Chapter 67: All You Need to Determine a Relationship Status Is Some Sunshine-Lemon Yellow Paint

When Octavia’s eyelids fluttered open the next morning, she realized she was still locked in Raemon’s embrace. She felt his hands beginning to move against her body once he sensed she was no longer asleep.

“You’re awake,” Raemon said, his lips on the back of her neck. “Finally.”

Octavia stifled a yawn. “Why? Did I sleep till noon or something?”

He was still feeling up her body with his hands, skimming his palms over her back, round her middle, and over her breasts. It was the lightest of touches, but incredibly sensual.

“No…,” Raemon said, gently biting at her ear.

“What time is it?” Octavia asked.

“Don’t know. And I don’t care.”

“Then why did it matter how long I slept?”

“Because,” Raemon started. His next action was the hand he slipped between Octavia’s legs. “I wanted to do this.”

She felt his fingers slide into her center and begin working their magic inside her. Meanwhile, her neck was being teased by his lips and tongue.

“This is why I wanted you to wake up beside me,” Raemon murmured between kisses.

Octavia bit down on her lip. She had her back to him, and she could feel his hardness against her butt.

“Really?” she managed to say, her nonchalant words were spiked with a suppressed excitement. “You should have told me that in the first place, there’s no way I would have left.”

Raemon’s mouth moved farther down her body.

“I’ll make sure you don’t do that ever again,” Raemon said huskily, his fingers digging into her skin. “You won’t want to leave. Ever. I can make sure of that.”

He turned Octavia’s body for her to lie flat on her back and then continued kissing her neck. Down and down he went to her center, where his fingers were still pumping in and out of her.

When his mouth entered her already wet folds, a tortured cry escaped her lips.

“God,” Octavia exclaimed. She was breathing heavily now. “That’s one way to start the morning…”

Raemon’s tongue reached deeper inside her, and she arched her back in response.

Her fingers desperately clenched the bedsheets under her while her hips thrust forward, powered by the magical force of his tongue.

“Octavia,” he said, extracting his mouth from her long enough to voice the words. “I want you to finish. Now,” he commanded.

Octavia didn’t need any extra encouragement. She let go, falling into the quicksand of her orgasm. She sunk through the warm wetness, her body in a state of pure ecstasy.

“I will have to leave at some point,” Octavia said once the tremors had finished shaking her body. She watched as Raemon emerged from between her thighs and began working his lips over her body again.

“Not for the next few hours.”

“A few hours couldn’t hurt,” Octavia said, smiling. She raised her head. “Hey. Let’s do that again. But this time, I want you inside me.”

Raemon lifted his head off her body. He smirked. “Are you sure you’re up for such…rigorous…activity first thing in the morning?”

“I’m up for it if you are.” Octavia grinned. She reached for his face and drew it to hers, planting a deep kiss on his lips. One hand of his went around the back of her head, pulling her face to his as his tongue dove into her mouth.

When he began to reach past her for the bedside table, Octavia dragged his hand back to its position on the curve of her back.

“Don’t worry about that,” she said hurriedly, her lips against his.

“Octavia…I don’t want you to risk anything.”

“Trust me, it’s taken care of. And I’m clean. And I know you are.”

Only then did Raemon withdraw his lips from her face. “How would you know that?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

“Good. Let’s do this thing.”

“Are you so sure of my word?”

Octavia shrugged. “I don’t need to be. I’ve seen your medical records.”

“You what? …How?”

“From your private computer. You know you leave your laptop open and just sitting there when I’m around, like, all the time. It wasn’t that hard.”

“All my accounts are password protected.”

“I know.”

“Damn. I suppose I’ll need Ivan to upgrade the security protection.”

“No need. It’s perfectly capable of handling the most dangerous security threats. I can attest to that.”

“Except the one, of course.”

“Of course,” Octavia repeated cheerfully. “And can I say, kudos to you for being proactive with your sexual health. I myself visit the sex clinic frequently.”

“I don’t know whether to be mad at you or to fuck you senseless.”

Octavia grinned. “Why choose? Just do both.”

