And Sarah had texted Paul several times, each text left unanswered by him.
Each request for him to talk to her seeming more strident and demanding.
“I’m sure, pet.” He offered her a smile. “I have enough time before next Monday for the bruises to heal if someone punches me.”
“Terrific.”
He helped her out of the cab as Terrie led the way over.
“Hey,” Paul said. “Do we need to talk, or are we okay?”
Terrie didn’t look happy, so her next words shocked Lynn. “Lynn’s an adult. I trust her. If she thinks you won’t fuck her over again, then I’m going to have to trust her. I’m not happy about this, but I won’t fight it. I love her, and she’s my friend.” She poked him in the chest. “You used to be my friend, too.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. At some point, when the four of us can sit down alone, and relax, I’ll tell you as much as I can.”
“You’re not going back to her, are you?”
“No. That will not happen.”
Terrie finally held her hand out to him to shake. Lynn wanted to cry happy tears because, honestly, that was far more than she’d expected this soon.
Lynn stepped forward to hug her while Mark shook with Paul. “So what changed your mind?”
She hooked a thumb at her husband. “The big guy. He said he was shocked to see you Monday.”
“Shocked how?”
Mark spoke up. “It was the first time in two damn years you didn’t tear my heart out, lookin’ atcha. You actually looked like you were living again.”
“I seriously suggest not screwing this up,” Andrew said as he shook with Paul.
Lynn’s gaze locked with Paul’s. “Oh, believe me. I won’t,” he said.
“So why didn’t you stay up in Nebraska for a few more days?” Lynn asked Terrie.
“Because I wanted to be here when you got here. Mark’s taking a couple of weeks off next month so we can all spend time together as a family, and have the girls with us, too. Barry and his wife had to go back to work anyway.”
“You still going to be my PA?” Lynn teased.
“Of course. Someone has to ride your butt to get your edits in on time.” Then she smiled. Finally.
They hugged again. “I love you,” Lynn told her. “You know that.”
“I know, sweetie. This has just been so damn hard on us, watching what you went through.”
“It’ll be good now. I promise.”
“I hope so, for your sake.”
Chapter Twenty
After unloading the rental car from the car hauler, and helping them unload the truck’s contents into the condo, Paul put their bags into the rental car and then drove them to Lynn’s. They stopped on the way to get Chinese takeout for dinner, and when Lynn unlocked the front door, Vinnie nearly tackled her.
Until she spotted Paul.
Then she was all over him, meowing and rubbing on him and refusing to get out of his way. He finally had to pick her up and hold her, love up on her, before he could get any farther inside than the entryway.
“Hey, sweetie kitty. Missed you.”
The cat loudly purred, head-butting his chin as he scratched the top of her head.
Lynn didn’t realize she was crying until Paul looked at her and frowned. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, wiping at her eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t realize how hard that would hit me. I guess she missed you even more than I thought she did.”
He pulled Lynn in for a kiss, and Vinnie reached out, pawing at her hand, trying to get a head scratch from her, too.
He finally set the cat down. “Let’s eat, take a shower, and then cuddle.”
“If she’ll let us.”
Now Vinnie was meowing again, weaving herself around their legs, back and forth.
“I missed her.”
“Why don’t you just move in here now?” Lynn said. “We’ve got a couple of days before you have to go back to work, and—”
He silenced her with a kiss. “What’d I say?”
She tried not to huff. “I have to call Ed in the morning. First thing.”
“Right. One step at a time. I won’t rush this. We can spend the nights together, sure. But I need to be sure you’re okay before we take it farther than that.”
* * * *
During the unloading process, a blanket of thick tension had lain over the group. It finally eased by the time Paul and the others finished unloading the truck. Before he and Lynn had left, he’d sensed a gradual turning of the tide in his favor.
But he wouldn’t rush things. Not just because of Lynn but because of everyone else, too. He’d once considered Terrie and Mark his closest friends, and he hadn’t spoken to them…since. He hadn’t even tried reaching out because Sarah had wanted him to cut ties to them, too.
He hadn’t blocked them on Facebook, though.
Although the one time he’d cruised through their profiles not long after having to say good-bye to Lynn, he’d seen her in one of their pictures, at a barbecue, in the background.
She’d looked horrible, agonized.
Feeling guilty as hell, he’d never looked at their profiles again, not wanting to see the proof of what he’d done. Admitted cowardice, yes.
If Lynn felt confident about their relationship, he knew Terrie and Mark would come around, too. But the money complicated things. The boom.
He almost wished she hadn’t won it.
Now he had to be especially careful.
Sitting on the couch with Lynn—eating, the TV on, Vinnie trying to walk across their laps and steal their food—it felt like no time had passed. At all.
In a way, that scared him.
It hammered home even harder how wrongly he’d chosen.
