You want me.”
“I really do.”
“Good. Have me.” She pulled his face down for a long, indulgent kiss, writhing against him indulgently.
“You know I want to be your friend more than I want to be your bed buddy, right?”
“Hopefully you can be both for awhile. I’ve missed you, and I didn’t even know it until last week…and if we can hook up with no worries, I can’t see either of us resisting the temptation. Not unless I start seeing someone else.” Taylor looked like she was about to say something else, but then fell silent.
Alex noticed. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” She tried to blow off his unsatisfied frown, but finally relented. “What’s…is everything with you and Lorelei a two-way street? Can she fool around with whoever she wants, too?”
“Um. I’m, uh, being a total hypocrite with her,” Alex admitted. “I told her I don’t care if she fools around with other women all she wants, but I want to be her only man.”
“Huh.”
He shrugged. “She told me I don’t have to share at all if I don’t want to. Wants me to only do what I’m comfortable with. If she didn’t like that rule, I’m sure she’d convince me to change my mind about it. Lorelei can run circles around me without me even realizing it.” He fell silent, looking at Taylor thoughtfully, and added, “She likes you. If you want to see more of her, too, with or without me…I respect her privacy on that sort of stuff. She can keep all the secrets she wants there.”
“I’d like that, but that’s not why I asked,” Taylor admitted.
“I’m not going to be a hypocrite about you, too. You start seeing somebody else, I’ll cool it. I promise.”
“You’re not a hypocrite if she’s comfortable with your arrangement,” Taylor said, “but yeah. I don’t want to be exclusive, either. Even if I’m not actually looking for someone else, we need to establish that.”
Alex nodded. “It’s fine. I just want to know what will make you uncomfortable.”
Taylor gave her head a dismissive toss. “I’m not telling you to hold back on being affectionate. If that ever needs to change, I’ll tell you. If I start seeing someone else, I’ll tell you. But…Alex, you running around the way you have sounds so awesome. I don’t want a boyfriend, but I’m…”
She was hesitant to say it despite the calm, affectionate look on her partner’s face. But she had to get it out. “She did something to me, Alex. Both of us. She told me straight off, no STDs, no pregnancies, and I’m way hornier than I’ve ever been…And she made me better looking than ever, too. I’m afraid of getting hung up on myself, but I can’t even tell myself I’m not hot so I can’t get a big ego.”
“You’re smoking hot, Taylor,” Alex confirmed. “But I don’t think you’re going to get a huge ego. Say what’s on your mind.”
“…I kind of wanna go nuts for awhile,” Taylor confessed. “Like you. I want to try things. Have fun. Be adventurous. Maybe kinda scandalous.”
“You mean with other guys,” he said. She nodded, looking at him with a bit of worry and guilt. He asked, “Lots of other guys?”
“Maybe? I just want to…go have fun.”
Alex looked at her thoughtfully before he said, “Do you trust me?”
“Completely.”
He took a deep breath. “If you want…I imagine Lorelei’s pretty good at arranging whatever sort of fun you’re looking for.”
* * *