Page 11 of Badd Ass
I finished my second glass of wine. “Okay, fine, we’re eye-fucking. So what?”
“So, why don’t you take him back to your hotel and fuck him for real?”
“I already did, well, at his place, but you know what I mean.”
“So?”
I gave her a look that said the answer should have been blindingly obvious. “So…one ride per customer, remember? That’s how we do things. To protect our hearts?”
Claire was uncharacteristically silent for a moment. “I’ve been getting sort of tired of that lately. I’m just…not as interested in the endless parade of guys as I used to be. I don’t know if it’s the move to Seattle or getting older, or what, but…I’m starting to think about getting a boyfriend.”
I blinked at her. “Get a boyfriend? Like, long-term, live-in, grunts and farts and forgets to put the seat downboyfriend?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. Why not? I get lonely in my apartment at night. It’d be nice to have someone in bed with me, you know? I mean, really, how hard can it be to break in a boyfriend?”
I laughed. “Claire. What are you gonna do, go to the boyfriend store and pick out a boyfriend? Get some boyfriend chow and boyfriend potty training pads? Maybe a nice floral print boyfriend collar and leash?”
She pulled awell…actuallyface. “Yeah, pretty much. Except if anyone was gonna wear a collar and leash, it’d be me.”
I sputtered disbelieving laughter. “Claire!”
“What? I like being dominated now and then—so what? It’s fun to pretend to be all submissive.”
“I know you liked being spanked, but goddamn, Claire. I had no idea.”
She shrugged, blushing faintly. “I’d only do that when you weren’t around.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I was embarrassed. I thought you’d think I was a freak or something.”
I took her hands. “Since when am I that judgmental?”
Claire shrugged again. “It’s not that I thought you were judgmental, it’s just that you like things…vanilla.”
I couldn’t answer right away. “Vanilla?”
She nodded. “Yeah. You don’t go in for any kink at all. Like, have you ever let a guy tie you up? Or spank you? Or blindfold you? That’s still pretty vanilla compared to some of the things a few guys have asked me to do, but for you? You like your guys blah. Cute, sexy, funny, and blah.”
I felt a twinge of hurt and couldn’t help myself from firing back at her. “And since we’re on the subject, do youreallylike rough sex, or do you just like it rough because it keeps guys from getting attached to the real you?”
She let out a breath from between pursed lips and frowned at me. “Damn, girl, going right in for the kill, huh?” She glanced away from me. “I like it rough because that’s something I like, okay? Itisthe real me, it’s just…notallof the real me.”
I blew a raspberry. “Bullshit yourself if you want, but you can’t bullshit me.” I slammed back the rest of my wine. “And you’re wrong about me liking my guys blah, by the way.”
“Yeah, Mara, youtotallylike your guys blah. The most blah. Not there’s anything wrong with them, they’re just…meh. Nothing to write home about.”
“Wow. I had no idea you felt that way.”
She reached up and tugged hard on a lock of my hair. “You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah.” I swatted at her hand. “And I love you back.”
“But I think you pick them blah on purpose.”
“Why would I do that?”
Claire ordered us each more wine as the waitress came by, and then turned back to me. “I don’t know. We don’t really talk about what we did in the Army, and we certainly don’t talk about our lives before the Army. So, I don’t know. But you like your guys blah, and you don’t ever let a guy actually get to know you, especially not if he’s an interesting guy…” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Like Zane Badd, he of the epic penis.”