Her smile actually brightened a bit, and she nodded. She took a sip of her hot chocolate, gathering her thoughts.

“You see, I never had a place that I could think about as home,” Olivia started. “Ah, not like that, I always had a roof over my head, both of my parents are alive, and we were always a well-off family. I was never abused, either. And, yet, the house I grew up in, it was never a home.”

She lowered her eyes, drawing circles with her finger on the table, most likely looking for the right words. Or, maybe, reliving the memories in her head. I kept my silence, knowing all too well that no words would help her right now.

“My parents are in love with the idea of perfection. Outward perfection, that is. The perfect work life, the perfect house life, the perfect love life. The perfect couple, my ass. They both are cheating on each other, and they both know that. But divorce will break the illusion of a perfect life, so they stay together.” She paused to take another sip from her cup, and, after sighing deeply, continued. “And I was supposed to be their perfect kid. Perfect behavior, perfect grades, perfectly living the perfect plan they laid before me. They wanted a soulless doll instead of a child, and, for the most part, treated me like I had no will of my own. And I tried my best to live up to their expectations. Just so they would keep praising me. Good girl, Olivia. You are doing great, Olivia. For as long as I could.”

She sighed once more, looking into the empty cup.

“Another cup?” I asked her.

“Nah, I had my fill,” Olivia responded. “There is a lot more to my story, obviously, but, erm, I would prefer to keep it to myself for now. If you don’t mind, of course.”

“Up to you,” I told her.

“Do you really not care about my past?” she questioned.

“At this point of time? Not really,” I shrugged. “I would love to hear it, but I would still have my doubts about whether you are telling me the truth. Sorry if it comes as unfeeling, but I would like to know you more before going too deep.”

“You are a bastard, honey.” Olivia let out a hollow chuckle. “It hurts a bit to hear, but, I guess I had it coming. Who would believe a gal with a past of paid dating, right?”

“Your words, not mine,” I denied. “Not going to lie and tell it doesn’t faze me at all, but that’s not what I meant. Not at all.”

“Then what?” she all but demanded an answer.

“We all have our sob stories, you know. And, with a nature like mine, I prefer not to get attached too fast.” I said, and gulped down the liquid in my own cup.

I pointed my finger at the key she clasped tightly in her fist right now.

“Albeit, I kind of failed a bit already,” I continued. “I let you into my home, something that I only ever did for Bella. And, what’s even worse, I have no clue why I did that. Maybe, for once, I decided to leave it all to chance.”

“And. You decided to give a chance like this to someone like me?” Was that really so hard to believe?

I nodded. I said too much already.

“To the gal, with the past of paid dating, whom you met as a part of some harebrained scheme to rob you?” When she puts it like that…

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I nodded again.

“To the girl who, despite being such a failure, actually is, even now, fine with being paid?” Maybe I didn’t think it through enough.

I shrugged. Eh, why the hell not.

“Well, she is the one who is holding the key to my home, so, why not?” I decided to finally voice something.

“Honey,” Olivia called out a minute later. “It is fine if I start falling for you, right?”

“Eh, don’t tell me that…” I started.

“...just act with that in mind, until you won’t have a choice but to believe I mean it,” the weird girl on across the table, someone who wants to add colors to my life, someone who made me want to leave things to chance, finished my words for me.

There was the most brilliant smile on her face I’ve seen so far.

“Hey, honey,” she said cheerfully. “Let’s go home.”

As clichéd as it sounds, at that moment, my heart skipped a bit. Or maybe it was a part of the illusion spell I was under. Whatever. Fuck, if this is not going to work out in the end, this will hurt like a bitch.

“Let’s go home,” I replied with a smile.

***

I let her open the door to the apartment with her own key, which led to another brilliant smile on Olivia’s beautiful face. Maybe even brighter than that one that made my heart skip a bit. As we went inside, and I closed the door, she instantly threw herself into my arms, dragging me into a deep and passionate kiss.

Once more, I got another confirmation of how touch starved my, now certainly, girlfriend was. Taking the part of her story she told me about into consideration, not that surprising at all. Hm, now that I think, she was always a bit too eager to seek a sexual release, both as a stress relief, and as a coping reaction.

This line of thinking got cut abruptly by Olivia’s hand sliding into my pants. Naughty. I responded by sliding both of my hands under her skirt, and, cupping her soft butt, raised her into the air. She broke the kiss for a moment, letting out a surprised, yet happy, yelp followed by another smile, this time full of pure lust. Her arms intertwined behind my neck, and her legs did the same behind my back.

I guess it’s time for something a bit unusual. This time it was my turn to break the kiss, since I was curious to see her reactions. This was the exact type of situation for which I kept my body so in-shape. Well, one of them.

I pinned Olivia’s back to a wall, still holding her in the air with one hand, and undid my belt with the free one. After a short period of surprise, her gaze turned back into one of heat and want. With another motion, I pulled her pullover down, letting her braless bust out. She let out a deep breath, as I did so. Another motion and I pulled her underwear to the side, just enough to get access. My hand brushed against her private parts, eliciting a moan out of her. Followed briefly by another even louder as we became connected.

Olivia, moaning together with the rhythm of my movements, tried to pull me back into our kiss. I was about to let her do it, but something kept bothering me. It wasn’t so strong for me to stop, of course, but just enough to notice.

Ah, here it was. In her eyes. Heat. Hunger. Desire. Too much. She was drowning in these feelings. Throwing herself into the sex with reckless abandon. And it bothered me. How curious. I was quite sure it wasn’t something new. And yet, something did change.

A wave of dark cold rose from the depths of my being. I looked into her eyes again, seeing in them a greedy beast, fully content with the situation.

‘There is no need to change anything.’ The gaze and grin of this fucking animal told me. ‘Enjoy.’

The worst thing, there was nothing I could do to change this. If my conjecture was right, and Olivia really treated sex as the substitute for a deeper connection… It was too late for me to change this between the two of us. Judging by her insecure tendencies, this would lead to a backlash… Once more, everything came back to the simple truth, you can’t undo what already happened.

Lost deep inside my thoughts, I let go of my control, upping the intensity of my movements. The moans of my girlfriend became even louder, her grip on my shoulders strengthening. The painful feeling of her nails brought me back to reality.

If only there was a way to show her that there was more to relationships than just sex. What a drag.

I felt Olivia squirming in my arms, trying to angle herself a bit differently. Seems like she was close.

Well, the heavy thoughts can wait for later.