Renaissance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

fault.”
    “I still think you should call him.”
    Tiffany took a cleansing breath. 
    “I’m serious, Tiff.”
    She finally looked at Emily, then dropped her head back until it hit the back of the office chair. “I think I will.  I need to start practicing overcoming my fears, right?” She turned her head to make eye contact with her girlfriend.
    Emily gave her a poignant smile.  “You told me to overcome my fears with Mike.  I’m just giving you back the same advice you gave to me.”
    Before admitting her love to the charming playboy, Michael Callahan, Emily had had her own demons to exorcise.  All of the girls, including Tiffany, had encouraged her to be honest with him about her feelings.  As a result, they were now going strong, living happily together.
    “You’re right. I should call him. I’ll call him,” Tiffany repeated, but stared off into space. She took Emily’s hand. “Thank you for telling me. I’m so glad I said something to you. At least now I’m prepared.”
    Emily squeezed her hand and looked at her tenderly. “So. What are you gonna say to him?”
    Tiffany made a raspberry sound with her lips, then dropped her head forward. “I need to think on that.  I was such a confident woman before Richard,” she grumbled.  “I’m finding that woman again, though.  She’s in there, clawing her way out.”
    “I’m proud of you for doing this.  Don’t wait too long.  Call today, maybe tomorrow.  The longer you wait, the harder it’s gonna be.”
    “Yeah.” Tiffany sighed and nodded, taking a moment before looking at her friend to continue her thought.  “I finally got a gynecologist since moving down here and my appointment is tomorrow.  It’s a doctor from the Medical Center.  Maybe I’ll see if Drew wants to have coffee or something while I’m over there.”
    Emily perked up. “That sounds good.  Are you finally having the piercings removed, or is this just a pap smear?”
    “Both.  I’m definitely having the,” she paused. “Geez, I can’t even say it.” 
    While married to her husband, he had convinced her five years earlier to have her nipples and clitoris pierced. She hadn’t wanted to do it and had adamantly told him so, but he hadn’t listened, making her feel like she was a horrible wife if she didn’t do it for him. She had been convinced that by doing as he asked, their relationship would be more fulfilling, sexier.  After years of hearing he needed more in bed, she’d finally relented, feeling like it would be a necessary sacrifice for the marriage.
    Richard had been talking about, and dabbling in, light bondage and S&M with her at the beginning of their marriage, and then when the mommy porn books had come out, he was even more into it.  He was an amateur at best and an asshole at worst, not being well versed in the correct ways of bringing pleasure to his partner in those ways; just awkwardness and humiliation.  Not to mention the pain.
    She’d hated the piercing procedure, and had felt extremely vulnerable and resentful as a result. And it hadn’t stopped the cheating.
    “You’re getting them all removed?” Emily pressed.  Tiffany had shared with the girls her feelings about the piercings, her shame and embarrassment with them especially since she hadn’t wanted them. They’d been trying to encourage her to get them removed, but she’d been putting it off because she didn’t even want a new doctor to see them.  They made her feel cheap and tawdry.
    “I don’t think I’ll remove the nipple ones just yet.  Just the other one.  I hate that thing.  It gets in the way of everything down there.”  They both looked at each other and after a beat of silence started laughing. “Can you even believe this conversation?”
    Emily smiled. “So you’re not getting the nipple ones removed?  You slut,” she joked.
    Tiffany chuckled.  Three months earlier she would’ve taken offense at the joke, but her girlfriends had taught her to