Page 66 of A Love Like That

Yet with Elle, it had felt natural. Hot.

Fuck, she was so hot. I dragged a hand through my hair, my balls aching for release again. “You have to earn the right…” I mouthed to myself with a shake of my head.

Who the fuck said things like that?

Me, apparently.

“Tristan?” Enzo placed his hand on my shoulder. “You’re flushed. Are you unwell?”

“I’m fine.” I returned my attention to the screen.

“Uh-oh. I know what ‘fine’ means.” He chuckled. “You,amico mio, are far from fine. What’s going on?”

I scoffed. Where to start? My company was at risk of collapsing. I’d met with the other investor, but they were looking for something different. Something in the medical industry. Such a waste of time.

Now, even more hinged on the meeting with Celeste. But all I could think about was Elle. She was going to drive me out of my fucking mind.

Yet when I was with her, I felt sane. Free. Yesterday was the first time in as long as I could remember that I was able to let go of all the stress and the worry.

How fucked up was that? That controlling her had liberated me. And why had I liked it so much?

“Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror and wonder who you’ve become?” I asked Enzo before I could talk myself out of it.

“All the fucking time.” He nodded. “At least, before I met Harper.”

I nodded, my thoughts on Elle. In the short time she’d been living with us, Elle had changed my life, changed me. And I was still grappling with that.

Enzo arched his eyebrow in question. “Tristan, did you meet someone?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Sort of.”

“Want to talk about it?” He crossed his arms, leaning his hip against a nearby table.

Where to start…

I could’ve talked to the guys about this, but they were all in such different places from me. Bennett was a newlywed with a baby on the way. Asher was a bachelor through and through. And based on our recent interactions, he was the last person I wanted to talk to about Elle. And Liam, well, Liam was so absorbed with Penny and their writing and their new dog. Besides, he’d always been one of Tessa’s closest friends. And somehow, I didn’t think he’d react favorably to the idea of Elle and me.

“I—” I glanced around, making sure no one was around to overhear. “Until now, I’ve only ever slept with Tessa.”

“Mm.” He tilted his head back in understanding. “You’re nervous about being with someone new.”

I shook my head. “No, um—” I ran a hand through my hair. “I,weslept together, and it was…different.”

He smoothed a hand over his jaw, and I sensed his curiosity. Still, he waited patiently for me to speak.

“I guess, well—” I paused, trying to figure out the best way to word this. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing you’ve had several partners.”

He hadn’t met Harper until they were both in their late thirties, so my suspicion about his having a few partners didn’t seem farfetched. Though I didn’t know much about his life before meeting her. We’d talked about his dad and his grief. He’d only touched on his life in Italy and what it had been like playing professional soccer.

His nod confirmed I was correct in my assumptions, though he said no more.

“And I wondered if your…style,” I said, for lack of a better word, “changed based on who you were with.”

He furrowed his brow, his dark brown eyes swirling with confusion. “Style?”

“Yeah, um—” I cleared my throat. God, I sucked at this. But I’d never really talked about sex with anyone but Tessa. I was thirty-four, yet in many ways, I felt almost laughably inexperienced.

“In my new…relationship, I’m trying new things. Things I’ve never done before.”

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