Page 46 of Love Lessons

The spiky one was mean and cold. The one that sometimes grew a red flower was difficult. The one with the yellow flowers always wanted attention. The rounded one that looked like Shrek’s ears was cuddly.

It was convenient that their names and personalities mostly matched what he would have assigned to them based on their characteristics, because he was pretty sure this was something he needed to get right.

God, she was fucking cute.

He felt like he could watch her like this all day. She gave another little bounce in her chair. She’d clearly forgotten again that she was wearing that seductive outfit, and watching her be so innocent and sexy at the same time was addicting.

When the monologue wound down, and he was pretty sure that he could remember most of the plants’ names, he put in a suggestion. Because as much as he wanted to keep her to himself, she also needed some friends. Naming her plants was adorable, and he hoped she wouldn’t stop, but he suspected that she was also lonelier than she wanted to admit.

I was just thinking, would you like to join me and my friend, Zhong, for a game night?

Lena looked at him, scowling, and then it was like a whole different personality dropped into place. She gave him a pleasant smile, the accommodatingly happy one that she’d used on him before. Maybe. If I'm not busy.

OK, so he had fucked that up. But because she didn’t want to spend more time with him or because she did, but didn’t want someone else around? Or maybe because she actually didn’t want to meet new people? Or because he was asking too much when he was really just a booty call? Aw, fuck.

Dustin took a gamble. He knew this was just supposed to be practice or something, but he’d do his damndest to try to give Lena what she needed while it was happening. And he wanted to be honest about what he wanted, too.

He’s my closest friend. And I’m really enjoying spending time with you, so it would mean a lot to me if you would meet him.

She shrugged and gave another noncommittal gesture. She looked distracted now, though, like she didn’t know what to do with the request and it was stressing her out. Ah, fuck.

He put his hand over hers. Hey, it’s just a game night. We’ll be hanging out, and maybe we can invite a few more people we want to get to know. Like Simon from the munch. It doesn’t have to mean anything more or less than you want it to. And you already committed to one evening that’s not about sex.

Her shoulders dropped a little, and he watched her exhale a measured breath. OK, that sounds like fun.

Well, even if she didn’t sound convinced, that was all he needed. That protective spot inside his chest felt good. And it would feel even better when she had some close friends.

Now he needed to get her mind off it. He knew that she was expecting some big scene or something, but the mood didn’t feel right for that. He’d been painfully hard for most of the evening, and he was definitely still very interested.

But she was worth so much more than a quick scene, and he didn’t think she realized that.

She was skittish, like a wild animal. He needed to tame her a little bit first. Maybe not too tame, but enough to take food from his hand. I was thinking we could watch the second movie.

She blinked for a second, and then nodded. Yeah, I’d like that.

She was lying, but this seemed to be a little lie, a social fib instead of a mask. You didn’t watch the first movie at all, did you?

She smiled back at him impishly. You made me fall asleep!

Fucking adorable. I did. And I had a wonderful time holding you.

This time when she blushed and looked away, her face held only bashful happiness. That, right there, was what he wanted. Do you want to watch the second one anyway?

She leaned forward, looking up at him. We could do something else…

Nope. Absolutely not. She wasn’t running the show, and he wasn’t going to let her believe that those moves would work on him. He might not know everything about this whole D/s thing, but he knew that she needed to know that he was in control. He made his face stern. It looks like you need another lesson.

She rolled her eyes. More cuddling?!? She signed it like it was an outrage.

He grinned. More cuddling.

She let out a huff and took a frustrated bite of salad. But her eyes were smiling. Perfect.

When they finally put away the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen, and made it over to the couch, Dustin expected her to fight him on it again.

She sank into his lap easily, though, resting her head back against his shoulder and facing the TV. He flicked on the movie and found the closed captioning settings, glad he’s seen it a dozen times and didn’t really care about seeing it now. He hadn’t paid much attention to the first one, either.

Lena was still a little tense in his lap, and he just wrapped both arms around her waist until she started to settle.