Winter Jacket (27 page)

I
didn't like where this conversation was headed, but she deserved to know my ugly truth. “Ruby and I have history, which you know,” I started vaguely. “It's nothing I'm particularly proud of.  She came into town this week thinking we had some unfinished business. She just didn't know I was already dating someone.” I made a soured face. “Not that that has ever stopped me before.”  I took a deep, shuddering breath.  “I cheated on my last girlfriend with her because I was bored.”

“And you’re tired of me already?”

“No!  Not even close!”

“At Troian and Nikole’s party last night...I was so…so
angry
with you.”

I swallowed hard.  I’d told her my truth and now she was telling me hers.  I felt like running away so it wouldn’t hurt so much.

“I don’t want us to have any secrets,” she prefaced.

“Me either.”

Hunter shook her head. “Nothing happened. I mean, I kissed this girl, but I stopped before anything really happened.  I wanted to forget.  I wanted to get back at you.  But we mostly just talked about you,” she admitted.

“I’m so sorry I
put you through this, Hunter.  This is all my fault,” I choked through my bruised ego.  “If I had just told you…” I shook my head.

“I’m sorry I kissed someone else,” she said quietly.

“I don’t want anyone else touching you,” I said impulsively. “The thought of it – it seriously makes me sick to my stomach.” I looked down at my hands, afraid I’d said too much or that my territorial nature might freak her out.

She reached for me and gently brushed a few stray strands of hair out of my face, carefully tucking them behind my ear. 
I wanted to sob over how delicate her touch was.  “And I only want to be with you,” she whispered back. “I only want to be touched by you.”

I stroked my thumbs across her cheekbones, picking up any stray tears.  I stared hard at her bright blue eyes, brighter than usual from crying.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked me.

“Anything
you want.”

She offered me
her hand and I gladly intertwined our fingers.  She led me down a narrow hallway, past the living room, past a bathroom, and into a bedroom. The first thing I noticed when I walked into her bedroom was the scent.  When I had entered the apartment I'd noticed the slight musty odor of an old building. Hunter's bedroom, however, smelled 100% feminine.  

The dresser and bedside table were littered with framed photographs of people I didn't recognize. That thought alone made me feel horrible.
Not only had I never been in her bedroom or her apartment before, I'd invited Hunter to live in my world without taking the time to get to know hers. If I had been the girlfriend she deserved, I'd know everyone pictured in those photographs. I'd know how they’d met, and how often they got together, and about that embarrassing story I wasn't supposed to bring up in conversation.

Not letting go of her hand, I sat down on the corner of her mattress
.  She sat beside me, looking wistful.

“What are you thinking about?” I hated when people asked me the same thing, but she looked so thoughtful and I was so paranoid about where we stood, I had to know.

“We just had our first fight as a couple,” she remarked. “Aren’t we supposed to have make-up sex now?”

My stomach lurched.
“Where’s your roommate?”

“
Not here, but she’ll probably be home soon.  I could put a sock on the door though,” Hunter smirked.  “She’ll find some other place to go.”

I cleared my throat.
“Are you serious?”

“
She’s done it to me enough.” 

As much as I never wanted to turn down sex, especially with this woman, I hesitated.
“I still feel like I have apologizing to do.”             

“But I’m t
he one who kissed another girl,” she said. “I never should have kissed her, no matter how angry and confused I felt.”

Her words twisted my
stomach uncomfortably. “But if I had just been open with you instead of keeping secrets, it wouldn’t have happened.  I’m at fault.”

“Are you always such a martyr?”
  She stroked the tips of her fingers up and down my arm.  It was the most soothing, reassuring thing I’d felt in a long time.

“I’m usually never wrong, actually
,” I said with a crooked smile.  “Cady hated that about me.”

She stared at me with that intense, unwavering gaze.  “Well regardless of who’s in the wrong, I’m still sorry.”

“And I’m sorry too, baby.”

We were quiet for a while, the two of us perched on the edge of her bed.

“Elle, can I ask you something?” She chewed on her lower lip.

“Of course.”

“Do you
like
our sex?”

I was sure I’d misheard her.
“What are you…um…huh?”

She looked away bashfully. “When I was drowning my sorrows last night, I asked Troi about you and
Ruby. I was trying to figure out why you’d chosen her over me.  What she had that I didn’t.” She dropped her gaze.  “And Troi might have mentioned something about you liking, um,
certain things
in bed.”

I was going to
kill
that tiny Asian. I grabbed Hunter’s hands and trapped them between our torsos as if the movement would make her stop this topic.  “I like you just the way you are,” I insisted.  And it was the truth.  I didn’t need all the bells and whistles and bondage and spanking.  It was fun, sure.  But I wasn’t going to die without it.

“Are you sure? I don’t wa
nt you to get bored,” she said. “I don’t want you to lose interest in me once the newness has worn off.”

I frowned guiltily. I couldn’t promis
e her that would never happen. Part of the fun was the chase, and any woman who had given in too easily usually had no chance of a serious, long-term relationship with me.

“I would only do that with you if it was something you’re genuinely interested in
,” I said carefully.  “I don’t want you to do it because you think it’s something I need.”

“I want to try it with you.”

I could hear my heart thudding in my ears. “Only if you want me to.”

“I trust you, Elle.  And I want to try it all with you.”

