Chapter 29 Wren #2
“You’re the beautiful one,” I tell him as my fingers trace over the tattoos covering his neck. I lift one leg to hook over him, wanting to be as close as possible.
“Not beautiful,” he signs. “Manly.” He has to spell out the last word, and I laugh when he raises his arm and flexes his bicep, as if to prove it.
“You’re certainly a man,” I say with a smirk as my eyes trail down his sharp jaw and broad shoulders.
He places a finger to my cheek and turns my face back to his, then signs, “Kiss me.”
My heart leaps in my chest at his request. I could get lost in his stormy blue eyes for days, but his lips look irresistible, so I close my eyes, lean forward, and kiss him.
This one is much slower and softer than last time, and when his tongue brushes mine, a moan escapes me. My fingers dig into his chest as I try to give back as much as he gives to me.
I start to follow his rhythm and realize he’s teaching me how to kiss him. There’s something incredibly tantalizing about that. It makes my core throb and my panties grow damp. I’ve felt wet between my legs before, but this time it feels much damper.
“Dios mio!” I gasp, realizing I must be leaving a wet spot on his thigh. Embarrassment races through me and the thought of them seeing that.
“What’s wrong?” Dex asks as he comes to sit on the bed, also only wearing boxers. The second my eyes land on him, the wetness increases, and I whimper as I glance at the closed bathroom door.
“I need the bathroom,” I tell him, my eyes darting around at something I can use to cover myself up with.
“Oh, is it the Chinese food?” Pete asks with a knowing nod.
“What? No! It’s not that.”
“It sounds like Sly’s in the shower. You can run in there and use the toilet if you can’t hold it,” Dex says as Jagger runs his hand up and down my back.
I picture Sly standing naked in the shower, running his hands over his body as he cleans himself. Maybe he’d even have to stroke his shaft once or twice like the guy did in that porn show.
Damn it!
The dampness feels like it’s running down my thigh now.
I’ve never felt that happen before; maybe it’s not my arousal.
Maybe it’s my period. I’m not sure which is more embarrassing.
And who knows how long Sly will be in there?
I’d rather hide my face while sitting on the toilet than have to deal with leaving a bloody mess all over Jagger.
I slowly push back and glance down at his leg. There is a large damp spot there, but it’s not blood. It can’t be normal to get this wet from being aroused.
“I’m so sorry! I don’t know how that happened!
” I squeak out as I try to climb off the bed, but I don’t get far.
Jagger sits up and wraps an arm around my waist, dragging me back to rest my back against his chest. I snap my legs closed before the other two can see what I’ve done as my eyes look anywhere but at them.
Jagger tries to sign one-handed while my back is against him, but it doesn’t work. I can’t understand his signs. Eventually, he gestures to Pete, then to me.
“What’s wrong, Wren?” Pete asks, finally clueing in to Jagger’s struggle.
“Nothing,” I say, my voice impossibly high-pitched.
He laughs. “Remind me to play strip poker with you sometime.”
“What? Why?” I frown at him as I try to pull my T-shirt lower over my legs.
“'Cause you’re a terrible liar.”
“Am not.”
Suddenly, he’s right in front of me, his hands resting on my thighs as he asks again. “Then tell me what’s wrong, angel cake?”
I shake my head, refusing to answer.
His eyes dart to Jagger, who must try to mouth something to him. I’m not sure what he says that has Pete’s eyebrows raising in surprise, but he turns his gaze to me, and a grin pulls at his lush lips.
“You know, we should probably continue the lesson that Dex and Sly started with you the other night,” he says, grabbing the TV remote and dropping down to lie beside us as Jagger drags us back so he can lean against the headboard.
“What lesson?”
“Your sexual education.”
My cheeks fill with heat as I squeak out, “What?!”
“Did you, or did you not want to learn everything Robert has been keeping from you?”
“I do…” I say carefully.
“Good.” He nods his head, as if that settles the argument, and switches the TV on. It takes him all of twenty seconds to find the porn channel.
The scene has me sucking in a sharp breath as my nails dig into Jagger’s arm that’s strapped across the front of my shoulders, keeping me from pulling away.
A woman is kneeling on the ground, her hands tied behind her back as a man strokes his shaft and ribbons of fluid shoot out to cover her face and breasts.
I’m not even sure what I’m looking at. It’s the dirtiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’m not sure if I like it.
It looks awfully messy. But the woman seems to be having a great time as she tries to lick as much of it off him and her as she can.
I wonder what it tastes like?
My eyes move to Pete to find him watching me, not the TV. “What exactly am I supposed to be learning by watching this?” I ask, my voice shaky, unsure if he’s telling me that’s a thing they’d want to do with me.
Dex squeezes my foot before moving up on my other side as he answers for them. “You said you didn’t know anything existed besides how babies are made. We want to enlighten you about intimacy.”
“But being intimate isn’t always about sex,” Sly says, stepping out of the bathroom in only his boxers. I swallow heavily at the sight of all the delicious skin on display.
I have to shake my head and take a second to remember what he said. I want to clean myself up in the bathroom, but I’m also desperate to know more. “What’s it about then?” I ask, not really understanding.
