Billionaires Dollar Series

Maddie’s eyebrows shoot high, just like I knew they would. There’s nothing that gets her rising to the surface like a challenge. I lean in, nodding to the couple a few seats down from us. “I bet they think they’re pushing boundaries when they use handcuffs in bed.”

Her eyes widen. “Uh-huh.”

“I bet they text all the time, and they fight every Sunday over where they’re going to eat brunch. And even with all that, even with the boring vanilla sex, they’re still getting it regularly, and that’s what no one can live without.”

Maddie’s tongue darts out to lick her lips. “You’re telling me handcuffs in bed isn’t pushing boundaries?”

I give a slow grin. “That’s your takeaway from everything I said?”

“Perhaps.”

“Handcuffs isn’t very experimental, no,” I confirm. “Have you ever used them in bed?”

She takes another sip of her champagne, a rather large one, but her eyes are steady on mine. It’s clear she’s not going to let me shock her.

“I have not, no.”

“A shame.” My hand drifts closer to hers on the bar. “So the sex in your last relationship wasn’t…”

“Interesting,” she fills in. “It wasn’t interesting.”

“It wasn’t interesting?”

“No.” The flush creeps down her neck, and she reaches up to push her hair back. The movement exposes the long column of her throat and the wide expanse of skin. Collarbones. Shoulders.

My thoughts derailing.

“I’ve sometimes wondered if perhaps it’s me, that I’m just not that… God, I’ve had too much champagne for this conversation.”

“There’s no such thing.” I make my voice firm. “Tell me.”

She looks up at the ceiling, like she’s petitioning the gods for help. “I’ve started to wonder if it’s me, that I’m just not that interesting.”

I’m shaking my head in disgust before she’s finished the sentence. “Well, that’s bullshit.”

“And how would you know? You’ve never had sex with me.”

Not yet, my mind supplies.

I hold her gaze. “I can tell.”

The flush deepens, until Maddie feels like a flame, scorching me across the few inches separating us.

“It sounds like it’s the men you’ve been with that have been the problem,” I say.

“Maybe. Perhaps there’s just no such thing as a guy that’s smart, funny, sweet, and good in bed.”

I don’t disagree with her, because I’m all of those things except sweet. “You can have the last one, at least. What’s made you think you’re not interesting?”

She looks past me, like she’s debating her answer. My curiosity rises by every second passing, and not for the first time, my mind returns to the image of her ex glaring at me.

I’ve never enjoyed being glared at more.

“I can’t tell you this.”

“Why on earth not?” I pour us both more champagne. “You’ve known me forever.”

“Yes, well, the last time we saw each other, we were still too young to be thinking seriously about having sex. I was, at least.”

I grin. I’d been thinking about it, all right, but my first time had still been a few years away.

Maddie smiles as well, and for a few moments we just look at each other.

“You’ve grown up real handsome, you know,” she tells me.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

This is when I should quip back how she’s done the same. Raise an eyebrow and say I know. But the compliment strikes lower, right in my chest, warming me more than the alcohol had.

Fuck, I need to get a grip.

Maddie saves me from responding, because she puts her head in her hands. “Most of the sex I’ve had just hasn’t been… fun? The guys get so serious right away. Like we’re working on a group project.”

“And we all know how disappointing those can be.”

“Exactly. And I’ve tried to suggest things to two guys, Jason being one, about my… preferences, and it’s gone down like a bomb each time.” She raises a finger at me, like I’d been about to interject. I hadn’t. “I’ve tried saying it constructively and encouragingly, like I’m coaching a little league team.”

My grin is wide. “But no dice?”

“No. It’s like I’m critiquing them when I suggest that I don’t have a button you can just press and poof! Success.”

I hide my grin behind my hand, but Maddie catches it. She shakes her head. “Can’t believe I said that.”

“Look, I’ve only met your ex once, but it’s fairly obvious he’s not going to handle criticism well. He’s too arrogant.”

“Pot,” she says, nodding at me, “meet Kettle.”

I cluck my tongue. “Oh no. His arrogance is fragile-mine is not. To stay the best, you have to keep adapting and learning. No man has the luxury to ignore it when a woman tells him what she wants in bed. No man who wants to have sex with her again, at least.”

Maddie cocks her head, regarding me. Her lips have fallen open.

I raise an eyebrow. “Anything wrong?”

Something dances in those gray eyes of hers. “How do you seduce all those women?”

“All those women,” I quote, shaking my head. “I wish you hadn’t gotten that impression.”

“Is it wrong?”

I raise a shoulder in a half-shrug. There have been many, but something about hearing her familiar voice speak the words doesn’t make me feel proud about it. “There’s no real how-to guide.”