Page 73 of Emily: Hello Kitten

I take another step toward the door and Adrian takes a slow breath. I see desire in his gaze, hot and demanding. “Please, Emily.”

I kiss his cheek and bounce over to Sarah. I sigh. “He’s so good to me.”

“He pays for meals, reads with you, talks with you, and has sex with you.” She snorts. “That’s a friends with benefits situation.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “I’m sorry, what do you and your husband do? Each work on your computers separately, only talking when one of you gets up to go get a meal or to make lovey-dovey eyes at each other like at your wedding?”

She blushes. “Emily, I just… I’m not seeing anything you couldn’t have with someone else. This is too complicated.”

“You’ve interrogated him, you’ve been staring us down while we talk about books. You can’t say he’s controlling either when I’m goading him the way I do,” I insist.

“What’s up with that?”

“I’m sure you’ve read some naughty books in your time. Even some kinky ones. What do you think it is?” I counter.

She blinks as her brows crease together, then she blushes. “Emily!”

I laugh at her red face and keep giggling until Adrian comes over. Sarah can’t even look at him now. Adrian rubs the nape of my neck, twisting his finger around my necklace. “Did I miss a joke?”

“Sarah asked why I keep goading you,” I hint.

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 her.

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. I follow as he heads into the kitchen with my gaze before my eyes 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 have been 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, and 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 that 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.

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