Page 31 of Provoking Camden

“Also common. Unfortunately, you can’t go back. You don’t want him to take your power from you. You don’t want to look up two years from now and realize he’s holding you back.”

“Yeah. I’ve thought of that. It’s just hard.”

“I know it is. It’s only been a week. Don’t rush yourself. You need time to heal. You haven’t totally recovered from your physical injuries.”

For some reason, tears well up in my eyes and run down my cheeks. I tug my hands free and swipe at them. I don’t know why I’m suddenly crying. I try to stop, but I can’t.

“It’s okay to feel emotional, Simone. Normal. Have you let yourself cry?”

“Some.”

“You’ll feel better if you let the emotions come out. Keeping them bottled up only puts off the grieving process. I bet Camden is good with your tears, huh? He’s one of the most sympathetic, level men I know.”

I nod. “He’s really good. He treats me like I’m a princess.”

“As you should be. You are a princess, after all.” He smiles. “All Littles are princesses. Except, of course, for the ones who don’t want to be.” He switches to a silly, stern look.

I giggle. “I don’t know any Littles like that.”

“I don’t either, but I suppose there could be some.”

“I guess I pretended to be like that for a while.”

“When was this?”

“For the last semester. I’ve been flirting mercilessly with Professor Arnalt for four years. I kept trying to tempt him. I went through a lot of different phases. The last one was a goth Middle. I even dyed my hair black and wore black makeup and clothes.”

Quinten chuckles. “You really did try to woo him. He didn’t fall for it?”

“No. He didn’t want to get fired.”

“Well, there is that.”

“I was so naughty. I feel bad when I think back on some of the things I did. Even though I fantasized about him all the time, I never thought he saw me as anything more than an annoying girl with a ridiculous crush.”

“Apparently, he saw you as more than that.”

“Yeah. He says so.”

“You don’t believe him?”

“I do. I mostly do. I mean, I’m not sure if he would have contacted me if I hadn’t needed him to rescue me that night. He was still putting distance between us so there would never be any accusations from the university that we’d been together before I graduated.”

“Reasonable. But you doubt him?”

“Not really. It’s just so hard to believe I’m really here.”

“What does he tell you?”

“That I’m his and he’s never letting me go.”

“Do you think there’s a single chance in hell he would say that if it weren’t true?”

“No.” I look down.

“I agree. Not a chance. Not Camden. He would never say things to placate you. Have you tried submitting to him this past week?”

“Submitting how? I’m always submitting to him.”