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She caressed my arm. “You could have died.”
I took her hand. “You’re right, I’m twenty-nine and lucky to be alive. I’m sorry if I’m moving fast, and I understand that you’re young. But I want you to know how serious I am about us and make my intentions clear.”
She blinked and seemed to be thinking. “You just seemed to go from wanting nothing to everything in a blink of an eye. I remember you telling me that you preferred your women a bit less Goth.”
“Yeah, and you are… a lot less Goth.”
“So, what you’re saying is that if I was still dressed in black, you wouldn’t want to be with me?”
Okay, how do you answer that? I didn’t.
“I think we should just take things slow. I can’t even think about marriage at this point,” she said.
“Why not?”
“I just can’t.” She looked away.
“Okay…. Fair enough, but at least we’ve established that we’re a couple now.”
She sat up and swung her legs over the bed. “I’m sorry for getting blood on your sheets.” She looked at the red spot.
I touched the spot and chuckled. “I’ve never been with a virgin before.” The primitive part of my brain took pride in her innocence.
“Are you disappointed that I’m inexperienced?” she asked.
“No, it just makes you more special to me. I’m proud that I got to be your first.”
“Good… I’m going to shower really quickly, okay?”
“Okay.”
While Cia was humming in the shower, Bruce called on my phone.
“Hey, I was hoping to catch Cia for our weekly session.”
“Oh, shoot, was that now?” I said and banged my head with the palm of my hand. “She’s taking a shower.”
Bruce chuckled. “Then you can tell me how things are going until she’s done.”
It burst out of me; I told him about what had happened, my intentions, and her reaction to my proposal.
“So she said she wants us to take it slow,” I ended.
“You’re lucky she hasn’t run the other way,” Bruce said dryly.
“Excuse me. You’re the one who said I should only cross that line if I was serious, so I showed her that I am.”
He sighed, and I could almost see him remove his glasses and rub the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, I would never say this to a client, but since you’re not one, I’ll say it.”
“Say what?”
“You’re an idiot.”
That shut me up.
He sighed again. “Cia is trying to find herself, and the last thing she needs is you putting extra pressure on her.”
“I’m not, I’m supporting her.”
