She let a chip fall to the napkin. “Well of course he did. Because you told him. You did tell him? You didn’t let him just go plunging in there like a wild stallion with no warning?”
“He didn’t do that. He was tender and kind but at the same time so incredibly hot. Do you know what I mean?” I didn’t want to give details, not really, but I also wanted her to know he’d made it so special, even though I hadn’t been as forthcoming as I could have been. “I was afraid if I said something, he’d back off. I mean...a virgin at my age?”
“You’re hardly ancient. I am certain there has been an older virgin sometime in history,” she teased. “But I think you sold him short by not telling him in advance.”
“You think it was that important?” Anxiety crept up on me. “I should go tell him right now!” I was halfway off the bed before she jerked me back.
“I think you can eat some dinner first. Have you eaten all day?”
I shook my head. “No, I was all confused about Bain and Zephyr and why I’m attracted to them both. Did I tell you Zephyr said he doesn’t mind sharing?”
“No, but it makes sense. Bain likely feels the same. If they love you, they want you to be happy, to have what you need, and fairies just aren’t prudes.”
Prudes...was that what I was?
“Besides”—she cut into my thoughts—“it’s likely he knows. It must have hurt.”
Had it? I’d been so caught up that if it had, the memory was lost in all the ecstasy. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Then I thought of something else. “I must have bled. Oh no! I probably left a big stain on his sheets. I should go right now and look. If he didn’t pull the covers down, maybe I can get them washed—”
“Not everyone bleeds. In fact, among fairies it’s very rare, although there usually is some discomfort they say.”
“They say? How about your first time?”
She gave a brusque headshake. “We’re not talking about me right now. Why don’t you just be happy about your wonderful, special night with your mate, and don’t eat yourself alive with worrying. Sometimes I do think you’re human.”
If only. Things were so much simpler. And again...that word mate. Was it like boyfriend? Or something more serious?
Chapter Twenty-One
After Alara finally coaxed me into eating my dinner, I felt a lot better. Missing a full day of eating had not helped my thought processes at all, I realized, and once we hugged and agreed to chat some more tomorrow, I headed off to find Bain and clear the air. If all went well, I wouldn’t be back until morning. If not...I’d pick up some junk food to drown my sorrows in. I started out strong, marching out the door and down the hallway, ready to have a conversation that should have occurred before we slept together. Somehow, all that had mattered at the time was touching him and being touched by him. No, it was getting as close to him as humanly possible, wanting no space between us at all.
His skin was so warm, his scent still clinging to me even though I’d taken the time for a shower and changed to my prettiest underthings and a soft lavender tunic sweater and charcoal-gray leggings before leaving the suite. But the hint of his scent only made me crave him more, and by the time I turned the last corner toward his room, I was practically at a dead run. When he opened the door, wearing only boxer-briefs, before I even knocked, I didn’t question, just threw myself into his arms.
His kisses rained down on my face, his breath sweet with mint toothpaste, his lips warm and caressing, and everything I wanted and yet not nearly enough. I’d expected questions, demands to know where I’d been and maybe even about why I’d kept my status as a late-bloomer from him, but instead, he only groaned my name while grasping the bottom of my sweater and tugging it over my head before his lips traveled over the revealed skin to pause at my cleavage while he palmed my plum-lace-covered breasts.
If I’d counted on a comment on how pretty my lingerie was, including the exquisite panties he never saw because he took them down at the same time he divested me of my leggings, I’d have been disappointed. But nothing about this man was disappointing. He lifted me in his arms, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, letting him carry me to the bed and tumble me onto the rumpled sheets.
He took only long enough to drop his shorts to the floor before joining me and resuming his kisses and caresses, encompassing my whole body this time. I joined him in exploration, wanting to take the whole night to learn everything about his body but also desperate for more. For that closeness. Was this what everyone felt when they fell in love? Or was it…
“It’s being mates.” He lifted his face from where he was making little sucking kisses on my tummy. “If that’s what you’re wondering about.”
“Can you read my mind?” I shivered when he nipped the skin next to my belly button. “Is that another fairy skill I lack?”
He shrugged. “I understand some can, but no that’s not what this is. I just had a feeling that was what might be on your mind when you stopped stroking my chest.”
I was already doing it again anyway. “Oh. So wanting someone so much, you want to climb inside them to live is what mates feel like?”
“So they say. You’re my first mate.” He tugged some skin between his teeth before moving to lie between my legs. “And I am fairly sure my only, although I know you will have more than just me.”
Everything blurred out then because he was licking me from front to back and back to front and sucking, nipping, and doing everything that made me forget words existed. I climbed hard and fast to the peak and as I clamped my legs tight around his head, he chuckled, the rumble sending me again.
I think I came four times before he rose over me and thrust deep inside me, but that didn’t stop me from reaching yet another orgasm right before he poured his cum into me. I’d never experienced anything so good, so wonderful, not even the night before, and as he hung over me, braced on his forearms and panting, I told him so.
His smile lit up his whole face. “Not even your first time?”
My heart sank. Did he think I was comparing him to someone else? To another lover?
“Ummm, about that. You were my first time. Last night. And somehow? This is even better.”