Page 46 of Adored

“I’m curious.”

Gamble was an open book with this man. He’d reached into him to do battle with the demons that nearly destroyed him. The least Gamble could do was answer a few questions.

“Shoot.”

Poe did.

“When we had sex, did you hold back?” he asked. “Were you being gentle because of your past with Storm? Because I’m not her.”

Gamble laughed and ate his sandwich. Never let it be said that this man wasn’t a therapist to his core, and it made him feel…

Loved.

Very few people had ever cared about his feelings.

Now, Gamble had to navigate this.

“Yes,” he said, not mincing words. “I was able to be wilder than I was with Storm, but not the normal Gamble sex combo.”

Poe sat there and listened.

It’s what he did normally.

“She was damaged, and I couldn’t go near her ass, since she was assaulted by hordes of men. I also had to be very gentle during sex. We made love. We never just…fucked. Know what I mean? That’s a big part of who I am. I’m rough, I have a high sex drive, and I shelved it for her sake. Before her, I would enjoy the moment, but after her, I’ve been trained to be different.”

Poe suspected as much, and he didn’t want him to hold back. Sex should be fun.

It should charge your batteries and make you happy. He wanted that for both of them.

“I could tell. I hope you’ll be yourself with me, and trust me with that part of you.”

Gamble sat back in the chair.

“I guess that depends on you, Doctor. How rough do you like your Marines?” he teased to keep the conversation light.

While he knew they needed to have conversations like this, there was always a little piece of Gamble that feared what would happen if Poe saw the real him.

Would he leave?

Would he laugh?

Would he hate him?

“As for Marines, the single one I’ve slept with,” he said, amused, “I have no complaints if he gets rougher. I’m good with some hot sex with a wild Marine. If you ever think I’m saying no to that…”

There was that moment where he felt relief.

“So if I wake up in the middle of the night…”

“Absolutely. On a boat, in a moat…,” he joked. “I’m not a bloody idiot. If you’re waking me up for sex, I’m going along for the ride.”

Gamble grinned.

“If you said with a goat, I was going to question you,” he joked.

Poe laughed.

It gave Gamble the chills. His voice was whiskey-warm, and it soothed all the pain away when he heard it.