"I'm not —" Emrys started, then caught himself and corrected his tone; softer and more measured when he continued. He was meeting her eyes again. "I'm not punishing you, Angelica. I'm protecting you." As soon as the words left his mouth he recognized how they might be construed as condescending, and regretted them — but really that was the root of things, because he had far more experience in this area than she did and she didn't know what she was getting herself into when she said she wanted to experiment. That, and she had shown a propensity in the past to venture out into uncertain territory, things that made her uncomfortable, for the sake of meeting the standard she assumed he wanted — a recipe for disaster, when it came to this sort of thing. He didn't think she really had it in her to take someone else to bed, knowing that he was simultaneously doing the same — he thought it would break her heart. Worse, he thought she would knowingly break it if she thought that would win back what they'd lost. He couldn't stomach the idea of getting any portion of his youthful lifestyle back at her expense, though — something she continually failed to account for.

"If you decide to go through with this, I'll serve a partner up to you on a silver plate." He ran his tongue over the point of one tooth. "But I want to be sure it's really what you want first. Because it's difficult to go back — and it's very easy for things to get — messy." Emrys hesitated, then added quietly, "The last thing I want is to be left picking up the pieces after — well."

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