Cal shakes his head. “I’ll hear him first if he does.”
“Do you all…can you all hear at, like, dog-whistle volume?”
“No.” He smiles. “Just me. And you…apparently, when I’m talking to you.”
“How is that possible?”
He traces my lips with his finger, studying the motion as he replies. “The bond. After we make love, it’ll only get stronger. A lot of things will change after we seal it.”
“Stronger?” I ask, mystified. “And a lot of things?”
“Mmhmm.” He pauses for a long moment. “Not only will our connection intensify but we will be sealed together in every way we possibly can. Forever. And more than that, our bond will not only make us both stronger in a lot of ways, but it will make you live longer too.”
I swallow, my mind trying to catch up with everything he’s saying.
When I don’t respond, he quietly asks, “Are you sure about this?” He touches my face with a gentle hand. “You seem nervous. And Romy, I do not want to do anything you’re not comfortable with. It doesn’t matter how badly I want you or how deeply the bond burns. I would never, ever betray your trust in that way.”
I shake my head. “No, I do. I want it. I want and need you. Honestly, I feel like I’ll go crazy if we don’t. I just…I’ve never donethisbefore. Sex, I mean.”
“I know,” he says gently. “None of the women here have. They wouldn’t be eligible if they had.”
“So, if we do…I’m not eligible?”
He smiles. “Another perk, for sure. But I have no intentions of letting it go that far, I assure you.”
“Okay,” I whisper, surprised and intrigued by this version of myself.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a fighter. A contrarian and an obstinate voice in my otherwise docile home and a driven woman forced to live in a subservient body.
I never held a job after graduating college, though I wanted to badly, because my parents didn’t see the point. I never played on a team or participated in a club or slept over at friends’ houses.
But I did sneak out and break rules, and I most definitely fought verbally every chance I got. It was me against everyone else—always.
But now, here with Cal, I’m feeling indescribably compliant. I want nothing more than to trust, to follow his lead, and to let him show me how good it could be to feel feminine and soft and willing.
“Romy,” Cal whispers. “You are so, so beautiful.”
“So are you,” I agree. “I’ve always thought so. I’ve thought many times about the quiet boy with cutting blue eyes who made me feel more seen than anyone else ever did. About how he was…how he might be.”
His lips find mine before pulling back on a gentle whisper. “All the things that I am are designed by the universe for you. To serve you. To comfort you. To please you. To love you. Without this satisfaction, I am nothing. Without you, I am hollow.”
“Cal, please. Make love to me tonight. I don’t think I’ll survive without it.”
“I feel the same way,” he whispers against my mouth, kissing me deeply. “I’m drawn. Desperate. Incomplete.”
“Yes.” It’s my every sensation down to the very last detail.
“I wish we had more time,” he says then, his lips finding my forehead. “More time for me towooyou, as it were.”
My smile aches as I sink my forehead into his chest. “I guess my question is what prompted your swift interference tonight?” I ask, a little embarrassed by how cavalier I was with risk. Both Lucian and Nathanial could have killed me on the spot for being so disrespectful, I have no doubt.
His hum is both conciliatory and humorous. “I’ll never ask you to be something other than who you are, but you definitely threw me for a loop with that one.”
“Sorry,” I apologize, but I’ve barely completed the word before he’s shaking his head.
“Don’t be, Romy. You don’t ever have to be sorry with me.”
His gentle nature and fierce acceptance are all the confirmation I need to take the rest of the night in both hands.
