Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“Did you do it?” I ask.
She pauses, her whole body going tense. “That’s the thing.”
“What thing?”
She looks around the living room, checking for possible eyewitnesses. There’s no one. Only leather furniture and framed art. “We haven’t.”
“You haven’t…?”
She checks the space again, taking in the aura of quiet. Which is totally unnecessary. Except for Dad’s parties, the place is always quiet.
Mom was the one who brought the noise. Who loved music and film and art and light.
Still, Lexi checks the surroundings one more time. “We haven’t had sex.”
“You…what?” My jaw drops halfway to the floor. If someone gave me a million dollars and a thousand years to come up with a guess for why Lexi is worried about her relationship, I would never have picked that.
Lexi is not a woman who waits. Lexi goes after exactly what she wants, with exactly who she wants, whenever she wants. Before she met Jake, Lexi exclusively dated guys on a fling-to-fling basis.
I can’t believe she’s gone six months without sex, let alone six months without sleeping with the guy she’s dating. The guy she really, really wants.
Is she ill?
“I see it on your face.” She hides behind her hands. “I’m a freak.”
“No, you aren’t. Lots of people wait,” I say.
“What the hell am I doing?” She shakes her head, hands and all. “He wanted to take it slow, and I thought he meant a few weeks. I didn’t want to be one of those guys, you know?”
“What guys?”
“The guys who dump women because they won’t put out.”
“You’re not a guy,” I say.
“The principle applies!” She drops her hands. “Do you think it’s all some scheme? To entice me with the promise of sexual chemistry and string me along until I’m desperate to make some sort of commitment?”
“Why would he do that?”
“Women do it.”
“What women?” I ask.
“Charlotte did it on Sex and the City. And look how that worked out!”
“She left the guy because he was impotent.”
Her stare screams obviously.
“Are you impotent?”
“Oh my God… Is he impotent?” she asks, horrified, as if she’d never considered it until now. “What if it’s because he’s impotent?”
Hmm…it’s a fair point. “There are other options.”
“What other options?”
“Medication and sex toys and—” I stop myself mid-sentence. Lexi isn’t interested in that. Not for her future husband.
Lexi wants one thing from guys: satisfaction without complication.
Or she did, before Jake. But she’s been with him for almost six months. She must want something else besides sex with him, too. Even if she can’t see it.
“Did he give you a reason for waiting?” I ask.
“He said he rushed into things with his ex. They didn’t get to know each other because they were always screwing like rabbits.” She lets out a wistful sigh. “That could have been me. I could be screwing him like a rabbit.”
“You still could.”
“I can’t sleep with him now,” she says.
“Why?”
She shoots me a look, like get real. “He’s obviously expecting something I can’t give him.”
Is there anything Lexi can’t deliver here? “Such as?”
“He wants to make love.”
Oh. That.
Love.
The one little thing Lexi isn’t interested in trying.
Or maybe she is, now, and just doesn’t realize it.
“What would you do, Dee?” she asks.
This isn’t about me or what I would do. It’s about what’s best for Lexi. What’s best for our company, too. All of it is connected now.
“You like him, don’t you?”
She nods.
“Then I’d do it. Stick with him until I knew I wanted to marry him. That’s the whole point of dating. To meet someone, craft a partnership, build a life together.”
“You make it sound so sexy,” she deadpans.
“It’s not supposed to be sexy all the time.”
She looks at me like I told her the sky is green.
“Life is about more than sex,” I press.
This does not compute with Lexi. “That’s what people say when they want you to keep having bad sex. Is that what you want, Dee? A lifetime of bad sex? Do you know how many women put up with bad sex from men just because they feel affection for them? Is that what you want for me?”
“No. Of course not.” How can I explain this to her? It’s not like I’m a bastion of relationship success. That’s why I needed to develop an app. To help people like me find matches. And she’s not wrong, either. The top two reasons why couples fight are money and sex. A relationship with bad sex is a bad relationship for most people. I need to try a different approach…
“You’ve had fun, haven’t you?” I ask.
“We have,” she agrees.
“Maybe you’re close enough now to do it,” I say. “To give him the intimacy he wants.”
“I don’t know. Maybe this is a sign. He wants something I can’t give him. I’ve been thinking about ending it for a while. Why drag it out?”
Since when? She hasn’t said anything. No, she’s just scared and overwhelmed and I can’t blame her. All of this pressure from Willa, from the app, from me, to make it work with Jake. More pressure is the last thing she needs. “Just talk to him tonight, and see what he does,” I say. “Tell him about what you need. That’s all I’m asking.”