CHAPTER 16
TREY
Later that night, Paula was still laughing when they reached her Brooklyn apartment.
Trey had not spent much time there recently.
That bothered him.
Not because he disliked his house.
Because Paula’s home reminded him that she had not moved into his life.
She had invited him into hers.
The drive home was quiet in the comfortable way, streetlights passing across Paula's face in intervals.
Trey kept one hand on the wheel and resisted the urge to fill the silence.
She was thinking; he could tell by the slight press of her mouth and the way she stared through the windshield rather than at it.
He had learned that not every silence required rescue.
Sometimes she needed enough room to arrive at her own sentence.
Her apartment smelled like vanilla, books and the faint city heat from the radiator.
He took off his coat.
Paula kicked off her shoes.
“Danielle is going to kill me.”
“For what?”
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That I like… things.”
Trey smiled.
“Things?”
“Do not make me say it.”
“I’m not.”
“You are with your face.”
He sat on her sofa.
Paula stood between his knees.
“Do you mind that I talk to them?”
“About us?”
“Yes.”
“I mind details that belong to me being shared without asking.”
She nodded.
“But I don’t want you isolated from your friends because we have a private life.”
Paula’s expression softened.
“Okay.”
“What did you tell them?”
She smiled.
“Enough.”
“Paula.”
“Danielle asked whether you’re dominant.”
Trey stared.
“And?”
“I said yes.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“Nia asked whether I like it.”
“And?”
“I said very much.”
Trey’s hand settled at her waist.
Paula’s smile faded into something warmer.
“Color?”
“Green.”
He looked around her apartment.
Her space.
Her rules.
Her apartment changed the balance between them.
“Tonight you lead.”
Paula blinked.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“I thought you—”
“Dominance isn’t insecurity, PK.”
She studied him.
Then smiled slowly.
“Oh.”
Trey leaned back.
“Show me what you want.”
The change in her was immediate.
Not because she became someone else.
Because choice itself excited her.
The scene remained theirs: negotiated, sensual, playful, intense without cruelty.
Paula discovered she liked giving instructions too.
Trey discovered he liked watching her claim desire without apology.
Later they lay sideways across her bed.
Paula said, “Well.”
Trey laughed.
“What?”
“I contain multitudes.”
“Apparently.”
She rolled onto his chest.
“I like both.”
“Good.”
“Does that bother you?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Paula, I don’t need you powerless to feel powerful.”
She went quiet.
Then kissed him.
That sentence stayed with her.
Trey could tell.
Good.
Some terms deserved to.