“I should have realized then that there were issues. We were both twenty-one. There aren’t a lot of beautiful, hot twenty-one-year-oldvirgins out there,” he said with a shake of the head. “Anyway, I didn’t jump her bones on the spot like I wanted. I’d bookeda fancy restaurant for dinner. I took her there, wined and dined her, talked and laughed, but I noticed she was drinking alot. I figured she was just nervous and looking for a little Dutch courage. But I didn’t want her first time to be a drunkenblur, so even though I hadn’t planned it, I took her dancing. Once at the dance club I stopped buying alcohol, switching towater for both of us instead, telling her we had to stay hydrated. She didn’t protest and we danced like crazy for the nextfew hours. When I thought we’d worked off the worst of the alcohol, I took her back to her place.”
G.G. smiled with wry amusement. “I half expected her to be too exhausted from the dancing to go ahead with her plans, but when I asked if she was tired and wanted me to go, she took my hand and led me inside.”
He was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. It actually looked like he was blushing when he said, “I wanted herfirst time to be special for her, and so I really worked the foreplay. I gave her three orgasms before getting to the mainevent.” Pausing, he met her gaze and said, “I know it’s crass to kiss and tell, but I want you to understand that it wasn’tjust a ‘rip her clothes off and stick it in’ deal. I did everything I could think to make it good for her. But when it cameto the big moment— ” He blew his breath out slowly at the memory. “The minute I started to enter her, and I mean the verymoment—hell, I wasn’t more than millimeters in and she just freaked; kicking, screaming, thrashing, scratching and punchingme. And all the while she was screaming, ‘No, Daddy! Please don’t hurt me, Daddy!’”
Ildaria swallowed and sat back, her emotions a confused mix of pity, concern, fear, and anxiety.
“Well, my first reaction was to jump back and give her space, but that didn’t seem to help and the way she was thrashing aroundI was afraid she’d hurt herself, so I pulled my pants up quick and then I just pulled her into my arms, held her and rubbedher back soothingly. All the while, saying over and over, ‘It’s okay, it’s me. It’s G.G. You’re safe,’ until she calmed. Shewas as silent and still as a stone for a minute and then pulled back and looked at me with confusion. And it was real confusion.
“‘I don’t—What happened?’ she asked, and I really don’t think she knew what had set her off and why she’d panicked. When I told her what she’d been shouting, she just kind of closed down. Emotionally. She didn’t seem to believe it, and she couldn’t get me out of there quickly enough. I left, but as I dressed I tried to suggest as gently as I could that there might be something in her past that she needed to look at and maybe counseling would help. That I’d be there for her in whatever capacity she needed. She just kept nodding and waiting for me to leave.”
He took a drink of his water, and then said, “I was shocked to see myself when I got home. I looked like I’d been in a fight;black eye, fat lip, scratches and bruises down my cheek, neck, chest, and arms.” He turned his water glass on the island andsaid, “I wasn’t surprised when she called and broke it off with me the next day. I knew when I left that she wasn’t readyto deal with whatever had happened in her past.”
Releasing his glass, he shifted his glance to her. “It took weeks to heal from all the physical damage she did, and she wasmortal. If you freaked like that, you could kill me,” he pointed out.
Ildaria wanted to protest that she’d never attack him, but the truth was she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t. She’d attackedthree men on the pirate ship. Each man had attacked her first, but she could still remember her rage and determination tohurt those men in response. She couldn’t swear the same thing might not happen with G.G. at that most important moment, andthat being the case, she said, “So, we’ll take it slow.”
G.G. nodded, but said, “And I’d like you to go to Marguerite’s son-in-law for counseling.”
Ildaria’s head jerked back under the emotional blow, but she managed to hold on to the temper that exploded inside her at the demand. Swallowing her anger, she merely said, “Fine. If you go to him for counseling too.”
Now it was G.G.’s turn to rock back in shock. “I don’t need counseling.”
“Really? So seeing your mother mid-turn didn’t affect you at all? Make you resistant to the turn?”
G.G. stared at her silently and then warned, “Counseling might not make a difference about that.”
Ildaria shrugged. “It might not make a difference for me either, but we can both give it a try, can’t we?”
After a short pause, G.G. nodded. “All right. We’ll both go for
