Page 109 of The Souls We Claim
Gently, I lift her and carry her to the sofa, my arms still around her middle. I sit down so she lands on my lap.
“I’m going to claim you as my old lady.”
Ari grins. “I’m pretty sure now is not the right time to talk about this.”
“King said he’d get Vex to give the property cameras a full check and alert me if there were issues. He hasn’t, which tells me no one has fucked with the house. I’m going to claim you as my old lady. First, because I really fucking want to. I want the world to know you are mine. And I also want to claim you because it adds a layer of protection. Anything happens to me, the club takes care of you and Lola.”
Tears spill over Ari’s lashes. “I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you though.” She leans back against the arm of the sofa, keeping her distance rather than gettingcomfortable as I hoped. “It feels like it might be better if I sit in a chair for this conversation.”
“If that’s really what you want, go sit in the chair. But I’d rather wrap you up in my arms tight and tell you that everything is going to be okay, regardless of how all this goes. You just need to ease back against me, and I’ll do it.”
Her whole body relaxes as she does exactly as I say. She molds herself against me while I wrap my arms tightly around her. Her shoulders drop from up by her ears; her body goes soft instead of rigid.
I further tighten my arms around her and bury my head in her hair. She smells like my shampoo, and yeah, boner again. There’s a perfection to how she feels against my body, and I allow myself to ease too.
“I have a theory, Ari.”
“What’s that?”
“You thrive when you feel taken care of. You enjoy sex more when you respond to pain-free and gentle domination. And you love taking care of others.”
She smiles at me. “I think that’s true.”
I kiss her lips gently. “You’re a submissive through and through. You’re not career-driven either, you want a simple life. To stay at home, take care of your family, and submit to the right man. But what you got was a douche-canoe of an ex. He’s not a dominant man, and that pisses him off because he feels like he has no control of his own life. So, he took all that out on you. And somewhere along the way, he took your incredible sweet and submissive nature and made you his punching bag. And now you confuse things. Wanting to lean into being my submissive, but also not wanting to be what you were with him.”
Little lines appear across the bridge of her nose as she thinks. “When you say it like that, it’s kinda obvious Patrick and I were never going to work.”
“Our life is going to be the opposite. I need you to know that from today on, you’re mine, you’re here, and I’m going to look after you and Lola. We’re a family, not a contract. I’m old-fashioned, in that I want a woman who can find peace in being a mother and a wife. Someone who finds contentment in building a home. You can get a job if you really want one, but I’d love it if you stayed home and cared for our family while I earn enough to look after us. I’m still getting you the house and will put money aside for you each month so you can build your own nest egg. You need to know you have money and options of your own. But I need to know if a life like that is something you want long term.”
Arianne looks up at me. “That feels like relief. But don’t you mind that I can’t have children?”
There’s so much grief in her eyes for a second that I have to kiss her lips. They’re soft and welcoming. It would be too easy to get lost in them, so I force myself to pull away. “Your value to me is utterly unrelated to your ability to have kids. But to answer your question, I never really wanted kids. Then came Lola. The little miracle I never expected to have to care for. I’ll be happy enough with just the one, unless you really want more through adoption or surrogacy or something. We can afford tests and IVF and shit, if that’s what you want to do too.”
“Can I think about that?” she asks.
“Of course. It’s not a one-time offer. Although, I don’t relish the idea running after a baby at fifty.”
“I’d sort of resigned myself to not having biological children after three years of trying. It took a lot of work to get there. I don’t know if I want to open the door to hope again. Lola is related to me by blood. It’s more than I could ever ask for and as special as it gets. Plus, she’s going to have demons as she grows up, dealing with what happened to her parents and who she is. I like the idea we could give her our full attention.”
I can imagine it. A young girl in her early teens needing help from us to navigate her life as she understands more about her history.
“You agree with everything else?” I ask.
Arianne places her palm on my chest. “With a couple of additions.”
“I’m all ears.”
She glances up at the window. “Now?”
“No better time for it.”
“I want to feel safe in my home, while I sleep, where I live. I want the peace that comes from not living on adrenaline or with hyper vigilance. I want a life where I don’t have to read between lines or second guess what you’re thinking.”
“I promise you no harm will ever come to you in our home. You can use your safe word out of the bedroom, anywhere you need to, if you ever feel scared. Even if it’s the clubhouse, with friends. You text meglass, I’ll come get you, wherever you are. From today forward, you’ll never have to guess what I’m thinking. You ask me what I’m thinking, I’ll tell you. And I’ll try to over-communicate with you. With that comes acceptance on your part that I’m going to want to take care of you in a way that might feel overbearing, and you need to tell me if it’s too much. But I need you to trust me that I’ll always have your best interests at heart.”
“Will you be faithful?”
“Once upon a time, I thought that might be hard to answer, but it’s not. Yes, I’ll be faithful. I look forward to exploring your sexual limits more thoroughly, kitten.”
