“Were you?” She shook her head. “What part were you wrong about exactly?”
“I’m not going to apologize for being possessive of you.”
“I’d never ask you to. I’d never ask you to share me in a way that threatened how muchI am yours.”
“Then we don’t have a problem,” he said gruffly.
“The hell we don’t! I’m going to cut you some slack because you don’t know about the technical terms like aftercare and subspace, but you’re a good person who has always taken care of me after sex, so why would tonight be any different? Am I dirty or tainted or something becauseyougot me off in front of your friend?”
He reared back like she’d slapped him. “Of course not. Me wanting space to think is no reflection on you.”
“Well it sure as hell feels like I’m being punished.”
“Shit. No, no, no, beautiful. You’ve got it all wrong.” He cupped her face, agony writ all over his. “I just need to figure out what’s in my head, that’s all.”
“But if what’s in your head is judgement of me, I need to be able to defend myself!”
“It’s not. I promise.” He didn’t let go of her, but his gaze dropped, in stuttering jerks, like it was hard for him to look at her. Not because it was hard to see her, but because he maybe felt…bad.
Her heart cracked all over again. “Hunter, do you feel guilty about tonight?”
He froze.
She reached for him, touching his waist, his chest. “Think for a minute, without any rules…what did you want to happen tonight?”
“I didn’t want anyone else to touch you too much.” That wasn’t an answer to the question, but in the hollows of his words, in the blank spaces on either side of that statement, he said a lot.
“I’m yours,” she affirmed quietly.
“Mine.”
“But you touched me in front of Quinn. You shared me with him, at least that much.”
“I shouldn’t have done that.”
“But did youwantto in the moment? That’s all that matters.”
“I don’t know if I want to answer that. It was hot as hell. Not gonna deny that. But if this is how I react, then it’s not okay.”
“Maybe your reaction will be different next time. Maybe we’ll do a better job of talking about the rules next time.”
“You want there to be a next time?”
“Not necessarily,” she said, totally sure of herself for the first time tonight. It wasn’t necessary, at all. “Let’s figure out if tonight was a good idea or not, first.”
A door clanged open above them and Hunter tensed. “Not here.”
“Where to?”
He scrubbed a hand up his cheek, then across his mouth. “Coffee sounds good.”
He kissed her then, briefly and sweetly. He didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t let go of her hand the entire way to the hotel’s coffee shop. They didn’t have the place completely to themselves, but it was pretty quiet, and once they ordered, Serena gestured to a table tucked into the corner, next to a window.
Private enough to talk, but not completely alone.
There was something safe about talking in public. Nobody could lose their temper—not that she really thought that would happen. More of a knee-jerk self-protection move.
She sighed. That was something she should probably tell Hunter about.
