Page 63 of Blade

“We’re going to make lots of happy little trees while we fill in the rest of the beautiful picture that’s waiting for us, my mate.” Releasing his hand so he wouldn’t feel like he had to follow, I lay down on the bed and relaxed, trying to give him space to make his own decision.

“I would like to hold you while we relax and watch something together.” My mate liked that form of entertainment. “If you consent, I plan on kissing you and touching you over your clothes eventually, but that’s not necessary for me to be happy with our evening.”

Blinking, he tried to look calm but his gaze danced over me and I could feel the way his body wanted to move. Emotions and desires were building quickly but it felt like he was vibrating like my first car. It had too much energy as well, but we needed a different way to help my mate.

“My…my safewords are the stoplight colors. Red means stop completely so we can figure out what went wrong. I’ll generally use it if I’m feeling emotionally or physically unsafe or scared.” He paused, probably to make sure I understood what he was talking about.

It wasn’t something I’d run into before, but it wasn’t confusing. “Yellow means you’d like us to slow down in some way, typically that I would need to back off the intensity of what I’m doing and ask clarifying questions.”

His head jerked in a nod as relief seemed to rush through him. “Green means we can continue even if I’m sending youmixed signals about how I’m feeling or I’m doing something like fighting against you. Depending…depending…”

“Depending on the scene.” Researching with fingers and a fully functioning brain went much faster. “In this situation you might tell me yellow if you wanted more space between us or if I was pushing you too fast.”

“You’re not.” The words jumped out making him blush. “Um, you’re not rushing me too fast. I just…I just don’t know how to talk about this since you’re my mate. You…you matter.”

Strangers didn’t matter but mates did.

“Nothing I’ve sensed from you or that you’ve said makes me uncomfortable or feel negative in any way. I will admit to being confused at first, but now that I can think clearly, most of it’s easy to process.” I wasn’t sure how deeply he craved some of the more difficult-to-process parts of it, but nothing he’d shared felt like it would fall into that category.

He might not want to talk about it, but hearing my views on what I’d learned so far didn’t seem to fall outside of his limits. “What you want and…and what you’re comfortable with are important to me.”

“I have no doubt about that at all.” None. “You turned your life upside down to save me.”

The soft almost-whine he let out made it clear how stressed and needy he was. “I just knew I had to help you.”

Because inside he’d known we were mates.

“I’m going to do my best not to overshare since I don’t understand how much people talk about their pasts now.” It seemed like just yesterday I wouldn’t have talked about it at all, but yesterday felt like a thousand years ago at this point. “But you’re right to assume I didn’t know anything about this before getting to know you.”

Nodding, Henley seemed more comfortable with that out in the open. “That’s understandable and…and I won’t be unreasonably jealous about your past.”

It wasn’t like we’d ever run into anyone I’d known before.

“I want you to let me know if that changes.” I paused, making it clear I needed some kind of response from him, but instead of simply answering, he climbed up on the bed and curled up against me.

Talking was one thing my mate excelled at even if it was to tell me he wasn’t going to talk, so I took that as consent and slowly eased into the topic just in case. “I met a few people who I got close to, but I knew they weren’t my mate.”

It felt like leading them on to go too far with them.

“I didn’t see any point in being intimate with someone who wasn’t meant for me. Not everyone with a potential mate feels the same way, but I always knew I was going to wait for my mate for some things.” That didn’t mean I was a complete idiot, though.

And now that I could use the internet competently, I knew how to fill in any gaps in my knowledge.

“It…it doesn’t seem like you’ve ever thought of that…that kind of stuff before.” Brows pulling together, he was shifting like he couldn’t decide if he was going to sit straighter or lie down on me. “I don’t want to push you into something that isn’t in your…your nature, I guess is the best way to explain it.”

Ah.

“Some things we’ll do for our partners and hide how we feel.” When his face tightened again, I smiled. “My father doesn’t like beets.”

Oh.

“Um, didn’t like.” Swallowing hard, I gave my mate a small smile when he took my hand and held it against his chest.“They’re one of his least favorite vegetables but my mother loved them. So he ate them on a regular basis.”

Henley leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I don’t want you to eat beets for me.”

“Sometimes I will if it’s a small thing because that’s what we do for people who are important to us, we make little compromises. But we don’t change who we are fundamentally and we don’t do things that upset us.” There were probably more specific BDSM words I should’ve used, but I just didn’t know all of the vocabulary yet. “The things I’ve learned so far don’t upset me. Some intrigue me and some arouse me. I promise not to just go along with something that I’ve decided falls outside my own limits.”

Once I figured out what those were.