Page 27 of Stronger Than Fate

“How do you feel?”

“Wonderful,” I responded with a smile.

“Does it hurt? Forgive the questions, but I’ve never been with...”

“I’m fine,” I interrupted him, not needing him to throw his experience in my face. “I feel a little burning, nothing more.”

“Then maybe it’s better if we wait a bit.”

I sat up in bed and the first thing I saw was a small bloodstain on the sheets.

“I’ll have to change the sheets.”

Henry looked where I was looking and then looked back at me.

“Dalina, I don’t want you to be with anyone else, I won’t share you.”

“I suppose that means I won’t be sharing you either,” I stated.

He nodded.

“Can I ask something?” I asked.

He nodded again in silence.

“From what I understood, in previous relationships you neither offered nor asked for fidelity, right?”

“That’s right, but keep in mind that I’ve never been involved with a woman beyond the bedroom, as I told you before, I’m not interested in commitment.”

“Why are you asking me for fidelity?”

“Do you want to be with other men?” he asked, and I could glimpse a certain anxiety awaiting my answer.

“I didn’t say that, I’m just surprised that you’ve changed your way of thinking.”

“I suppose it’s because only I have had the pleasure of being inside you and I don’t want to share that. I never imagined that your choosing me would flatter me so much and make me feel so possessive of you.”

It wasn’t the answer I was expecting, nor was it romantic in any way. I probably felt so good with him that I had hoped for something more sentimental, but that was my problem alone because he had never promised me anything. It wasn’t that I was in love with him either, I just liked him a lot, and the fact that he had been my first made him a special person. Whatever happened with him, I was sure I would never forget Henry Woollardy.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” he said. I saw him pick up the condom he had left on the floor and then head to the en-suite bathroom.

While he was in there, I put on a robe and changed the bloodstained sheet. I didn’t plan to sleep naked, so I went to the closet and looked for a short, sensual nightgown to put on after I used the bathroom.

“You can come back to bed, I’ve already changed the sheet,” I said when he returned to the room, but when I noticed hissurprised look, I immediately regretted it. He was probably one of those men who flee from their temporary companion’s bed after sex, so I hurried to correct my mistake: “if you want to stay a while longer.”

“I can stay,” he affirmed, and then asked: “Do you mind if I stay all night?”

“I’ve never slept with anyone, I might move around a lot in bed and be annoying, but the bed is quite large.”

“Okay, I’ll stay,” he said casually, “but I don’t plan to sleep away from your body, so try not to move.”

“And you try not to snore, that really is annoying.”

“I don’t snore,” he stated, getting into bed and looking at me with a mischievous smile.

“If you do, I’ll make you move to the living room couch.”

“As the hostess, that would reflect very poorly on you,” he said, still laughing.