Chasing Charli - Kat Mizera Page 0,30

alive.”

She laughed. “Maybe. But I can’t move, so it’s hard to tell.”

“Tonight we go out for food, okay?”

“Okay. But I don’t mind cooking. And you ate a lot of pancakes for someone who’s never had them before.”

“Yes, but without dishwasher, so much work to clean.”

“Yeah, and it looks like I need a new one.”

“We can buy today,” he suggested, turning onto his side. “We can go to—”

“Miikka, you’re not buying me a dishwasher.” She gave him a look.

“Has been three weeks now, so it’s time for another payment for English lessons.”

“Miikka. We both know a dishwasher will cost a lot more than what people would normally pay for English classes.”

“How do we know this?” he demanded, putting a hand on her hip and starting to trace little circles on her skin. “You’re available every day for me, we talk on phone every night… This is very personal service. No school offers this.” His eyes bore into hers. “Also, I like to help. We’re friends, yes?”

“And lovers,” she said slowly. “Which gives everything a different meaning.”

“No.” He shook his head firmly. “It changes nothing. Makes me want to help more, not less. This isn’t payment for sex—you know this. That insults not just you, but me also. You’re my friend, maybe now my girlfriend, so why can’t I do nice things for you?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It just feels…weird.”

“If you feel very strongly, you can pay me back, okay?” he suggested, leaning over to kiss her. “I just want to do things that make you happy and washing dishes by hand makes no one happy.”

She sighed. “You have to promise me you won’t ever throw this in my face,” she whispered.

“I don’t understand this phrase.” He squinted slightly.

“Make me feel bad about the dishwasher. Like, say we break up and decide not to go out anymore… You can’t say something like, ‘Well, I bought you a dishwasher so you’re a bitch for not paying me back.’”

His mouth fell open. “Why would… No. This isn’t…” He couldn’t even figure out how to respond to this. “This is terrible! I would never do such a thing. I bought Jaana a car when she went to university, because it was far for her to go back and forth. I never asked for anything, not even when we broke up. This is…” He went off in a torrent of Finnish that had Charli smiling even though she probably didn’t understand a word of it.

“I need to learn some Finnish,” she said when he stopped.

“Yes, I have ideas for this.” He rolled onto his back and brought her with him, setting her on top of him again.

She winced as she settled on his groin, and he paused. “You hurt?”

“I’m a little sore, yes. I’ve never had this much sex.”

“I’m sorry.” He moved her onto her side again and then sat up. “Come. We can take bath. Together. Will feel good down there and then we go shopping.”

She looked like she was going to protest but then smiled and lightly kissed him. “A bath sounds like a lot of fun.”

“You hurt and I have no more condoms,” he pointed out.

She smiled, looking over her shoulder as she walked towards the bathroom. “But I’m not too sore to pleasure you.”

He arched his brows and then jumped to his feet. “This is excellent idea.”

They made several stops while they were out. First to buy a dishwasher, then to buy condoms, and finally a stop at his house for him to grab what he needed for the following day so he could sleep over again. The next two games would be at home, and though he wouldn’t be traveling, he wouldn’t be able to spend much quality time with her. There was practice tomorrow, followed by a team meeting and a team dinner. There was practice again the next day, with the potential for more team meetings, and things changed regularly. He never knew when he’d had a day off, there was always another game on the schedule, and then they’d be heading out of town for a five-day road trip.

That didn’t leave much time to foster a new relationship, especially one that had become extremely sexual. He hadn’t been expecting her to want him all the time, but she did, and it was mutual. Over the course of twenty-four hours, she’d gone from shy and unsure to offering to give him a blow job, so he figured he was doing something right, but he still felt a lot