“I felt it, too.”
“It’s cheesy, but it was everything that I wanted and needed and then it was just so much fucking more.”
“It’s not cheesy to know what you want or to go after it.”
“It is when you’re me.”
She’s speaking like she doesn’t know just how fucking lovely she is. What happened to all the confidence and bravado she had last night? That’s what I’m wondering. Sabrina knows me very well, but I’m well aware of the fact that as my therapist, she’s kind of a closed book to me.
Well, we have all day.
All of that changes now.
“What does that mean?”
I lead her into the room, and we walk over to the bed. I sit down, but she stays on her feet. She crosses her arms over herself in a silent shield, but that’s not what I want. Sabrina has been guarded for a very long time. This is supposed to be a safe place where she can let those shields down.
“I mean, sometimes life can be pretty scary, Reece.”
“I think I’m aware of this,” I say drily.
“There are things about me that you don’t know,” she says.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“No,” she says, and I honestly feel a little hurt at first. I shouldn’t because she doesn’t owe me anything. She owes me nothing. She doesn’t owe anyone a single thing. Being her lover doesn’t make me entitled to her private thoughts or trauma. “But I will anyway,” she says.
“Why’s that? You don’t have to.”
“I trust you, Reece.”
“You have no idea what that means to me.”
“Oh,” she smiles. “I think I do.”
“Come here while you tell me,” I murmur. I motion for her to come to the bed and she basically throws herself at me. We tumble backwards onto the comforter and lay with her on my belly. She rests her head against my chest. It’s very comfortable and very heart-warming to me. This is exactly what I was hoping for today. This is exactly the kind of intimacy I want with her. I want all of this and so much more.
“I was married,” she says, and I stiffen.
Married?
Really?
I had no idea.
I’ve never been married before. I suppose I never met the right person. I thought about it many times, but I never took the leap. I never regretted it, either. Something always held me back from proposing.
Now that I know, Sabrina, though, the idea of marriage seems...within reach. My inner-tiger has always longed for a mate and although I’ve considered asking people to marry me before, it always felt just a little bit wrong.
It always felt just not quite right.
With her, it feels more right than I could possibly imagine.
My tiger hums as she speaks, desperate to know more.
“I know this is weird,” she says. “But...Reece, will you shift? I think it will be easier to talk about if I know you can’t say anything.”
For her?