Page 12 of Midnight Kisses (Spicy Fat Cinderella Retelling)

MILES

After her third orgasm of the morning, Perry fell back asleep.

I slipped out of bed carefully, so as not to wake her, and fetched a new bottle of water. With a smug grin, I put it within her reach on the bedside table.

It was six-thirty, which was later than I usually got out of bed, but I felt fucking great. Hottie in my bed, good sex, mystery of who she was solved, and some fucking sleep . Everything was excellent.

After a quick shower—I used the guest bathroom down the hall to avoid waking Perry—I stared into the depths of the fridge.

On weekends I usually had brunch with Matty, and on weekdays I stole a piece of fruit off Sadie’s desk.

Luckily, Mum had threatened to come by tomorrow after some shopping, so I’d preemptively added some bagels to my usual supermarket order.

I pulled out the bagels and a bunch of stuff that could go on them, and scrolled bullshit on my phone while I waited for the espresso machine to heat up.

It made a noise like a screaming cat, so I’d wait until Perry was up to start grinding the beans.

I thought waiting for a sleeping person to wake would irk me—I’d imagined it would be like being on a red eye flight and everyone on the plane was asleep except me.

I would fidget in my seat, silently getting more and more resentful until it took all my willpower not to turn on all my overhead lights and shout and bang things.

But I hadn’t given into these urges since I was a teenager. Ah, fond memories.

Today I felt great. It should have occurred to me earlier that having a sex partner stay all night would be triple the good effect of someone who left after the first round.

Or maybe it was Perry.

“What’s all this?”

Perry-with-the-pretty-pussy was standing in my kitchen, barefoot in her slinky white dress.

She looked good in my house. My dick thought so too, interest stirring like I was twenty again.

That was the Perry effect. It still surprised me that I hadn’t wanted to let her go last night, but I felt even more strongly about it this morning than I had then.

When she’d made to leave, everything within me had shouted no fucking way .

That, and the way she’d nestled into my arms; her air of calm so potent it extended out over me.

I really couldn’t remember laughing with someone like I had last night.

Perry was sweet, but she had enough edge to think I was funny, which sweet girls usually didn’t.

Sweet girls (correctly) pegged me as a prick, so maybe instead of finding Perry charming, I should be worrying about her lack of self-preservation.

That wouldn’t be in my best interest though.

I’d already scrapped my original plan to fuck her out of my system last night, and had gone as far as asking her to stay. I watched her push a bagel down in the toaster, shooting a furtive look at me from under her lashes as she did so.

With that one look, the plan that had been dancing at the edges of my mind all morning locked into place.

If there was one thing I was good at, it was charting a course that was bold, and steering us through it despite seemingly impossible odds. Bravery and sheer bloody mindedness always yielded success in business, and I could apply those same skills to guarantee success here too.

Sweet Perry. She had no idea when she took that silly bathroom job that I was going to rock her world.

I tilted my neck from side to side, easing the cricks, like I always did before I laid out an audacious plan in the boardroom.

“Your shower pressure is excellent,” she said.

“It is, isn’t it?”

“And you have proper big towels. I hate when hotels don’t have towels big enough for me. Like I have an hour to spend dabbing myself dry with a square washcloth.”

I murmured agreement and said, “Let’s get you caffeinated. I have some things I want to sound out. How do you take your coffee?”

She cocked her head. “Bagels and coffee. Wow. I thought you were going to be a ‘ your ride share is outside’ kind of guy.”

I put a hand on my chest like this wasn’t the absolute truth. “Perry, don’t wound me.”

“Ah, yes, your one feeling.”

“Two, now.” I reminded her.

“Espresso with milk, no sugar, please.”

“Coming up.”

“Shall I fix the bagels?”

The only thing that got me hotter than Perry, was Perry being efficiency-minded. I loved it. I pointed at the plates and food I’d laid out. “Please. I like cream cheese on my bagel. And red onion. And capers. Not too many.”

She pulled the plates towards her and started assembling the bagels while I ground beans and frothed milk.

It was very domestic. It could have made me feel trapped, but instead I felt hyper aware of each minute detail.

It felt almost joyous to have company during such a mundane exercise, and to be sharing a routine like this.

When I slid Perry a steaming mug, she swapped it for a bagel.

