I nodded my agreement.
He again leaned toward me and gentled his tone when he requested, “And please, from now on, don’t touch, accept or consume anything unless you’re certain it was provided to you by me. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” I said softly.
His lips curved up and he whispered, “Thank you, poppy.”
Okay.
Totally.
This guy kept getting so much better I was beginning to wonder if he was even real.
“We must discuss something else sensitive before our food is served so it can have both our attention and then we can go on to enjoy the evening unhindered by such discourse.”
Oh boy.
So far this date wasn’t much for the easy conversation.
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“Last night was just you and me,” he declared.
I felt my brows draw together in confusion but agreed to the obvious. “Yes.”
“What I’m saying is, considering what you shared with me was the length of time since you were last active before last night, I would doubt you’re taking pennyrium and not once did I wear a sheath.”
I shook my head, still confused. “I don’t—”
“To protect against conception.”
Holy shit.
My entire body grew still.
Apollo obviously didn’t notice because he kept talking.
“Prior to leaving Vasterhague, we will procure you some pennyrium and tonight, I’ll wear a sheath.”
I had no idea what pennyrium was. I could guess what a sheath was. And that last was nice and all, but my heart was racing and my mind was reeling.
I tried to count the times he came inside me the night before and I couldn’t. There were too many. At least five. Maybe more.
Shit!
I hadn’t thought of that. Upon waking, I’d only thought about him being hurt and angry. Then I’d, of course, fallen asleep. After that, it was all about him being sweet and affectionate and getting ready for our date.
Shit.
Shit!
“Maddie,” he called and I forced myself to focus on him.
“Um…I would say that all this is good, Apollo. Nice. I like it.” I indicated him, me and the table with a circling hand and when I was done, I dropped that hand to rest on the table. “But pregnancy at this point is definitely taking things too freaking quickly,” I shared.
“Agreed,” he said slowly, reaching out a hand, capturing mine and holding it tight. “And I’ll share that pennyrium didn’t agree with Ilsa and we wished time together after we were wed before Christophe was born. The sheath gave us that time as well as time between Christophe and Élan. It is often used and quite dependable. If you can take pennyrium, it’s even better.”
“What’s pennyrium?” I asked.