And I was not going to pretend that didn’t matter.
Kieran
The room was quiet.
I lay on my side, one arm beneath my head, staring at Stefan lying next to me, my breathing slow and even.
My mind was still moving, however.
“You’re thinking again.”
I smiled. “Don’t you know me by now? I’m always thinking.”
“And what’s going through your mind?”
I let out a sigh. “I thought it would be about the intensity. Or the… experience of it.”
“And instead?”
I met his eyes. “It was about you.” The words came out more simply than I expected. “I trusted you.”
Stefan didn’t look away, and I studied him for a moment.
“What you gave me tonight? I think I needed that.”
What I couldn’t tell him was what else I’d learned.
I need you.
He shifted across and kissed my forehead. “Sleep.”
I closed my eyes, shutting out the sight of him, and instantly I was back there, cuffed to that bench, Stefan’s flogger landing on my skin, sending me somewhere I hadn’t expected.
To a place I now wanted to revisit.
With him.
Chapter Twenty-One
September 7
Kieran
Sunday morning arrived,its light filtering through the window and beyond, the low hum of the city. Dawn had brought slow, lingering sex in Stefan’s bed. In deference to my back, Stefan had asked that I ride him, which was fine by me.
As long as I could kiss him while he was inside me, that worked just fine.
I could kiss him all day.
And probably would, given have a chance.
The evening had left its stamp on me. There were moments of quiet when I found myself back at the party, Stefan’s hand on me, Stefan’s flogger…
The space I’d encountered, the clarity of thought, the calm and peace that had followed it.
Feelings I wanted to experience again.
Stefan moved easily around the kitchen, but there was something different in the air. I could feel it in the space between us. I was suddenly aware of him in a way I hadn’t been before.