Rao anxiously tapped his leg up and down as Gerri’s gentle voice filled the room.
“So tell me what is going on, darling,” she said. “You sounded a little desperate over the phone.”
Rao folded his hands into his lap, the bounce of his leg an obvious indicator of his nervous energy. He breathed in deeply, trying to get the words out in a way that made sense.
“We’ve had a few dates,” Rao began. “And on our second date, we, umm ...” Rao trailed off, but Gerri encouraged him forward.
“Did you have sex?”
Rao felt himself go red, but he pressed on. “We did.”
“Was it good?”
Rao wasn’t used to talking about sex so candidly, especially with someone he didn’t really know. But there was something about Gerri that was comforting, so he kept going despite the embarrassment.
“It was more than good,” he began, flashes of Lexi’s naked form dancing in his mind. “It was everything. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.”
Gerri smiled and raised her mug to her lips. “What’s the problem then?”
“She has been distant since then,” Rao replied. “It confuses me. If she was a shifter, the sex would have brought us closer. But she doesn’t even want to go on another date.”
Gerri took a long sip of her coffee and ingested what Rao was saying. His heart hammered in his chest, hoping that the experienced matchmaker would give him something tangible to hold onto. Something hopeful.
“I can’t speak for every Earth woman, of course,” Gerri began, placing her hot cup of coffee down. “But oftentimes, when women are engaged in a sexual interaction, they are exposed and thus vulnerable. And with that vulnerability comes shame, sometimes.”
Rao nodded, listening intently as his own cup of coffee sat untouched before him.
“She shared something intimate with you, which was her body, her sexuality. A free sexual woman isn’t always accepted on Earth, so she may be feeling a bit shameful about it. My advice would be to share something vulnerable about yourself, to expose yourself to her too.”
Rao frowned, clutching his hands together and freezing his jittery leg. “But I was naked, too, exposed with her. How can I get more exposed than that?”
A sweet smile wormed onto Gerri’s lips. She leaned forward and placed a hand on his knee. She was a commanding woman, stunning gray eyes swirling with knowledge and intrigue. “I don’t mean physically,” Gerri began. “It isn’t the same for a man … even a shifter man. You have to share something with her that is close to your heart, something that you haven’t shared with anyone else.”
Rao wondered if telling Lexi about something that made him feel afraid and vulnerable would really make any difference at all. They had been naked together, touching each other in ways both humans and shifters could understand. But he wasn’t going to doubt Gerri’s wisdom.
He thanked her and returned home, immediately finding Lexi’s door and pounding on it with a renewed passion.
She came to the door promptly, swinging it open with a hiss. “What?”
Rao didn’t realize that the way he was knocking could be interpreted as aggressive. He held out his hands to apologize but was struck by what a vision Lexi was in a peach silk robe, some loose-fitting clothing barely blanketed beneath it, and her hair tied up in a bun. Her dreamy green eyes flamed at him, her entire appearance and scent making him lose the drive Gerri had instilled in him.
Before he could address her, compliment her, or do really anything considered normal and formal, Rao blurted out the most intimate pain that lay buried deep inside the caverns of his soul.
“My parents were killed by the Syl,” he almost yelled. “So I became a chief of the pride at a young age, but I don’t think I’ve ever properly dealt with that.”
The annoyed look on Lexi’s face faded away quickly, replaced with wide-eyed confusion. Rao merely stood there, like a terrified little boy bringing a girl a rose for the very first time.
She rubbed her eyes, then tilted her head to the side. Rao was floored to see curiosity in her expression.
“What’s a Syl?”
Her sweet voice had returned and sent a comforting shiver up Rao’s spine. “They’re snake-like humanoids whose territory is directly next to Shadow Rock territory,” Rao replied, feeling his throat go dry.
Lexi nodded, then held the door open to welcome him in. He was thankful for it but still wasn’t entirely sure how he should behave.
“It’s just hanging out,” she said abruptly. “This is not a date.”
Rao felt a mix of emotions but nodded anyway. He followed her out onto the private terrace that overlooked the endless acreage of his property.