Chương 39: An Uncommon, but Not Entirely Unusual Encounter

After our eyes adjusted, I took her hand. She wrapped her fingers into mine, soft and small. She inched closer. Her whole body moved, chest rising and falling with each breath. She rose on her tiptoes, closing the height difference. I cupped the back of her head, pulling her mouth to mine. Our lips found each other, fitting together smoothly and without question, like the last two pieces of a puzzle. Every last ounce of tension slowly melted.

As our kiss deepened, and she relaxed into me with a small, contented sigh. Her arm hooked around my shoulders, keeping us clinched tight. Her free hand twisted into my shirt, grabbing on as though to make sure I couldn't escape. Using a skill I'd perfected as a late teenager in college, I positioned one hand behind her back to find the laces of her dress. It wasn't as easy as simply unhooking a bra. The thick string felt coarse in my fingers. It was a far cry from what I knew lay beneath.

I worked the lace by feel, my knuckles brushing against the soft ridges of her spine. She didn't help. Her breath caught with every touch. Lips lightly parted, as though seconds from offering encouragement, she maintained steady eye contact that begged me to hurry up—or draw the moment out longer. With a bit of fiddling, I managed to untie the simple bow and loosen her dress. It caught at first, still hugging the generous curves of her body.

Then, slowly, as if finally realizing that it had been given permission, it began inching its way down. A soft shoulder appeared, lengthening the candlelit line of her neck. Then, a muted collarbone. The ample crest of cleavage. The hint of darkened areola. Suddenly, seconds too late, yet right on time, it happened. Her dress spilled down her like water, cascading over her hips off like a waterfall. A pool of fabric ringed around her small feet. She stood before me, completely nude.

Her ankle twisted in, pressing her knees together. A sheepish shrug and hopeful gaze begged for a response.

"Wow." [Content omitted because this is a family-friendly site] As we lay together in her bed, she shook gently in my arms. I heard a sniffle. Then a sob.

"Hey. Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"Are you crying?" Another sob. Then another, bigger this time. Her body still shook, and she curled into me tightly, as though asking for protection. I held her close, shielding her from everything, both real and imagined.

"This is so stupid," she whispered again between snuffles.

"I'm really embarrassed."

"No, no. Don't be. It's totally okay."

"I don't even know why. There's nothing wrong. That was just…" She paused, searching for the words.

"That was incredible. Better than I ever could've imagined. I'm just overwhelmed with emotion for some reason. I've never felt like this before." It was uncommon, but not entirely unusual, I knew. Some women cried after sex sometimes. It would only have been weird if I'd been the one crying. But what she needed now was reassurance and comfort. For a first time, I'd kept things vanilla, but gotten vigorous. It must've been quite a lot to handle. Enjoying this book?

Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I hugged her tighter, and she held onto me as if for dear life. I stroked her hair lovingly until her sniffles stopped and she uncurled, resting her head on my chest. We lay there for several minutes before she broke the silence again.

"I'm sorry if that was weird." I shrugged lightly.

"As long as you're okay. It happens, you know."

"It does?"

"Yes, and I'm not judging you for it." A heavy sigh whooshed out of her, rustling my chest hair with menthol-like coolness.

"Thank you. It just felt as though everything hit me at once. So much relief from all the stress, so much pleasure from... you know. Your, uh." Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"You know." Then, back to normal.

"I couldn't even think straight. And then realizing in the middle of it how much I love you. It was overwhelming." I kissed her on the forehead.

"I love you, too."

"So, you want to stick around a while longer? Help me run this place? Maybe indefinitely? Co-owners. Maybe something, um, legally binding."

"I'd be honored. Nothing would make me happier."

"Really? Nothing?" I shrugged again.

"I can't think of anything."

"I bet I could think of something. Maybe a couple of things. Three wouldn't be too many, either."

"I'm a little lost," I admitted.

"She drew her leg over mine, pulling some covers with it.

"Family means everything to elves, you know. The bigger, the better." For several seconds, I didn't respond. Words failed me. The only sensation my body registered was a strange squirming in my gut that did funny things to my heart. If Wynnie was talking about kids, that was… well, it felt soon. But was it too soon? Honestly, I couldn't tell. With anyone else, I might've had one foot out the bed already. Yet instead, before my brain could put words together, I simply squeezed her tighter.

"I guess that's on the table," I said. She let out a small, happy sound, like a squeal got too happy and evaporated into a sigh.

"All I know is that I want to make you the happiest man in the world." She kissed me on my jaw and ran a soft hand down my arm.

"I want to give you everything I have. More than that, actually."

"I think math might work different on my world."

"Just imagine it. Me by your side, loving you with all my heart. Another woman on your other side, trying her best to keep up. Maybe a third, just coming home from, I don't know, errands." Oh. She wasn't thinking about kids at all.

"So, multiple wives."

"Mm-hmm." She sighed contentedly.

"Anyway, that's a long way off. I've thought of so many ways to make you happy. It'd… it'd make me happy, too."

"Is this a test?"

"No! Not at all. But if you want to test it out, we could try a threesome. But I'd get to pick the other girl." My head spun. How had we gotten here? This was about how nothing could make me happier than running the inn with her, right? That still felt true. And somehow, it'd steered into threesomes and polyamory.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't want to try that." I'd tried it. Several times, actually. It was part of the past I was trying to put behind me. And not all threesomes were everything they were cracked up to be. Too often, it felt like someone was left out, or that people were taking turns. Or that it was hard for one guy to manage two girls without accidentally putting an early end to things. But the ones that went well? They were awesome. Unforgettable. I'd be a fool to say no. I had to say something.

"Erm." Shoot. Not as eloquent as I'd hoped. Yet she'd hardly noticed. Her breathing came fast and light against my chest, every bit as nervous and excited as me. Something about the way she'd said it, so quiet and full of hope, made me realize how vulnerable her suggestion made her. All she wanted was to hold onto me somehow. And as her small fingers splayed delicately over my shoulder, holding me near, I realized she was trying to find a way to do the same thing, emotionally.

"If you want something else, I'm open to it. It could be, um, equally intense." What did she have in mind?

"Oh yeah?"

"Anything you can think of. We could talk about it, at least." I blinked. I could think of a few things. The innocent elf next door vibe was adorable as all hell. But she'd been surprisingly vocal and foulmouthed in bed. Plus the soft offer of a threesome—and so soon, at that? Something told me Wynnie had a deviant streak. I was dying to know how deep it went.