Page 36 of Whimper Wonderland
“I don’t really know my dad. He left when I was six. My parents got divorced and it was…contentious, to say the least. I have a twin brother. Dad got my brother, mom got me. A clean split, I guess.”
“That sounds traumatic.”
I put my drink to my lips. “What doesn’t kill us makes us weirder, right?”
“Do you keep in touch with your brother?”
“Sort of. We hated each other on principle for like…most of our lives. But we reconnected after college. Discovered we had more in common than we realized. He’s come to visit a couple times—it’s strange, getting to know your actual twin in your thirties. But…I don’t know…”
I was rambling, and my tongue was starting to tie itself in knots.
I met his gaze, expecting that glazed over, bored look Shawn or my mother often got when I started talking aboutmyself. Instead, those blue eyes were fixed on me. Unwavering.
“You don’t know what?” he asked.
“I guess I feel like maybe it doesn’t matter that we didn’t spend our childhoods together. Like things happen when they’re supposed to happen.” I was talking too much. Heat was rising into my cheeks. I narrowed my eyes at Dorian. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re…actively listening to me. It’s unnerving.”
“You can blindfold me, if you’d like.”
There he was—the same Dorian who propositioned me within minutes of messaging me. I was drawn to the way he fearlessly said the quiet things out loud. Like he wasn’t afraid towant.It sent a finger of heat tickling down my body.
“What are your feelings?” I asked. “Thoughts? Hopes and dreams?”
“I’d like to meet up again,” he said. “Once a week, preferably.”
“And in these meet-ups, we’ll play?”
“Yes. I don’t want to be your boyfriend. Or your friend. I just want to be your dog.” He paused for a moment, dropping into thought. “I want clear boundaries,” he continued. “Our play sessions—and our lives—those are separate.”
A little, nagging warning in my chest. “Are you married?”
“No. Are you?”
Was that a light of jealousy in his eyes?
I shook my head. His shoulders relaxed.
“But I don’t care if you see other people,” I told him. “Like you said. This isn’t…”
“Romantic,” he filled in.
The way those blue eyes held my gaze made me flutter.
Yes. Let’s put up these boundaries.
“But,” I added, “I’d rather you not play with anyone else.”
He blinked. That response seemed to surprise him.
I continued, “If that’s okay. I don’t want anyone undoing my…hard work.”
His back stiffened. I’d set him on edge, but I couldn’t tell if it was in agoodorbadway.
We were still learning each other, after all.
