Presque Vu

Chapter 18

Raina was a little disappointed that she didn't hear from Shannon again that week. She thought he had been lighthearted and joking when he left her Monday night, she thought they had parted on a good note. But when he didn't call and didn't respond to the texts she sent him on Wednesday, she began to think opening up to him at all had been a mistake. He'd probably had a chance to sit down and think about things and in all likelihood had decided to steer well clear of her. She was sad but couldn't say she blamed him. At least it would make things easier with Jared.

For their proposed date on Thursday, they had made plans for Jared to make dinner at his house. He felt the privacy would better facilitate their discussion. Raina agreed. She knew they still had a lot to talk about it. Maybe a little less if Shannon had bowed out of the picture.

When she arrived at Jared's she was glad she had taken a little extra care getting ready that evening. He was looking handsome as ever, in a lightweight white shirt with rolled up sleeves, unbuttoned nearly to his navel and black dress slacks. Being Jared, of course, he was wearing polka dot socks underneath them and scruffy slippers. Raina smiled as he guided her back to the kitchen, hand at the small of her back.

"You look lovely tonight, Raina," he told her as he took the bottle of wine she had brought. For her part, she had chosen a simple black wrap dress whose silky material and body hugging cut flattered her toned figure, and its short skirt showed off her long legs. She thought their looks nicely complimented each other, almost as if it had been planned. Jared pulled a couple of glasses out of a cabinet but grabbed a wine carafe that was already sitting out. "I hope you don't mind," he said. "Your bottle looks lovely but I decanted this about an hour ago and I've been waiting to share it with you."

"Oh no, that's fine," Raina said, taking the glass. "We can have mine another time. Something smells amazing by the way. I guess you can really cook."

Jared laughed. "What I can do is order very nice takeout and warm it in the oven. But it's ready if you want to go ahead and sit down."

They took their plates into the dining room and started on the meal. She asked how his busy week had been, and he had explained that he'd had some meetings and interviews but most of it had been spent rehearsing with the band. There was a small tour coming up in South America that they were getting ready for. She had related the events of her week and mentioned her upcoming return to the doctor. It was a pleasant conversation but nothing deep, much like any other time that they had spent together. Once they had finished and the dishes had been cleared, Jared sat Raina down to begin their talk.

"So have you been thinking about what you want from this relationship?" he asked her bluntly as soon as they settled down on his couch. Raina sat the glass of wine she had been holding down onto the wood and glass coffee table.

She nodded at him. "Of course, I understand this is dependent on what you want too. We have to come to an agreement."

"Well of course we do," Jared said impatiently. "But that really doesn't answer my question."

She quickly tried to gather her thoughts. "Well, obviously I want to keep seeing you. I want to keep sleeping with you." Raina shifted in her seat a bit uncomfortably. She didn't know why she suddenly felt so shy. She had never been a shrinking violet, especially when it came to sex. Maybe it was because for so long she had harbored in her head fantasies of the very things she was about to ask Jared to do to her that those fantasies felt like her darkest secret. She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. "I'm sorry the bruising freaked me out. It was all just so real at that point, and I didn't know what to do. You see, I've always had these fantasies, ever since I was a teenager, about a man who would dominate me like that. I've always known I had that submissive side. But it took me a while to come to terms with it. And I've never found a man that was interested too."