At the beginning of their relationship, even though Lynn was a switch and he wasn’t, there’d been some emotional tug-of-wars between them. Head-butting of two strong, Dominant personalities, until the night a playful scene had turned into a wrestling match, which had turned into a hard primal scene that left them both drained and left Lynn a puddle of goo in his lap on her bedroom floor.
After a lot of talking, he’d finally discovered that switch inside her. That she wanted him to take charge, take command, and take her in hand. That sometimes she found herself pushing against him as if she couldn’t control it. Rebelling.
To see if he’d push back.
He got it. Once knowing that, it’d allowed him to set a new rule in their relationship, the Sir and pet dynamic that had felt easy and seamless once it was in place. While together, she had permission to top others, if she wanted, as long as she told him about it, but she’d rarely done it. And never when he wasn’t around.
As if she wanted his approval and wanted him to watch over her while she did. He got that, too. She submitted only to him, bottomed only to him.
That was a point of pride, to him.
Lynn at her best was a wild, untamed thing, in many ways. She could be a sadistic top, a heavy player.
As his submissive, she could take everything he dished out and beg for more, and he was not one to hold back.
While in Sioux Falls and on the road, it’d been easy for him to not think about the time that had passed and focus on the now with her. Being tossed back into the familiar as if no time had passed only emphasized to him that this was the right choice for him.
And how grateful he was to have a second chance with her.
* * * *
Exhausted from the drive and helping unload, Lynn was more than happy to share a shower with Paul before they collapsed into her bed to snuggle.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said as a yawn escaped him. “I think I’m worn out.”
“That’s okay, Sir. So am I.”
He nuzzled the side of her head. “Thank you, pet.”
“For what?”
“This. Another chance. I won’t fuck it up. I promise.”
She’d cried too much already over the past several days. Sh
e didn’t want to cry anymore. “Love you, Sir.”
“Love you, too, pet.”
It felt good snuggling next to him, able to close her eyes and not keep track of the time, not have to worry about waking him up to leave so he wasn’t too late getting home.
Knowing he would be there the next morning, and every morning after.
Thursday morning, when she awakened, he was still asleep.
Vinnie lay sprawled across her chest, staring at her.
Carefully, so as not to wake him up, she grabbed Vinnie and eased herself out of bed, carrying the cat to the bathroom with her. Lynn set Vinnie on the floor before going to use the toilet. As she washed her hands, Vinnie jumped up onto the counter and started trying to play with the water stream.
“Stop it,” Lynn whispered. She dried her hands and carried the cat out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
As she went to make the coffee, pulling two mugs out of the cabinet—including the one he’d always used before—she felt an eerie sense of déjà vu settling in.
Was this…too easy?
A winning lottery ticket and the man she loved.
When did the other shoe drop?
It was only seven thirty, so too early to call Ed yet. That would be first on her list.
No way in hell would she disobey Paul. It didn’t matter that she didn’t feel a prenup was necessary.
She was going to go hook up her laptop and get it started when she stopped by the counter where both their cell phones lay plugged in and charging.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she flipped his over and hit the power button to wake it up.
Two new text messages from Sarah, although she couldn’t read them because of the way the alert was formatted.
Setting it facedown on the counter again, Lynn forced herself to stay calm.
I can ask him to block her.
Why hasn’t he blocked her yet?
No, petty was the last thing she wanted to be.
Yet there was part of her who wanted blood.
Their dynamic had been perfect before. They could have easily gone years like that had Sarah not blown up.
It didn’t matter what excuses Sarah gave for her “omissions.” Lynn felt lied to. She’d had conversations with Sarah, over the phone as well as face-to-face.
At no time before everything had blown up had Sarah given her any indication she was anything but fine with the play and poly arrangement Lynn and Paul had. Sarah had been the one to offer that they could be poly with each other if they wanted!
Up until Sarah’s mental breakdown, neither Lynn nor Paul had thought anything was wrong with the situation. The only one convinced their marriage was in trouble had been Sarah. Even their friends all knew Paul loved Sarah.
Lynn never would have laid herself bare to Paul had she known the depth of Sarah’s issues. Never would have gotten involved with him as anything more than a friend.
Mind reading wasn’t one of Lynn’s talents.
Then again, I never would have fallen in love with him if we hadn’t.
The blessing and the curse of their situation. She never would have known the depths of love she had with Paul, but she wouldn’t have gotten scorched in the process, either.
She forced herself to go to her office and hook up her laptop. Paul wasn’t going in to work today anyway, so she’d spend the time with him.
Not like she had to worry about taking a day off here and there now.
* * * *
Once the coffee finished brewing, she made her mug the way she liked then hesitated.
As far as she knew, Paul still took his the same way.
How many times had she fixed him morning coffee?
Plenty of times.
But usually, it was just a quick little while together, sometimes breakfast, on a Sunday morning. Then he’d have to go home.
To be home before Sarah got home from church.
Not anymore.
She wanted to move him into her place that day. No more nights apart, no more lonely mornings.
No more good-byes, except for when he had to go to work.
