Page 54 of Phoenix Falling
The tingle of tears gathered at the backs of my eyes. “I love you too.” We might not have known each other for long, but I knew this man’s mind, his heart, and I would choose him over anyone else, forever.
“Was that your question?”
I chuckled, the sound watery. “That was extra.”
“Ah.” He kissed me, then sat back, bringing his thumbs up to wipe at the moisture beneath my eyes. “Have at it.”
“Okay.” Deep breath. “I know how you explained about forming the matebond, but do we need to be doing anything in particular at the time?” This time I did hesitate. “Um…our bodies, I mean?”
A vee appeared between his brows. “Do we… No, we don’t have to—” I could see the moment he read my subtext by the widening of his eyes. “You mean sex?”
Obviously I didn’t need to beat around the bush with Demetri. “I don’t want to misunderstand.”
After a moment of sizzling tension, Demetri began to crack up, laughing loud and long. After watching him tip back on the couch, holding his belly, I crawled off his lap. When he continued to laugh, I swatted his knee. “It’s not that funny.”
“You’re right,” he said between laughter and struggles for breath, “it’s not funny. It’s hilarious!”
I bravely fought my own giggles, but my smile at hearing Demetri laugh couldn’t be denied. Finally he managed to pull himself together, although the occasional chuckle still escaped. When he righted himself, I tried to get us back on track. “So the ceremony doesn’t involve…sex.”
He put a hand over his mouth, unsuccessfully trying to hide a grin. “No.”
“So what does it involve?”
He explained the details, and my emotions quickly swung from amusement to sadness. I’d always thought my stepdad and siblings would be at my wedding ceremony, but to keep them safe, I couldn’t tell anyone the truth about them. To the Archai, my mother was dead and I’d left my stepfamily behind long ago. In truth, my stepdad had raised me after my mother committed suicide, and I’d helped raise his children with my stepmother. I missed them so much I could hardly bear it, and the thought that they had no idea I was still alive tore me up inside daily. But I’d never expose them to danger by trying to go back.
“Hey, where’d you go?”
I blinked. “Sorry, I got distracted.”
His hand rubbed back and forth along my knee. “By what?”
I hated to lie to him, but even for Demetri, I wouldn’t give away my family. “Just thinking I won’t have anyone on my side of the aisle.”
He frowned. “This is a human thing?”
“Yes. All the groom’s friends and family sit on one side of the aisle in the church, and the bride’s sit on the opposite side.” I shrugged. “My mother left me as a child, and anyone I knew in the human world thinks I’m dead.”
He gathered me back into his lap, murmuring soothing sounds while he rocked me back and forth. I loved that he didn’t try to wash away my feelings by offering his own family to share. I knew Lyris would support us, but she wasn’t my family.
The family I missed so much.
A while later, his chin atop my head, Demetri asked, “What other questions did you have?”
In an effort to lighten the mood, I said, “My next question also involves sex.”
“Public sex?”
I shook my head. “I’m pretty tolerant of other people’s kinks, but that isn’t one of mine.”
Laughter rumbled in his chest, right below my ear. “Good to know.”
The sexy growl rumbling through his voice sent warmth to my pelvis. Taking a deep breath for courage, I tipped myself back against his arm to look him in the face. “Do we also have to wait on sex until the matebond ceremony?”
His eyes flashed silver. “Do you want to?”
I wet suddenly dry lips. “No.”
“Then definitely not.”
