Gray bit her lip. “Yeah, okay.”
Her cheeks pinked again, and she looked down at her lap.
“Hey,” I said, lifting her chin so she could meet my eyes. “Don’t be ashamed with me. Ever. I want to know what you want, and I’m going to tell you what I want, and hopefully thosetwo things will line up, but if they don’t, then they don’t.” It had happened before. Having chemistry with a stranger, getting to the bedroom, and figuring out that not only were you not on the same page, you weren’t even in the same book was a risk I took.
Some people had also gotten turned off when I wanted to pause things before we got naked, and that told me what I needed to know too.
To her credit, Gray looked up at me and nodded, even though she had a little bit of a confused frown on her forehead.
“Okay,” I said, letting out a breath and sitting next to her on the bed, but putting enough space between us so I didn’t touch her. I couldn’t touch her right now or else I was going to throw this little Q and A session right out the window and fuck her into the mattress the way I’d been wanting to ever since I saw her at Emily and Devi’s.
Silence fell between us and I could feel her nerves. One of her knees had started jiggling and her hands were clasped together in her lap.
“Do you want me to go first?” I asked.
“Uh.” She rubbed her hands on her pants. “Yeah, that might be best. I’m sorry, I’ve never really done it like this before?” It sounded like a question.
“That’s okay. I just…I feel it’s good to set expectations. And at the very least find out our hard limits.”
She nodded. “That makes sense.”
“From what I’ve gathered about you so far, I sense you’re more on the submissive side? Let me know if I’m wrong about that.” It was in the way she responded when I kissed her, and the way she looked at me. I knew I’d read her right.
Gray nodded again, not looking up at me. “Yeah, that’s me. I’m…a subby little bottom. Apparently.” She let out a little laugh, as if it was an inside joke.
“Mmmm, that’sperfect,” I said. She could not be more perfect.
My voice made her look up. “Really?”
“Are you kidding? You’re exactly what I want, Gray. I can be a bit of a switch under certain circumstances or scenes, but I prefer to top and be more dominant. Good for you?”
There. We were getting somewhere.
It took a little bit longer to draw her out, to figure out that on paper, what we wanted from each other was exactly what the other did too. She was up for all kinds of toys, into edging, and was fully on board with me steering the experience. Fucking hell.
“Wow,” she said, her shoulders relaxing slightly from where they’d been up around her ears.
“What is it?” I asked, not being able to stop myself from touching her, pushing some of her hair off her shoulder, letting my fingers linger a little.
“I guess… I didn’t figure out what I liked until I met my ex.” Her face formed a frown. “Sorry, I know you’re not supposed to bring up exes, but I have to. She was the one who really let me explore and try things. We weren’t right for each other in the end, but I did learn a lot. She was the one who figured out I like—” She cut herself off.
My fingers softly stroked her shoulder, willing her to open up to me. God, she was incredible. I couldn’t wait to see what she looked like when she came. Fuck.
“No shame, Gray,” I reminded her gently. Whatever it was, I wanted to know.
Gray let out a breath. “I like… I want you to…”
I thought about asking her if she wanted to get naked and maybe get more comfortable to tell me, but I didn’t think that would help.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me now. Can I take this off?” I plucked at her shirt. It had little cartoon dancing vibrators on it, and I couldn’t look at it without wanting to laugh.
Her cheeks went pink again and she bit her bottom lip.
“Hey,” I told her, using my thumb to make her release her lip, “that’s my job tonight.”
She gasped as I sucked that very lip into my mouth, kissing her until both of us were panting and I’d worked my hands under her shirt and pushed it up far enough so she could raise her arms and help me lift it off.
Her bra was simple and pink and adorable. It made my mouth water to look at all that creamy skin on display. Her belly was soft, just the kind of belly you wanted to bite and kiss and then pillow your head on to take the best nap of your life.