She took a few bites of hers before asking, “So, what’s your new feeling?”

“It’s actually two new feelings. Horniness has, temporarily, been assuaged.” Sitting across from her at my kitchen island, I gave her an exaggerated leer. “But it’ll return once we’ve refuelled.” I bit into my bagel and chewed. “This is good, blondie. Perfect caper to red onion ratio.”

We finished the bagels. She was tapping something out on her phone and I was mentally aligning the last pieces of my plan.

“I’m just telling Tala you didn’t murder me.”

“Much obliged.”

Her thumbs flew rapidly across the screen and then she put her phone facedown on the counter, raising her palms like she was surrendering.

“There, done now. You’ll be pleased to know I told Tala your BDE swagger was justified.

I thought you’d appreciate the endorsement. Word-of-mouth marketing, so to speak.”

“Unnecessary, but thanks.”

Her shoulders sank. “Okay, then.” She pushed her empty plate away. “Are you going to tell me what those new feelings are?”

This was complex. I didn’t want her to think I was a whole new man after one—great—night together. She shouldn’t get any wild ideas. I was still a look-out-for-number-one kind of guy, it was just that looking out for me now involved sleeping with her more.

I decided to go for tactical honesty.

“Feeling number one: satisfaction. We had an excellent night of orgasms and I slept more than I have in a long time.”

Her mouth curled down slightly, an expression I hadn’t seen from her before. “Good.”

“Yes, very. Feeling number two: determination. I have a plan to help you with Perry Skin . It’s clearly important to you, and I want to preempt you not having time to repeatedly bone me, because you’re busy trying to get your fledgling business off the ground.

I can solve all of your business problems very easily, then we can bang as much as we want. ”

“Right.”

“It’s flawless logic.”

“Yes, it’s clear you think so.”

“Ready to hear my plan?”

She waved a hand for me to proceed. She wasn’t saying much, but I figured she was excited to hear my thoughts. I ploughed on.

“When I was thinking about Perry Skin this morning, I remembered you saying you were at the masquerade to find an investor. Mum would have had some suggestions—” I paused to allow Perry to confirm the discovery phase of this plan.

After a beat, she nodded. “—although she wouldn’t have wanted to invest herself, she’s got too much on her plate as it is.

” Another nod. This was going wonderfully.

“I thought you might turn down my money since we’ve slept together, or even consider the offer offensive. ”

“Correct,” she said stiffly.

“Absolutely, that’s what I thought. Just to check, though…why?”

If you needed money and had none, and someone with a lot of it offered you some, it seemed like a no brainer to take it. But, as Sadie often reminded me, not everyone thought like me. She meant it as an insult, but it was actually a testament to my rare genius.

Perry’s nostrils flared. “Because while I’m very supportive of sex workers’ right to work, and to be safe while working, you can’t just assume that’s what I’ll do if you throw enough money at me.

It’s actually quite vile for a wealthy man to assume everyone is for sale if he asks.

If a sex worker is what you want, great, let me give you the name of a great brothel. ”

“No, no, I get it,” I said quickly. “We’re on the same page.”

Only because this morning when I was in the shower, I ran this scenario in my mind a few times and calculated the high odds of her being more morally rigid than me when it came to accepting money from sex partners.

I was a hardened businessman, as pragmatic as I was wealthy.

Perry, on the other hand, had plural feelings to contend with.

What a ball ache.

When she didn’t attempt to reply, I jumped back in.

“I’ll confess, Perry, I don’t agree it should feel like money for sex.

I think it’s an unrelated instance of one person having no money but a good idea, and another person having lots of money and a willingness to spend it on good ideas.

This is the whole premise of the free market.

But, at the risk of you never wanting to sleep with me again, I’ll shut my mouth.

Offer stands if you change your mind. But cards on the table now: I want to date you.

Exclusively. That’s my primary objective. ”

Her eyebrows flew up. “ Date . Repeatedly. Like…for a fixed term?”

“For as long as we want, until one of us decides we don’t anymore.”

“There’s a word for that, Miles. Exclusive, repeated dating is called having a girlfriend. You want to be my boyfriend, that’s what you’re saying?”

I took a deep breath. “I guess I am.”

“Do you know that if being my boyfriend goes well, it might lead to becoming a husband and father too?”