Page 53 of Follow Me
Chapter Fourteen
Sunday, the evening before the four-week mark, Kel was at the apartment when Mallory took an Uber from their house over to June and Scrye’s house. The couple would be up at their daughters’ apartment in Tampa until late that evening. June gave her the run of their kitchen so Mal could cook Kel dinner. She brought everything with her that she needed to make their dinner, but what shereallyneeded to borrow was in their spare bedroom.
Specifically, their private pole.
June had also helped Mal put together a short routine, along with a series of moves Mal could do and mix them up with the music, both on the pole and floorwork. Nothing advanced, but she hoped Kel wouldn’t care about that.
June, Mads, Fen, and Ben had watched her perform it on Friday during their class, and they all agreed they thought Kel would love it.
Mal hoped it wouldshowKel she was truly on the right path this time.
Waking up next to Kel the other morning had driven home to Mal how much she wanted them together again.
That Kel hadn’t tried to supervise, interfere with, or even question her morning routine made her mind up for her. It was a marked change from how he used to make sure he was up and moving before she was, laying out her meds, her breakfast, doing all the work to calculate her calories and constantly nudging her to eat, to snack, unintentionally shoving her anorexia in her face with every lovingly intended action on his part in his attempts to care for her.
As long as tonight went the way she hoped it would, she’d ask him to return home with the stipulation that if she felt they were slipping back into the negative patterns that had tripped her up to start with, he’d have to go back to sleeping at the apartment. That they’d start a week’s trial to see how they did.
That, just like she’d earned her next month with Doyle, Niall, and Doug by her progress, Kel would have to keep earning sleeping at home with his progress.
She’d asked Kel to meet her at June and Scrye’s for dinner, but she hadn’t told him they’d be alone. So his surprise to find they had the place to themselves made her smile.
“What’s going on?” he asked when she let him in.
“After dinner, I have a surprise for you,” she said. “And then we can talk.”
* * * *
Kel didn’t want to hope Mallory had decided to let him come home, and he wouldn’t ask her that, either. She wore a cute sundress he didn’t recognize, a new one that fit her well, not an older one. She looked stunning in a different way than she used to look stunning.
Before, there’d always been a gorgeous and sweetly soft vulnerability about her that had turned his sadistic crankhard. This new Mallory was both his gorgeous wife…and yet she wasn’t.
And she still wantedhim.
He was still afraid to play with her beyond nipping and biting her during their lovemaking. Which was still wonderful. He didn’t know how long it’d take him to get past his fear and let her finally coax him into the harder play he knew she truly craved.
It also hadn’t taken him long to realize Doyle, Niall, and Doug were absolutely right that he had to work on himself. No, he didn’t cause her anorexia, but he had unwittingly contributed despite his best of intentions. Looking back, he could see it now where he couldn’t before.
Too much of their personalities were wrapped up in their M/s dynamic for a traditional recovery path to work for either of them, no matter how hard they’d tried.
But they werebothon the right track now.
He’d keep having faith and following his girl and praying she didn’t decide to walk away from him.
After he helped her clean up the kitchen from their dinner, she turned to him. “Now for that private show I promised you, Sir.”
His cock stirred. “I’ll follow you, baby.”
She led him down to the spare bedroom, where the pole was. There, she pointed him to a chair. He sat while she plugged her phone into a small Bluetooth speaker.
Kel recognized the first song that started playing, “I Won’t Give Up,” by Jason Mraz, one of their favorite artists.
Mal bashfully lifted the sundress off, revealing a black sports bra and lycra panties under it. She dropped the dress to the floor and grabbed the pole, slowly taking a couple of steps around it. As the music swelled she skipped for a couple of steps, then Kel’s eyes widened as she effortlessly swung around the pole, wrapping her legs around it and holding on as she arched back in a sweetly elegant spin.
Holy…fuck!
Over their time together, she’d learned to play with him in public, overcame the worst of her self-consciousness, and not worry about what anyone thought about her but him. And he loved her, still thought she was gorgeous, heart, soul, body, and mind.
This woman was his wife, and yet she was a stranger now. He finally understood what Doyle had said to him during one phone session about not needing to feel guilty that he had to get to know her all over again.