She’d had one good-bye long enough to last the rest of her life, thank you very much.
When Lynn opened the bedroom door to take the coffee in to him, she’d had her hands full with both mugs and trying not to spill either one. Distracted and unable to stop the cat, Vinnie streaked in past Lynn and launched herself onto the bed, landing squarely on Paul’s midsection and waking him up.
“Oof!”
“Crap. Sorry, Sir.” She set both mugs on the side table as Paul lifted the cat off his balls and handed her to Lynn.
“That wasn’t exactly the wakeup I was expecting.” He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?”
“Not quite eight yet. I don’t think Ed’s office opens until nine.”
He offered her a sleepy smile. “Good girl.”
Her heart twisted in the good way, a blush filling her cheeks. “Thank you, Sir.”
He held an arm out to her. She set Vinnie down on the end of the bed and curled up next to him, her head in his lap.
Stroking her hair, he said, “I think we have a lot to talk about still, don’t we?”
“Not really. I don’t want to think about the past.” She hooked one arm around his waist.
“I didn’t mean the past. I meant the future.”
“Please move in here. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
“You’ve never had to live with me full-time.”
“I’ve wanted to.”
He twined her hair around his fingers. “Why don’t we try this the safe way? I’m not going to give up my apartment yet. If it gets too much for you, you can always ask me to go home.”
“I won’t do that.”
He made her sit up and look him in the eyes. “Pet, you don’t know that,” he gently said. “You might get burned out having me around twenty-four-seven.”
“I won’t.”
He gently caressed her cheek. “Let’s take it one day at a time. All right?”
“Don’t you want to live with me?”
“Of course I do. I also don’t want to fuck us up. If it means we take it slow to guarantee it’s for life, I’m fine with that.”
“You said you wouldn’t leave unless I made you.”
“Exactly.” He cradled her face in his hands. “We did a lot of vanilla stuff together. But we never lived together. I think the longest time we had together at any one stretch was a little over a week that time she went to a medical conference in California with people from work.”
“And we were fine then.”
“And that was four years ago.”
She sat back, scowling. “Why does it feel like you’re trying to back out?”
“I’m not. I swear I’m not.”
* * * *
Paul desperately searched for a way to explain it. “When I showed up here that Sunday afternoon, I had no clue what was going to happen. My best-case was that you’d forgive me, say we could still be friends, and maybe work toward something. I thought you had moved on, and it scared and depressed the shit out of me.”
“But didn’t you see my collar?”
“I did, but from the way you and Terrie talked, I misunderstood. I spent the next several days trying to figure out what to do with my life. Then you called me.”
He caught her hands, kissed them, and pressed them against his chest. “No way in hell was I not going to be on that plane. Even if it had cost me my job.”
She frowned again. “I didn’t want to cost you your job.”
“I know, sweetie. But that’s how much having another chance with you meant to me. I can always find another job. I can’t find another you.”
He stared into her eyes. Sweet, blue, no redness in them today.
He hadn’t made her cry yet today and hoped he wouldn’t, unless it was tears during a scene.
“That’s why I want the prenup. That’s why I
want to be careful. I want you to set the pace.”
“Then move in.”
He smiled. “Impatient pet.”
“Damn right I am. You haven’t been alone all this time. I have.”
“I know. But I want you to have the power to send me home if you need alone time. I know you need that for your writing.”
“I don’t have to write again if I don’t want to.”
He cocked his head at her. “Pet. You are a writer. That’s one of the things I always loved about you, how creative you are. I know you don’t have to write for a living anymore, but I also know it’s part of you. Just like being a Dominant is part of me. You would be miserable if you never wrote again.”
She didn’t reply to that. He knew she didn’t have a reply because he was speaking the absolute truth.
Pulling her into his arms, he kissed the top of her head. “So here’s what I want to do today. You need to talk to Ed. We need to drop the rental car off, and I need to go pick up my car in Clearwater.”
“Oh!” She lifted her head to look at him. “Why didn’t you say that when we were driving back?”
He smiled. “Honestly? I forgot.”
“We can go get it. I’ll take you.”
“Don’t you have stuff to do today, though? I thought Terrie said you had things you needed to handle. I can pay an Uber or something.”
“No.” She laid a hand on his chest. “I’ll call the rental company. They’ve got an office up there. You could drive the rental and turn it in up there and get your car.”
“Okay. I can do that. Meanwhile, you deal with Ed.”
“Then what?”
“Then I’ll come back here this evening and you and I are going out to dinner on a date. And I’m paying.”
“Yes, Sir. Where?”
“Doesn’t matter. Dress nice, though.” He knew where he wanted to take her. He couldn’t remember if they were open tonight or not. He’d call them as soon as he was alone and see.
She’d always loved the sight of him in a suit.
He hoped he still had a suit that fit him.
This time around, he wouldn’t take any chances. He’d give her one hundred percent because it was all hers. He didn’t have to weigh everything he did anymore between Sarah and Lynn.