It was a good long while before either of them left the silk sheets of his enormous, king-sized bed.

And when Octavia decided to take a shower, Raemon rather conveniently decided to do the same…at the same time.

So another eventful hour passed by with them steaming up the already steamy glass enclosure.

By the time Octavia picked up her phone to check her messages, she was surprised to see the time.

“Shit! It’s that late?” Octavia frowned as she took a bite of her toast. Raemon had been nice enough to make her breakfast, eggs benedict on toast.

He sat by her in the breakfast nook, reading over the morning paper.

Octavia frowned. “Damn it. I promised Quentin I would help him move into his new place today.”

Raemon raised an eyebrow. “Quentin? The Curie designer?”

“Bowler hat and bright clothes? That’s the one.”

“Interesting.”

“What? Why do you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like that.”

“I didn’t speak in any particular way.”

“Yes, you did. Do you have a problem with him?”

Raemon calmly took a sip of coffee from his mug. “Should I?” He voiced this with ease, but there was another question lurking behind his words.

Octavia observed him for a few seconds and then laughed. “That’s funny!”

“What is?”

“You. Getting jealous. Of Quentin.”

Raemon was still calm. “I’m certainly not jealous. I just don’t trust anyone around you.”

“Why? All of my friends are decent, respectable people. Well…Sierra’s a bit psychotic, but she’s not really my friend.”

“I’m sure your friends have many admirable qualities. But you’re too quick to trust, and that will get you in trouble. Good thing you have someone to look out for you.”

Octavia was about to launch into all sorts of protests and rebuttals, but then she reconsidered it. It was too early in the day to start that lengthy of an argument.

Besides, something had changed. After what Raemon had told her the previous night, she felt differently toward him. While thinking over his words, she nibbled at her toast listlessly.

“Are you all right?” Raemon’s voice asked, cutting through her thoughts.

“Huh? … Yeah, I’m fine.”

Raemon’s eyes continued to watch her face.

“You’re quieter than usual.”

“And you’re complaining about that?”

“Octavia, about this morning…”

“What about it?”

“I don’t want you to think you have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“Do you mean sex? Um, of course I want to do that.”

“But not unprotected.”

“Duh,” Octavia said, “but like I said—I’m clean, you’re clean. What else is there?”

The meaning behind the grave look on Raemon’s face dawned on Octavia.

“Oh…that. I said don’t worry about it.”

“And why is that?”

“Because it’s a nonissue. I had my tubes tied.”

She stuffed the last piece of toast into her mouth and crunched on it noisily.

“Octavia, you didn’t have to do that for us.”

She gave him a bewildered look and swallowed her toast. “I didn’t. It was done years ago, silly. Not like last week or something.”

“Oh. But…why?”

“Simple, I like having sex, but I don’t want to get pregnant. And I don’t want to have kids. Ever.”

Raemon’s face was still grave. “How can you be sure?”

“It’s easy. Just hanging around kids was enough to convince me. Children are, like, super adorable and all, but honestly…they’re also little parasites.” Octavia shook her head.

“The only person I want to take care of is me.”

At Raemon’s continued silence, she remarked, “I know, I know—I’m a horrible human being for having a womb and not wanting to use it. The angels are weeping for me!”

“I wasn’t going to say that. It’s just that…well…you don’t hear that very often.”

She snorted. “If people were more realistic about how they felt, I’m sure we would. Anyway…isn’t it great?” Octavia grinned.

“We get to have latex-free banging sessions whenever we want, with a practically zero percent risk of conception!”

“I admire how you always find humor in everything.”

“Hey, you should be just as happy as I am. There’s no risk of you becoming some gold digger’s baby daddy.” She gave him a sly look.

“That is, if I’m telling the truth, of course. I could have just been lying about it all along. I may be cooking up your offspring from your spilled seed as we speak.

“Million-dollar child-support checks, here I come!” she whooped, throwing her hands up in celebration. Octavia then took another bite of her eggs and chewed with a smile on her face.

Before returning to the paper, he commented, “If you don’t take that sarcasm down a notch, I’ll initiate one of those ‘latex-free banging sessions’ right here to make you stop.”