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She sighed dramatically. “No. I’ll go down to the clubhouse and have a drink. I know I’m no competition for fae dick.”
Grave chuckled and I rolled my eyes. “You know I love you.”
“I do. Now go.” She waved us off, and Grave set Puff on my shoulder before closing the door behind us and taking my hand. How long would it be before walking hand in hand with them didn’t seem strange?
“What are we talking about?” I asked, letting him guide me into the dining room. The table was already filling with food, my mouth watering at the Italian dishes I’d been craving. For Grave, I saw steak and wine and what looked like an incredible salad. “I could get used to this.”
At the opposite end of the table, a little plate appeared with cat food. I placed Puff on the table, laughing at her little meow before she dug in. Perfect. She would be sleepy in no time.
Grave and I sat down. Him at the head of the table and me just to the side. He could and did reach out to hold my hand. “You’re going to have to tell me eventually,” I teased him.
That there-and-gone smile crossed his face. “I thought over food would be a good time to talk about your limits and boundaries. And, since you’re aware of my interests, your interest in it, and the way you might want to.”
The energy in the room shifted. We weren’t talking about food. We were talking about what came after food. About sex. And the idea of drawing my fae closer to the surface. Mymatescalling out to my fae with the deepest heart of themselves. “We can do that.”
Grave cleared his throat. “Because we don’t have a lot of time, and my…” he sighed. “What I enjoy is difficult for most people. I want to apologize. If we had more time, I’d work up to it.”
I looked at him and the way his eyes shifted away from me, despite the fact that my hand was still in his. I knew what he liked, or what Silver had told me. That he liked fucking someone while they were asleep. “Do you think I don’t want this?”
“It takes a lot of trust,” he said carefully. “This is still very new.”
Blinking, I stared at my plate for a second. Other than Maggie, I couldn’t imagine who I would trust more than them. They’d never done anything to hurt me, and as pissed as I had been about being claimed, it was the right thing to do. “You saved me,” I told him. “All of you. You’re mymates. How could I not trust you?”
I started picking things to eat, deciding to break the tension. The pasta wasfuckingincredible. As was everything else I tried. Garlic bread slathered with butter and honeyed carrots. I could eat until I was stuffed.
Grave ate too, more slowly.
“I know you trust us,” he said. “But it’s still a big step to hand your body over to someone.”
He had a point. “That’s true.”
But my cheeks colored with the thought. I’d already established that I liked things I had no idea could really happen. Fantasies that were so dark I thought they’d stay locked in the recesses of my brain. Not actuallyhappen.
“I—” I cut my voice off and took a sip of wine. “There hasn’t been a lot of time for me to process all of it. But I can tell you all these things that you guys love? They’ve been fantasies of mine for a long time. Things I would never admit to anyone and never imagined saying out loud. I used to think I was fucked up for even imagining something like it.
“Now I wonder how much being yourâmmelunehas been lurking under the surface. So yes, it’s definitely something that can be scary. But I’m not afraid of you, Grave. I just want to be able to havemorethan that with you.”
“That’s what I mean. If it’s too fast, we can wait.” He laughed softly. “Having sex with you—no matter the circumstance—isn’t a hardship, Sky.”
“I want it,” I told him. “I want this to be our first experience. Because I need you to know I trust you, and clearly there’s something deeper that needs to surface for me.”
I was done questioning my instincts. Maybe it was working, and my fae side was closer to the surface, allowing all of this. But I felt the pull toward him and his desire. A desire that echoed my own.
Something in me needed this as much as he did. And if it helped me get closer to what weallneeded? Then I was sure as hell going to do it.
The heat in his eyes was unmistakable. “Is there anything you’d be uncomfortable with?” He asked. “I obviously won’t be able to ask you, and I’m not going to guess.”
Sipping my wine, I leaned back in my chair. Was there anything? I pressed my lips together. “No permanent alterations. Tattoos, piercings, the works. No breaking the skin.”
He nodded. “Not on my radar.”
“Good. Umm…” I took another sip, relaxing into the feeling of carbs and fullness. “I think that’s the basics. Nothing that could permanently harm me or change me.”
“I would never hurt you,” Grave said. “I hope you know that.”
“I do. I’m perfectly with you hurting anyone who tries to hurt me or my friends. I’m one-hundred percent down for that.”
My mate smiled. Truly smiled, and even though he was gorgeous as dark and broody, his smile made him an entirely different person. Right then, I resolved to make sure he did it more. “I also have no problem with that. I might have done some damage today if—”