He sits on the bed near Pete, his eyes glued to mine. “It can mean different things to different people. It normally involves a physical connection,” he says, his voice low and unhurried. “But it’s not always about touching.”
I blink, confused. “Then how is it physical?”
He nods, as if he knows why that would be confusing. “Because it’s about closeness. Letting someone see you when you’re not hiding behind words. It’s when you trust someone enough to let them in… to let them feel you.”
Jagger holds me a little tighter, pressing his mouth to the crook of my neck as Sly continues talking.
“It’s about things like—” He gestures between us. “—sharing space, letting someone hold you when you’re upset—talking about things that scare you. That’s intimacy. So is falling asleep next to someone and knowing they’ll watch over you.”
“Oh,” I whisper, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest. “So… it’s about feeling safe?”
His gaze softens, and he nods once. “Exactly, little bird. Safe enough to let go.”
I think about what he’s said. By his definition, I have an intimate relationship with all four of them.
“Intimacy is the first step toward a sexual relationship,” he adds when I don’t say anything.
“Oh?” I ask, my voice coming out extremely high-pitched as I try to act calm.
He nods, and I dare to ask, “What’s the second step?”
“Depends on the person,” he says with a shrug.
“Cuddling,” Dex says, giving me a wink.
“Kissing,” Sly adds as my eyes flick back to his. He’s the only one who hasn’t kissed me, and I’m not sure if it’s because he doesn’t want to or if something else is keeping us apart. I’ve definitely thought he was jealous on several occasions.
So why hasn’t he kissed me yet?
I wonder if he’s kissed many women, and the thought makes me frown as I consider any of my guys cuddling and kissing others, spending nights cuddled up together in bed like I’ve been doing with them.
“You… You’ve had sex before,” I say to Sly. It’s not a question, but he nods anyway, his brows slightly pinched as if he’s unable to keep up with my train of thought.
“So before you did… that, you did the other stuff? Like cuddling and talking?”
Pete snorts, and Sly’s eyes cut angrily to him for a second before he answers. “No, not really.”
“I don’t understand. You said intimacy comes first.”
“It does if the relationship means something. If the sex means something.”
“So you can have sex without intimacy?” I ask, trying to understand.
“Exactly.”
I point at the TV where a nurse is currently checking for a man’s pulse in a very strange location. “Like porn?”
Dex laughs as he watches the TV. “Yeah, there is no intimacy there. No connection.” He turns his head back to me, and his gaze softens as he grabs my ankle and gives it a soft squeeze. “It wouldn’t be like that with us; that’s why we’re trying to take it slow.”
My heart beats so quickly I’m almost afraid it’s going to bust through my ribcage.
By us does he mean him and me, or the four of them?
And is he saying he wants to have sex with me?
Is he expecting it to happen sometime in the future?
I hadn’t realized it was something he had thought about.
But he had called himself my boyfriend, taken me on a date, and constantly said the nicest things to me.
Maybe I should have realized how he felt.
Feeling the need to clarify, I lick my dry lips and ask, “Because you're my boyfriend?” The smile that crosses his face is practically blinding with all his white teeth on full display.
“Say that again,” he demands, his fingers digging into my ankle a little harder.
“You’re my boyfriend?” I ask, and he dramatically rolls onto his back as he grabs at himself through his boxers.
“Damn, baby, you’re gonna make me come in my pants.”
“I—What?!” I practically shriek with wide eyes.
“Don’t be so crass, Dex,” Sly says with a frown.
“What? It’s true.”
“Doesn’t mean you need to share with the room,” Sly says with a roll of his eyes.
“You’re just jealous she called me her boyfriend and not you.”
My wide eyes flick to Sly’s, and I see a hint of doubt there.
“I-I’m sorry,” I fumble, trying to fix things before they get out of control.
I don’t want them to think I’m choosing Dex over any of them, but I also don’t want Dex to think I don’t care about him, because I do, a lot.
That was the problem; I cared about all of them too much.
My chest tightens with fear. “I didn’t… I mean, I don’t… Jagger,” I hiss. “I can’t breathe.”
Instantly, he turns me, pulling me sideways into his lap and leaning me slightly back so I’m looking up into his beautiful blue eyes. My air comes in ragged short gasps as I fight the growing panic. He uses his hand to show me how he’s breathing, deep and slow, and I try to mirror his movements.
We stay there for a few minutes as I follow his breathing, as if we’re in our own little bubble. When I finally get it under control, I excuse myself to use the bathroom, noting that I still haven’t cleaned up the mess between my legs. Whatever it is.
I’m pleased to find out I did not bleed in my panties, but when I wipe myself clean, I see the first traces of my period starting. Sighing, I clean myself off and grab a tampon, still unsure what the wetness was coating my inner thighs and between my legs.
As I exit the bathroom, I freeze at the sight.
Dex is lying on his stomach in the middle of the bed, with Jagger bending one of his legs back at a strange angle while Sly kneels on the center of his back, his fist raised as if he’s about to hit him.
Pete has an arm around Jagger’s waist as if trying to drag him off of Dex.
“What’s going on?” I ask as all eyes pivot to me. “Are you playing dog pile again without me?”