Page 8 of Unexpected Redemption

So much ice.

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.

“Thank you, my lover.” I grab his hand and lead him to the couch. “I guess you do live to serve, huh? Is a service Dom a thing? Can we try that out?”

“Yes, there is such a thing. But it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Bummer.” I shrug, puckering my lips and rolling my eyes. “I guess I’m stuck with you the way you are.”

Despite my snarky words, the look on my face likely reveals how positively smitten I am with him. He knows I’m just teasing.

And he loves my bratty side now. I do too. Although, I feel like being a good girl tonight. Let’s see how long that lasts. Five minutes? Ten?

Getting us comfy on the couch, he tucks me close to him and covers us with a blanket. When he picks up the remote off the armrest, I make grabby hands for it.

He jerks it out of my reach, clutching it to his chest. “Not a chance. You haven’t earned the privilege back yet.”

“Seriously?” I huff, jaw gaping.

“Violet Holt, your taste in television is hot garbage.”

I stick my tongue out at him because I’m nothing if not mature and classy. “I was considering being a good girl tonight, but you just blew it, mister.”

Not even five minutes of being good.

“And soonyou’regoing to blow it, right, sugar bear? Two hours, was it?”

He dead-ass said that. Straight face and everything.

My face, however, immediately crimps with laughter. I flop my head onto his lap, rolling over to look up at him. Who is this man with the one-liners tonight? If dry horny humor were a genre, he’d be the one to pen it.

Once I’ve composed myself, I run my fingertips over his scruffy jaw. “You’re certainly in a silly mood today. I love it.”

“That’s because I have everything I ever wanted.”

My heart clippity-clops its happy feet like a champion clogger at the state fair. “Everything, huh?”

Picking a show forgotten, he tosses the remote aside. While running his fingers through my hair with one hand, he caresses my upper stomach with the other. Back and forth, he rubs just below my breasts. His face is as content and peaceful as a sleepy lake at sunrise. Not a stitch of tension left.

Twinkling eyes scanning the ceiling, he clamps his teeth on his lower lip. A low hum rattles in his chest as he chews over something. Finally, he says, “Iguessa few things are missing.”

“What are they? I’ll get them for you so you’re like this all the time.”

When his turquoise irises lock on me, I force a swallow because he’s the picture of joy. The feeling draws me in, bathing me in a sea of euphoria.

For a year, I thought I knew his version of happiness. I was wrong. So very,verywrong.

That damn lie was there, even if I didn’t know it. The dishonesty he felt forced to maintain kept his joy smothered, starving it of oxygen.

His hand travels up from my chest, settling on one side of my neck. “Sugar, you don’t know how purifying your words are to my soul. You say things like that with such casualness.” He shakes his head faintly, his tone barely containing his emotions. “As a child, the people who were supposed to love and care for me never asked me things like that. Even as an adult, others rarely ask me what I want or need. And you just do it. Without thinking about it, you simply do. Effortless as breathing. As if you want to make me happy.”

My eyes sting with a mixture of sorrowful and happy tears. “You deserve to be loved. You always did, and I’m sorry you didn’t get that for so long.”

He leans down and places a tiny kiss on the tip of my nose.“You can pick the show.”

“Hey now, mister. You won’t distract me that easily. My ADHD meds haven’t worn off yet.”

His chest rattles with a stifled laugh. “What?”

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