CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Iron
We were tangled up in each other, panting heavily and slick with sweat. Three orgasms and she had practically begged me to stop, telling me that she couldn’t give me another one.
I think this was the most I’d ever seen Petra at one time and I wasn’t about to complain.
I was still in shock that she’d come tonight. To the cookout, that was. No surprise she came the other way, I made sure I never let her down there.
Things went a lot more smoothly after I got her to relax. I was starting to realize that sex was the way to get through to Petra. Maybe that should have been something I saw before because it wasn’t like they made any kind of attempt to hide it. And I knew that.
Because I knew her.
Like when she called me to come, there was always a reason beyond wanting to climax.
I quickly learned to read her moods.
I think it helped that we weren’t so different, really.
We both carried heavy burdens and had many people dependent on us to watch over them.
I also think the night I refused her, I gave her the final piece to what she’d been missing. I gave her the freedom to unburden that load and let someone else take it for a while.
The toys, the submission, it wasn’t always about her need to be dominant. Sometimes it was about needing a place where she could let everything out. Or a person that she could let them out on. It wasn’t about having to fight for control, it was about holding on to it and dealing with all the strength that it took to have it.
I understood it, I did. Even if it wasn’t like that for me.
Sure, sometimes the load got heavy, but I didn’t ever feel like I couldn’t hold it up. I handled things pretty well, I thought. But then again, I didn’t have the kind of climb she had.
So with that, I saw that sometimes I had to show her it was okay to let it all go. To strip down naked and let someone take over.
In those moments, I actually saw her mind clear. Everything Petra thought was visible in her eyes as long as you knew how to read it.
“So tell me about Rowan,” I said after we’d caught our breath. I still didn’t know that much about her people. I wanted to, but I knew it was going to be a slow process. Tonight she’d shown me that she’s ready for that next step. “Pretty much all I know is that she’s married.”
I watched as her lips curled up at the edges slightly.
“I bet there’s a story there,” I said, my fingers lightly tracing the lines of her almost smiling lips.
“Yes,” she said and that smile grew a hair. “But I wouldn’t do it justice. You should have her tell it to you some time.”
“Yeah?” I asked. Oh, damn. She was letting me in and acknowledging that our lives were gonna merge now.
I was in this one hundred percent.
I think she finally got that.
And she was giving me the same thing back.
“Yes.” Her eyes looked into mine and there was a twinkle there that told me that not only was it a good story, but that she might have had a hand in it as well. “Believe it or not, it all starts with a wedding dress.”
The look of shock on my face was real. Her chest moved as if she silently laughed.
Her fingers were in my beard, playing with the soft hairs while she kept her eyes on mine.
“Do you think her sticking around is a permanent thing?” I asked.
“I do. She doesn’t have to work, I’m sure you realize that.”
