Delgano: A Dark Contemporary Interracial Romance

“I think I’m starting to care for Sayeda,” he said. “I want to protect her. If someone tries to hurt her, I know I’ll find joy in making them suffer.”

“Is that caring or bloodlust?”

“For me, they go hand in hand.”

She looked down, shook her head, and met his eyes again. “Okay, then. Tell me more about Sayeda.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve wanted women before, but this is different, and I can’t figure out why. With Sayeda, I have dreams. I dream about kissing her, holding her, making love to her for hours…” He paused, needing a moment to keep his thoughts from wandering. “I think about licking and sucking every inch of her body. I can even taste her. Yet, I’ve never even seen her face.”

Dr. Bentley shifted, her jawline firm.

“I like her voice,” he went on. “The way she teases me. How excellent of a chef she is, and how confident she is about her cooking. The way she smells. And her eyes. I love her eyes—shape, color, how expressive they can be from time to time…”

“You like her.”

“Clearly.”

“Adrían, do you think that maybe you do feel things, but you can’t identify them?”

“You love your daughter, right?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I do.”

“And you feel it.”

“Yes.”

“To this day, I still love my mother like I’ll walk through that door,” he pointed to the office door, “and she’ll be on the other side waiting, as though the last thirteen years were nothing but a dream.”

Officially, he was tired and wanted to call it an afternoon, but he liked talking about Sayeda almost as much as he liked talking to her.

“Adrían, if you were a woman, do you think being a virgin would bother you as much?”

He shook his head. “It wouldn’t bother me at all.”

“Say you were the type of man who needed to feel a deeper connection to…perform. Would that be strange to you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I shouldn’t need it.”

“Why not?”

“If you’re a psychiatrist, answer this: will I be this way forever?” If that were the case, he would die a virgin. It was bad enough at twenty-four, but if he reached the age of forty without making love to a woman, he would end his own life.

“There’s more to explore,” she said.

An unexpected wave of exhaustion settled in his bones. “Want to know the most interesting part of this experience? If Hannah and Sayeda were experiments, you all messed up. You probably thought I would go for Hannah because she’s sexy and bolder. But, no. I dream about making love to the veiled virgin with the sultry eyes.” He flashed her a look. “The one I’m not supposed to touch, right?”

She didn’t comment.

“I have a question. What do you people think ‘Adrían in love’ will mean for this little project? That you can manipulate my emotions? Give me something and then take it away so I can snap and do your dark bidding?”

“This is just between me and you,” she said, without a hitch in her voice. Regardless, he knew it was a lie. “Personally, I believe we have two different ideologies. You think you can’t love.”

“And you think, what?”