Page 74 of Hello Kitten

He covers my mouth. “You’re terrible. Some things should be private, kitten.”

“Oh, so I should tell her that anytime I go out with my friends you get worried and send me cute texts but not about how you got me to agree to only drink beer with water between each drink?” I ask playfully.

Now Adrian is as uncomfortable as my sister. I shrug. “What, you’re both older than me, like Sarah keeps saying, so clearly we can talk about kink and experience and—”

“You are my baby sister!” Sarah gasps.

“And you asked if Adrian and I had sex when I left your rehearsal dinner with him for however long we were gone for,” I remind.

Adrian rubs his forehead. “What am I getting myself into?”

“See!” Sarah emphasizes.

“Clearly, I’m going to have to punish you for being so liberal with our sex life, kitten,” Adrian growls, drawing a shudder through my body, and I bite my bottom lip.

My sister falls silent next to me and I see her blushing all over again. Adrian mentions we need silverware and gets up, following as he heads into the kitchen with my gaze before they snap to my sister. “So?”

“Alright, alright. You guys are ... a couple,” she grumbles, crossing her arms.

“We’re agoodcouple,” I emphasize, then edge closer to her and peel her arms open to take her hand. “He makes me happy. We laugh together, tease each other, get a little raunchy, sure, but he sees me for who I am, Sarah.”

“I just ... I worry. The age difference, the power imbalance. You even said he convinced you to only drink beer.”

I take a deep breath, glance at our hands tangled together. “I was kind of drugged at a frat when I was mad at him. I went out with the girls, forgot to use my nail polish and ... It could havebeen worse, I was safe, really, but Adrian was willing to reveal we were together to my friends to make sure I was okay when Beth texted him.”

Sarah’s lips part, her eyes fill with worry as she watches me with horror.

“He wanted to help however he could, but Beth got him to go home. I expected a lecture, expected him to ask what I expected when I was drinking liquor at a frat party, when I was happily getting drunk, but he didn’t do that. He reminded me it’s not good for me and said that it makes people think they can take advantage, not that it’s an excuse. He’s never once belittled me, hurt me, mocked me, or treated me badly, Sarah. He’s good,” I say.

Her throat bobs. “So, the drinking comment is because ...”

“Because I was drinking too much, and it was getting dangerous. So, he made it fun to stop,” I answer.

She peeks over as Adrian gives us each a fork. He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles just like he does before we eat every time. “Need anything else, kitten?”

“No, thank you,” I say and dig in.

Sarah asks Adrian some general questions, not about me. Then she mentions all the board games he has. He admits that he doesn’t have anyone but me over so doesn’t have anyone to play with. Instantly, Sarah’s hooked into the conversation.

She and Mark love game nights and they’re eager to rope more people into new games. Adrian beams and rubs my thigh under the table. By the time dinner is done, Sarah is bouncingwith excitement and all the worry she had about Adrian being my professor has seemed to have faded.

“We can play Catan online. Next week? Thursday night? I’m sure you can convince my sister to play,” Sarah insists.

“That sounds great,” Adrian agrees. “I can drive you back to campus if you’re ready. If not we could go get dessert.”

“No, no. I’ll get a cab. If you drop me off, people might get curious,” Sarah says.

I blink at her as Adrian puts a possessive arm around my hips. I’m afraid to get my hopes up. “Are you really not going to tell?”

“I hate admitting this, and you’re still on thin ice, but I won’t tell mom and I won’t contact the dean. That doesn’t mean I’m going to lie if I’m asked directly though,” she says seriously. “But I’ll do what I can.”

“Well stay until the cab comes. I’m sure we can manage to play a game of uno or a trivia game I have on my game system,” Adrian offers.

“Yeah, I definitely like you.” Sarah giggles.

As she goes to the couch, I stand on my toes and kiss Adrian. “I like you more.”

“Prove it when she leaves,” he dares.

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