I didn’t want to hurt her.  I didn’t want her humiliated.  Part of the reason I was able to go there with Ruby is because I didn’t respect her.  She was a nemesis and her submission was my pleasure.  I let Hunter’s words weigh on me before I asked a question, not sure how she’d react.  "How do you feel about restraints?"

Hunter
visibly swallowed. "Uh, what did you have in mind?"

"Normally I wouldn't ask for permi
ssion or for preference from a Sub, but if you had your choice, would you want your wrists bound or your ankles?"

She blushed prettily and her long eyelashes fluttered. "I don't know anything about this kind of thing."

I stroked my hand down her cheek and gently coaxed her to meet my eyes. "And I'm not expecting you to. But if you have a preference, I'd like to try that with you."

"O-oh. Uhm. I guess I...uh...do
you
have a favorite?"

“I actually prefer the wrists over the ankles," I noted. "Spreaders are amazing to work
with – I’ve used those before.” I realized I was rambling and probably shouldn’t be talking about past conquests, but I couldn’t seem to stop. “But I think the helplessness of being bound at the wrists is more appealing." I paused to scrutinize her reaction. "How does that sound?"

She nodded and licked her lips. "Do I call you Mistress
or something?”

I arched an eyebrow. “Do you want to?”

“Not really. Could I call you ‘Professor,’ instead?”

I swallowed hard.  “U
h, yeah.  That works, too.”  I felt lightheaded.  I remembered asking her during our first night together not to call me that because it had felt too taboo.  She apparently remembered that conversation, too.

“I’ll be right back,” she announced, standing up.  “I need to wash my face.  My skin feels salty after all that crying.”

While she disappeared down the hallway, I flopped down on my back on her bed and released a deep breath.  Her mattress was firm, but not too hard.  Out of curiosity, I reached up and tested the strength of her headboard by giving it a few firm tugs. The bed looked like it had come from IKEA, and I had no intention of destroying her bed frame even if it sounded like a fun idea.

Thinking about exploring that kind of physicality with Hunter reminded me of Troian’s indiscretion.  I pulled my phone from my back pocket and texted my best friend:
You are in such trouble.

A few seconds later, Troian responded.
Hello to you, too.

Forgive my lack of propriety
, I returned,
but I’m mad at you.

Two messages lit up my screen in rapid succession.

Why? What did I do? 

Did you make up with your girl?

I grumbled and sent my reply:
What possessed you to tell Hunter about the things Ruby and I used to do together?

It’s not like I drew her pictures
, she returned.

She wanted me to Top her!
I typed back.

1. Ew. You know I hate hearing about your sex life and 2. You’re welcome.

Hunter watched from the doorway. “On your phone already?” she clucked. “Maybe I should be the one tying
you
up so you can’t multitask when we’re spending time together.”

“Next time,” I promised
with a cheeky grin.

“
Is everything going to be okay?”

I turned
my phone to silent and set it on her bedside table, out of sight.  “What do you mean?”

“Is
Ruby going to get you in trouble?”

I sighed.  In my bliss
of reconciliation, I’d nearly forgotten about that.  I patted the space beside me and Hunter crawled onto the mattress to curl beside me.  “She said she wasn’t going to tell the Dean,” I said slowly, unsure myself.

“And you trust her?”

I shook my head. “Not really.”

“Are you sure you want to be with me?  I-I’d understand if I’m not worth the risk.”

I twisted to look at her and rested my weight on my elbow. “Hunter, I’ll tell you this every day if it’ll make you feel more confident, but I want to be with you.  It’ll take more than one bitch from my past to keep me away.  I’m not giving up on this.”

My answer appeared to be satisfactory because she was smiling agai
n. “Then I’ve got a request.”

I brought her knuckles up to my lips. “Anything.”

“Will you meet my parents?”

+++++

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

“Are you nervous?”

I made a scoffing sound. “I don’t get nervous.”

“Not even to meet your girlfriend’s parents?”
Hunter grinned.

The calm exterior I had been stoically clinging to seemed to crack before
Hunter’s eyes. “I thought I was done with this kind of thing, honestly,” I sighed.

Hunter
leaned into the sink, closer to the vanity mirror to apply her mascara. “Done with what?”

“Breaking in parents to the idea that their little girl is gay.”

Hunter laughed pleasantly, but said nothing.

“Wait. You
told them I’m a girl, right?” I panicked out loud. “I may like classic movies, but I have no desire to act out a scene from
Look Who’s Coming to Dinner
.”

Hunter
rolled her eyes. “Well I certainly
hope
they realize that my girlfriend
Elle
is an actual girl.”

“And they’re fine with it?”

She shrugged. “As fine as you can expect parents to be.  I mean, they’re the ones who wanted to have this dinner.  If they wanted nothing to do with us, I don’t think they would have gone to all the trouble.”

“What about the age thing?”

“What about it?” she shot back.

“Did you tell them that I’m, uh, a little older than you?”

Hunter arched an eyebrow. “Do you think that’s going to matter?”

“
Hunter!”

“Ellio,” she said, pulling away from the mirror and giving me an exasperated look, “
you need to calm down.  “It’s not like you’re
their
age,” she pointed out. “Sure you may not be in your 20s anymore, but really, we’re not that far apart in age.  You really need to stop making a big deal about this.”