Page 4 of Past and Present

Lance gave her bottom a little pat as she walked away. He watched her for a minute before he turned to find someone else to talk to until they could say goodnight to all their guests and go back to being in their little cocoon.

3

Sunday, December 9th

Marissa

“So. The wedding. Daphne seems to think you want a Christmas wedding. Is that true?” Lance asked.

Marissa shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with the inquisition. “It is sorta what I thought we would always do, but then it seemed like it didn’t happen. I heard you tell Samuel we were finally going to do the wedding thing last month, and I got my hopes up, but then you didn’t say anything.”

“Why didn’t you say anything, Riss? You’re wearing my ring, my collar. We share a company and you have a company of your own now. Why on earth would you not feel you could talk to me about this?”

Marissa bit her lip. When he put it like that, it sounded pretty ridiculous that she wouldn’t go to him with her feelings.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. It just seemed like you were so adamant about getting the new company up and running and all of your company asserts rearranged so we were sharing them before you wanted to get married so I just stayed quiet.”

Lance cleared his throat and dragged a hand through his hair. Something he did when he was wrestling with a decision.

“You staying quiet combined with me being a complete idiot caused us problems five years ago, kitten. We have to stop letting that be the case. Do I need to force you to talk to me?”

“Force me? How?” Marissa asked.

He chuckled. “You really think I’ll tell you?”

She huffed. “Rude.”

“Hey,” he sat on the bed next to her. “I’m not trying to get on your case, but I do need a little help here, baby. What am I supposed to do in this situation? My inclination is to create some protocols and punish you when you break them, so you learn to talk to me. I don’t know what the therapist would say about that, but that’s where my head goes as a Dom.”

Marissa sighed and said, “OK. I’ll do my very best to talk to you more about these things. Yes. I want a Christmas wedding, but I also don’t want to wait a year to get married, so we don’t have to do a Christmas wedding. There is no way to pull it off in time.”

Lance nodded and said. “OK. Then let’s talk about setting a date. I think we could pull off Christmas if you really want it, though.”

Marissa shook her head. “Mom and Daph are planning some cross country road trip. There’s no way to get them there on time. Besides, the gossip rags are going to want some huge affair. You are Chicago’s most sought after bachelor after all.”

Lance rolled his eyes. He’d always hated the way the Chicago press fawned over him.

“You really think I give a damn what the gossip magazines want? They’re just going to make up preposterous stories, anyway.”

“Yeah. Like, I’m pregnant and that’s why we got married so fast.” Marissa shuddered. The idea of carrying a baby was absolutely nightmarish to her. She’d heard too many labor horror stories, and kids were sticky and gross and spilled juice on electronics. The memory of a five-year-old at a family holiday gathering spilling juice on her expensive laptop made her cringe even more.

“I think we should get through the Christmas season and then we’ll announce we’re getting married in February or something like that. Let’s plan to spend the next couple of weeks talking about the type of wedding you want. I would rather just head to the courthouse and then whisk you off to a remote island somewhere. But I know having your family there will be important.”

Marissa sighed. He was kind of sexy when he went into problem-solving mode. Well… more sexy than he already was. The man was a god.

“Can we talk about this later? I was promised sex and I think I want that now,” she said.

Lance flashed her a wicked grin, and said, “We can. But if you don’t start talking to me like you’re supposed to, I’m going to increase the time between your orgasms until you learn to open up.”

Marrissa grimaced. He’d made her go a week before. Would he really keep her from coming for longer? Because with Lance, no orgasms didn’t mean no stimulation. He would work her into a frenzy and then stop just before she reached the edge. And if she was really in trouble, he would spend his day texting her dirty messages all day and then make her suck his cock when they got home but refuse to touch her pussy.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk. I promise,” she said, holding up her hands in mock defeat.

“Good girl. Now come here and let me hold you.”

They fell into bed together and for a little while, Marissa forgot about all things Christmas and weddings and annoying assistants named Jill.

4

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