“Ahhh, fuck… Gabrielle, I’m so sorry for that just now with no condom. I didn’t mean to—I—I’m always safe when I have se—”

I shut off my ridiculous yakking and dared to meet her eyes, now no longer closed, but wide open and looking up at me curiously. “When you have sex with others besides me, you mean?”

“Yessss, but I don’t think of you in the same way as others I’ve been with before, so I don’t always remember to use a condom. Christ, I’m really sorry for being so irresponsible and for putting you at risk. But you don’t have to worry about catching anything from me. I mean—ah fuck, that sounded bloody awful, didn’t it? What I meant is that I don’t engage in risky sex. I always use protection—with everyone but you, apparently—and have a recent test I can show you—with my clean bill of health marked down in black and white. Truly, you don’t have anything to worry about there. But what about birth control? Is that going to be a worry at all? I know I’m rambling on and on here, but it’s fucking important that you know I didn’t mean to do it—”

“It’s okay, Ivan. I appreciate your concern, but it’s really going to be okay. I believe you when you say you’re clean. I’m clean too. And I’m also on birth control. I just had my shot last month, so contraception is covered even if you forget to use a condom. I also haven’t been with anyone in well over a year, so my shots have all been precautionary, but every three months I go and get a new one.”

“You are an amazing creature, Miss Hargreave, and I really don’t know how I can show my appreciation other than this.” I leaned in to kiss her and felt her move underneath me, reminding me that our bodies were still very much connected, and that my cock was very happy right where it was. I was also relieved when she returned my kisses, essentially letting me know I hadn’t entirely fucked things up with her twice in a single day. By some miracle of holy intervention, I really didn’t deserve but accepted anyway, I delivered up my heartfelt thank you to the angel I figured might be helping me out here. Thank you, Mum, for lookin’ out for your son.

“But I would like to know what you meant by ‘not thinking of me in the same way as you think of others’ whenever you have sex.”

Because nobody even compares to you. “Well, I haven’t had any sex like this in a long, long time, kitten, if you must know.”

“Since you brought it up, I think I must.” She winked at me, surprising me yet again. She didn’t appear angry or upset either, more like curious in her adorable kittenish sort of way.

“The last time I was with someone was a few days after the gala where I met you at the end of June. I definitely used a condom, and it was a very brief encounter with a paid escort that I can assure you I had no wish to repeat then or after. Her motives for being with me were for the purpose of destroying my reputation at the request of another. In the end, being with her is something I deeply regret for a lot of reasons. I’m not proud of my choices there.”