28. Sage
SAGE
Eliza opens the door and instantly wraps me in a hug. She brings me inside and gives me a once-over. “Friend, you look like you need ice cream therapy. As well as Macallan therapy, and probably even a-day-at-the-spa therapy.”
I shake my head, a tear slipping from an eye as she guides me to the couch, hands me a tissue.
“What’s going on, Sage? Talk to me. I’m here for you.”
I wipe my cheek, then blurt out, “I fell in love with the enemy, and I’m also attracted to his best friend. And I had sex with both of them just now.”
She takes my hand, squeezing it. “I kind of want literally every detail, but I also want to honor the fact that you seem stressed about this, so I’m going to be totally blunt—I’m both turned on and totally supportive.”
And that’s all it takes for me to laugh. This is so very Eliza – wildly supportive and sexually progressive. I crack up, head falling into my hand. “I guess I came to the right person.”
Eliza smiles. “You did. So, seriously, what can I do to help?” She gestures to the kitchen. “Do you need some wine? Do we need a session with Belvedere? If not, I just got some new chocolate from your favorite place. I’m happy to break it out.”
My voice wobbles as I dab at the remnants of a tear. “He knows my favorite chocolate too.”
She furrows her brow. “That’s good, right?”
“Cole asked me this morning. An hour later, he had it delivered to me. He bought me lingerie too. It’s gorgeous, and I’m wearing the new panties now.
He bought me a book the day of our first meeting.
I know they’re only things. But already he knows all these little things about me, and he knows exactly what to do and say at exactly what moment, and it’s wonderful and terrifying. ”
“That sounds good?”
Is it? That’s what I’m trying to figure out, so I ask, “But the thing is, who am I, Eliza?”
Eliza squares her shoulders. “The same person you were the night we went to the party.”
“But how? How can I be my parents’ daughter? How can I be this woman of the city? How can I be an upstanding person and citizen and have all of these fetishes that I’m only just now discovering?”
She draws a deep breath, like it fuels her, gaze full of certainty.
“Because you’re human, and you’re a woman, and people have desires, and people have wants and wishes, and there is nothing wrong with any of that.
This is what I’ve learned from books, Sage.
I started reading romance novels a long time ago, and you know what they taught me? ”
Curious, I raise a brow. “What did they teach you?”
“There is no shame in sex unless you bring it there. There’s no shame in desire. There is no shame in wanting. If everyone consents and everyone is safe, that’s really all that matters. I believe that with my whole heart.” She takes a breath, then asks one more thing. “The question is, do you?”