Page 73 of Midnight Dissonance

“Yep, but someone distracted me.”

He would mention the way she jumped him after showing her the closet. “I can’t help if your domestic prowess turned me on. Really, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Josh chuckled, and the lines around his eyes deepened. “I’ll have to keep that in mind. So if you walked in on me cleaning up the kitchen when you get home from work, what would you do?”

“Jump your bones and have my way with you. It’s too sexy a combination.”

He played with a strand of her hair. “I’ll keep that in mind. But back to the trust. Your parents can’t legally hold the funds you’re due. In fact, they are the ones who set the age at twenty-five.”

“Excuse me?” Why was she shocked? Her parents had always manipulated her with money. Always. “I don’t understand. It says twenty-five.”

“All it says is you must receive the trust when you are a legal adult and by the time you turn twenty-five. There is no set age allotted for disbursement of those funds. You are just supposed to gain access to them by the time you’re twenty-five. There are no clauses that give them the right to withhold those funds.”

The waiter arrived with their wine and calamari, then took their orders. And she was glad, because it gave her time to get her emotions under control. The betrayal she felt over the way her parents had held on to her inheritance simply to punish her left her reeling.

No matter what she did, she would never be enough for them. If it hadn’t been because she left school a semester before she graduated, they would have found another reason to hold on to her money as a way to control her.

Once it was just them, she asked, “So how do I gain access to it?”

“You can pay me a dollar to represent you to make it legal. We can have a contract drawn up and everything. And then I’ll compose a demand letter, letting them know they have thirty days to disburse the trust, or we’ll take them to court and sue for additional hardship damages it caused. If it’s what you want. Keep in mind that you don’t have to do anything about the trust. Money is not an issue. And I know since they are your family—”

“But I want to contribute to the household. I don’t feel right having anyone support me. And they stopped being my family long ago. I can’t keep hoping they will change because they never do.”

“You don’t have to make any decisions tonight, all right?” He grabbed her hand and lifted it up to his lips, pressing a sweet kiss against her palm.

Lexi couldn’t resist him and his magnetic pull. If she believed in magic, she would think he had ensorcelled her with his magical dick. But he was so much more than that. Stern, yes. But also kind, caring, super protective, and willing to go the extra mile for those he cared about.

Lexi leaned in and pressed her lips against his. She kissed him sweetly, because he made her feel like she could do anything, and he would be there to support her, encourage her, and then take her to bed, where he worshipped her for hours.

Josh lifted his mouth, now covered in her lipstick. “If you keep that up, we will never eat.”

She smiled and wiped his mouth. “Didn’t mean to make you wear my lipstick.”

“If there’s something I don’t mind, it’s your lipstick.” He pressed a kiss to her fingers.

They ate calamari. Drank red wine. Ate warm, crusty Italian bread with an olive oil and balsamic dip. They shared their main dishes, feeding each other bites. And Lexi fell deeper under Josh’s spell. He was the Dom for her. The Dom of her dreams that she’d begun to believe she would never find.

And yet he was here, doting upon her, giving her a taste of life she’d never known before. He celebrated her accomplishments. Encouraged her to go after her dreams. And loved her in the dark of night like no other.

“I have something for you,” he murmured after wiping his mouth with his napkin and setting it on the table beside his plate.

“Oh yeah? Is it something we’ll use once we get home?” When did his place start feeling more like home than anywhere else she’d lived?

“No. But I find I can’t wait to have you wear it.” He withdrew a long, slim jewelry box and placed it on the table beside her. “Open it, lass.”

“Josh.” She set her napkin down. “You don’t have to buy me presents.”

She picked it up with trembling hands, then flipped the lid open and gasped. “Is that?”

“Your collar. And while the collaring ceremony has been scheduled for three Saturdays from now, I don’t want to wait to have you wear it. Will you let me collar you tonight? Show the world that you’re mine.”

She stared at the gorgeous platinum chain. There was a sweet treble clef pendant that was encrusted with diamonds. “Josh. I . . . yes. Will you do the honors?”

His eyes heated, and he lifted the necklace off the velvet bed. The diamonds sparkled in the golden lighting. “Turn for me.”

She shifted, giving him her back. And lifted her hair out of the way while he fastened it around her neck. Once it was on, she touched the thick platinum band that was a smidge too long to be a choker. But she knew without looking that it would look fabulous.

She turned his way. His gaze dropped to the necklace. And a dark possessiveness filled his gaze.

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