“Yes, I did. And next time, it’ll be on my cock.” It was then that the town car came to a slow stop. Dorsey looked up at her. His eyes were heavy as he scrambled to dress. He took her shirt out of her hands before she could protest and instead wrapped his own shirt around her shoulders. Liza’s skin buzzed with the contact, and her hands shook, buttoning the mother-of-pearl buttons.

“Even trade,” he said.

She shuffled out of the town car, knees weak, eyes glossy and dazed. Liza turned around just in time to see him fight and stretch her Grab ’Em by the Pussy T-shirt over his head. He had certainly earned it.

BETTER JUDGMENT

From: [email protected]

To: VL magazine

I know you all are normally the ones keeping me abreast of new music and events, but I’m turning the tables today. There’s a radio program I want you to listen to in a couple of weeks. This local DJ gathered a ton of resources and a playlist for Pinoy rap, and I think it’s going to be a worthwhile event to cover.

More details to follow.

Dorsey lay on the back seat of the town car as it rocked gently en route to his loft. The same stupid smile crept across his face every five minutes. You did it. You and Liza are a thing. As soon as he thought it, a new kind of panic crept in. What if he was being presumptuous? What if she didn’t want anything more?

He would just have to make it plain the next time he saw her. That’s right. He was going over there and just saying it. What was he going to say? Liza, I want to be with you because your eyes are like shimmering dark amber? Those kinds of interactions left a foul taste in his mouth. And Liza was unlike any other woman he’d ever known. She didn’t need tasteless flattery to be convinced that they were making an excellent decision. No, they had gotten this far on candid truths. Liza would expect and respect him telling her the flat-out truth. She wouldn’t want to be flattered to death. Maybe he could write up a quick cost-benefit analysis, maybe a SWOT analysis of their relationship, and go over it with her. They could problem solve together. He had three things to convey:

• That he was fully in love with her
• That their relationship was a very smart decision
• That he could overcome the obstacles: her family and her inflexible economic views

He would manage it for her because everything else about them was so right. So right. God she tasted so sweet. Tonight was a slick, wet, hot fever dream. The smell of her—like the forest after it rained—lingered over him. Tomorrow his only goal would be feeling her clench and come all over his dick.