Sensual Confessions - Brenda Jackson [7]
Of course, what she’d said had sounded pretty damn convincing, like saying it would be the end of it. If those words had been spoken by any other woman, it would have been. He didn’t have time to waste on anyone who refused his advances. But Blade knew for a fact that he did interest Sam, just as she interested him. It had been obvious tonight, although she probably wanted to deny the truth. But he wouldn’t deny it. He didn’t intend to give up on her so easily, and evidently, she was counting on that fact.
He was a man who knew women inside and out. He was thirty-four and knew the female gender a lot better than men with twice his experience. And for him to make that claim said a whole hell of a lot.
From the time they were teenagers, it was clear that he and his twin brother, Slade, had a different take on women. Slade had been easygoing and had put his career first. Blade, on the other hand, had been able to juggle both. His sexual exploits rivaled those of his cousin Clayton, who ten years earlier had had the same reputation.
At one time, the thought that Blade was following in Clayton’s footsteps had been cause for major concern in his family. They figured once Clayton had settled down and was married, that would be the end of the playboys in the Madaris family. He chuckled as he removed his jacket, thinking about how he had proven them wrong. He probably had more notches on his bedpost than his cousin Clayton ever thought of.
Times were different now. Things had changed. He probably didn’t have to work as hard to get a woman in bed as Clayton had. Nowadays, women were liberated, freethinkers. The ones he dated didn’t mind the fact that they weren’t the only one. They enjoyed a challenge and preferred getting physical in the bedroom more than anything else. The sky was the limit behind closed doors and he’d had no complaints. He dated women whose only concern was not having to “fake it,” and who didn’t give a damn that come morning, when he walked out the door, chances were he wouldn’t be back. They weren’t into long-term relationships any more than he was. He dated women who not only knew the score, but played the game as much as he did.
He had accepted early on in life that marriage wasn’t for everyone, and he didn’t lose sleep over the fact that he wasn’t settling down to the kind of marriage his parents had. More than anything, the two words that scared him to death were settling down. There was still too much fun out there to be had, too many women out there to sleep with. Marriage demanded faithfulness and he was convinced there was not a single woman capable of holding his interest forever.
He had tried to explain his position to his family time and time again. But that hadn’t stopped them, even Clayton, from worrying about the number of women coming and going in and out of his life—namely, his bedroom. His great-grandmother thought he had issues. But as far as he was concerned, he just had a healthy Madaris sexual appetite.
He would never forget the day Clayton had given him a huge case of condoms and told him that at the rate he was going, he would definitely need them. Clayton had been right. Blade had gone through that case and was working on several more.
Some women he met definitely had marriage on their minds. He quickly let them know, up front, he wasn’t going there. He never intended to marry. It was okay for some, like his brother Slade and cousin Luke, but not for him. He enjoyed life too much. He enjoyed having fun in the bedroom. And as they say, variety is the spice of life—at least when it came to his sex life. What was a sexual taboo for some was a welcome change for him.
He had no intentions of ever getting stuck with a wife who would eventually turn their bedroom into nothing more than a place to sleep. He worked hard and enjoyed playing harder. The thought of being stuck in a marriage that was limited to predictable sex—“PS,” as he referred to it—was enough to make him break out in hives.
And he didn’t want to have to answer to any woman.