She burst out laughing and swatted him.

“Watch it, you're not good enough to be giving attitude during pillow talk.”

“Was I as good as Jameson?”

Ah. She had wondered if that question would be asked. Wasn't surprised to hear it. She turned to face him and found him staring at her.

“Do you want me to tell you the truth?” she asked. He nodded.

“Always.”

“No,” she was honest. “No one has ever been as good as him, at least not for me. Not only does he have a lot of practice, but he's … he's my other half, Sanders. It's like my body was built specifically for him. He knows where all the switches are, all the buttons. He knows exactly what I like, what I want to do, what I want to hear. Sex is good with anybody if they're halfway decent at it, but with Jameson it's … someday, you'll experience it with somebody.”

“With me it's just sex,” Sanders understood. “With him it's making love.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “As fucked up as it is, he and I make love. It's something completely different, and it'll happen for you. You'll find your other half and you'll know what it feels like. It's … there's nothing like it.”

“Then I look forward to it.”

“You're gonna break some hearts,” she sighed, rubbing her hand up and down his side. “I'm almost jealous.”

“Almost,” he chuckled, and then he reached out his own arm and wrapped it around her waist.

“Whoever these girls are, you better warn them that I'll kick their ass if they treat you wrong,” she told him, turning onto her side. He'd closed his eyes again, but he smiled at her.

“Thank you, Tatum. For tonight. You were right, I wouldn't have enjoyed myself with anyone else for my first time, and now I feel more comfortable with the act. What you did – what you both did for me – I know how important it was, and I am very honored that you chose to do this. I will remember tonight always, and with great fondness,” he told her. She sighed happily and combed her fingers through his hair.

“Well, tonight's not over,” she pointed out. His eyes popped back open.

“Excuse me?”

“We have this room for tonight and tomorrow night,” she reminded him. “I rented it for only one purpose. We have the rest of tonight, and then tomorrow we'll go get breakfast and maybe go shopping, find somewhere for dinner. Then we have tomorrow night before this all turns into a pumpkin and we have to go home.”

He was silent for a long time and for a moment, she wondered if she'd scared him off.

Too much, too soon?

“Do we have to leave the room at all?” he asked.

Tate burst out laughing and pushed him away.

“I do believe I have corrupted you, Mr. Dashkevich.”

“Forgive me, but I do believe you are right, Ms. O'Shea.”

Kane Fun Facts

Jameson Kane was born at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, on January 9th at roughly eight in the morning.

His mother, Camila Kraven, was born in Salta, Argentina. Her father was the British Ambassador and her mother was an Argentinian teacher in a private school. Her parents divorced when she was five and her father moved back to the United Kingdom. She never saw him again and he passed away when she was eight.

Her mother relocated to Buenos Aires and taught school there. Camila grew up multilingual and after she graduated high school, she was hired by various embassies to work as an interpreter.

Through her job, she met Jefferson Kane, a wealthy financier from New York. She traveled around Argentina with him for two weeks, acting as his interpreter. Though he wasn't a particularly nice, or even likable man, their relationship moved beyond professional and they slept together. It wasn't until after he'd gone back home that she'd realized she was pregnant.

A scandal about impregnating an employee of the Argentinian government was certain to put a damper on Jefferson Kane's political ambitions, so he flew Camila to New York and married her. Nine years later, she died from small cell lung cancer.

Jameson had an extremely close and loving relationship with his mother, and her death was hard on him. He'd never developed a relationship with his father, and directly following his mother's passing, Jameson was shipped off to boarding school, where he stayed until he graduated.

*

Tatum O'Shea was born at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, on December 20th at roughly seven in the evening.

She was an unplanned pregnancy, and was also supposed to be a boy. Matthias O'Shea had been counting on a son to carry on the O'Shea name. He held her gender against her for the rest of her life.

Her mother suffers from depression. She is an alcoholic who also has an addiction to xanax, oxycontin, and ambien.

Her father was verbally and emotionally abusive to everyone in his immediate family. He is an outspoken sexist, racist, bigot. He didn't speak to Tate for seven straight years, and hasn't spoken to his daughter Eloise in almost four.

Eloise Carmichael is the elder O'Shea daughter. She dated Jameson Kane for several years before breaking up with him. A year later, she married Robert Carmichael, who became physically and verbally abusive after the nuptials. They have one child together, which she gave birth to after divorcing her husband.

Tatum excelled in school, particularly in studies involving vocab and sociology. She was also an accomplished equestrian, played softball, and once won a painting contest. After her sophomore year, her parents forced her to give up all extracurricular activities so she could focus on her studies. She was accepted into Harvard and moved to Boston, where she planned to have a career in politics.

*

Sanders Dashkevich was born in the Dashkevich household in Minsk, Belarus, on March 21st, at roughly two in the morning.

He was the sixth of eight children. His eldest sibling died at the age of five, and his two younger siblings both died within months of being born. He has no memory of his remaining brothers and sisters, and no clear memories of his mother or father. He knows they are both alive and living in Minsk. He has made no attempts at contacting them and has no desire to ever do so.

Jameson Kane is his legal guardian, and falls somewhere between the roles of father-figure and living-legend. In Sanders' eyes, Jameson can do no wrong. Most of the time. Since everything Jameson does comes from a place of either self gain, or calculation, he is easy to understand – that's why Sanders finds it so comfortable to be around him.