“You don’t wear anything to bed?”

“No.”

Shit.

Not what I need to hear when I’m trying to be a decent man.

“That makes two of us then.”

I walk over to her dresser and pull out a drawer. All of her panties, bras, shorts, and shirts are organized into nice, tidy piles. I avoid touching the lacy lingerie since resisting her is hard enough as it is. Grabbing a soft shirt, I walk back to the bed. She sits up and looks at me groggily.

“Take off your dress and put this on.”

I start to offer to help her and decide against it. I’m a man and I’m only human. Only someone with superpowers would be able to resist her with her clothes off, and that’s not me. I know my limits and I’m reaching them very fast.

“I’m going to get you a couple of aspirin. They’re in the kitchen cabinet, right?”

I vaguely remember seeing her reach for them the other night when I was wasted. The thought crosses my mind that we both should stop drinking if this relationship ever has a chance of moving forward.

New rule. No more alcohol.

She starts tugging up her dress, and I hurry out of the room before it gets to the point where I can’t walk away.

In the kitchen, I open and close several of the cabinets until I find the one with her medical supplies. Lila is obviously a health nut. One shelf is loaded with several different kinds of vitamins and supplements along with Band-Aids, hydrogen peroxide, aspirin, and a round pink container of birth control pills.

Out of curiosity, I pick up the packet of birth control pills and open it. The pill for today is still there, which means she forgot to take it. Or she takes them at night before she goes to bed.

A crazy and desperate plan forms in my mind.

When this is all over, Lila isn’t going to be able to walk away from me without a backwards glance if I can help it.

I punch out today’s pill and drop it down the sink’s garbage disposal. This time I’m one step ahead of her. I always wear condoms, so I still have time to think this over carefully before I risk anything. It’s probably a stupid and ridiculous idea. For some reason, it makes me feel more in control of the situation to know I have a backup plan if things go bad.

After shaking out two aspirin, I place them on the counter and pour her a glass of water. When I walk back into the bedroom, she's already in her shirt and under the sheets.

“Here’s your aspirin,” I say, handing them to her along with the water. “We need to stop doing this. No more heavy drinking. Okay?”