Page 22 of It'll Be Fun
She stuck a foot into the doorway. “I’ll have to put on clothes.”
He snickered. “Good plan. Ooh, you might want to vacate the premises for a few minutes.”
She reached around the doorjamb, into the bathroom, and felt around for the fan switch and flipped it on.
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
“You’re welcome, Sir. I’ll get dressed.” She put her clothes in the hamper and went to get a T-shirt and old jeans from her dresser. The slacks and blouse she’d worn earlier wouldn’t have been good for moving stuff from storage. Then she donned comfy sneakers and made them both travel tumblers of ice water to take with them, and packed a small cooler with chilled bottles of water.
Let’s put up Christmas lights, Kaden said. It’ll be fun, he said.
She turned and looked at the large picture hanging on the living room wall, a picture of the three of them, taken during a trip to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Kaden, I love you, but did you have to get so crazy and then make him go so crazy over putting up lights?
Not that she resented it. It was Seth’s healing path, and she knew it.
Feeling guilty, she walked over to the picture, kissed her finger, and touched it to Kaden’s lips. “Love you, Master,” she whispered.
Seth emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later in a cloud of air freshener spray. “Sorry about that.” He leaned in for a kiss.
“I’m a fast-learning pet,” she teased. “I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
He glanced at her clothes. “You look like you’re in work mode.”
“I am.” She’d even leave her leather collar on, as long as they weren’t going into any stores. “I’ll help you get everything moved today. Then we can start the testing.”
He pulled her in for a long, sweet kiss. “How are you feeling today?”
That was Seth code for, “Do you need me to take care of you?”
She offered him a smile that wasn’t forced in the slightest. “I’m good, Sir. I promise.”
They closed the garage door and locked the house. Then, while they drove over to the storage unit, despite knowing what it might mean for her own future, she told the story of Loren and the butt plug, leaving Seth roaring with laughter by the time they pulled into the storage facility.
“That rat bastard,” he said. “Ross and Gilo never told me about that butt plug.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
“Would you like me to inquire about it, Sir?”
“Uh,duh.” He grinned.
She rolled her eyes but made a note on her phone. A Bluetooth butt plug wouldn’t be the worst thing she’d ever endured.
Anything below the worst thing—losing Kaden—was easily endurable.
Even a Bluetooth butt plug.
* * * *
By six o’clock they’d made their final run and had emptied the truck. It took them seven trips to empty the Christmas stuff from the storage unit, and the garage and now the living room were full of storage tubs and other accoutrements. They’d had to rearrange the garage a couple of times to make room for everything.
“You’d think I’d remember this every year,” Seth said. “Seems like every year I forget how much shit we’ve got and I create more work for myself.”
Yes, he did, and no, she didn’t remind him. It was busy work and a way to help him burn through some energy in a healthy way.
“Showers and dinner, Sir?”
He nodded and hit the button to close the garage door. “Yeah, I’m too worn out to start testing things tonight.”
