Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
His day was busy enough that he didn’t have time to worry about the showdown they were going to have. He needed to get some work done, and part of that was delegating a few of his projects, so that he could free up his schedule. He was going to need the next three weeks off. Luckily, as the boss of his own company, he could make that happen.
That and making flight plans took most of his morning, which left the afternoon for running errands. He would make her a nice dinner. Put some flowers and wine on the table, and then after they’d eaten, he’d bring up the texts.
That was the plan anyway.
He’d jumped the gun on the last part. Sitting there and saying nothing was just … too much. How could he make small talk with such a big issue looming? Once he brought up the texts, the meal had gotten tense. Holding back the conversation until she’d finished eating took real effort and killed his own appetite.
He didn’t bother to bring out the cheesecake he’d picked up from her favorite bakery.
And once they’d gotten into the conversation things had quickly escalated until she was in the corner and he, for the first time in a long while, was in full Dom mode. None of that was planned, of course. He was going to ease them both back in, but instincts had taken over—and it felt ... good? Right? Necessary?
Something like that anyway.
For a long time now—had it really been almost a year?—he’d been plagued by self-doubt. Doubting whether she really needed or wanted a Dom. Doubting whether he’d lose her if he pushed too hard. Doubting … everything. It was good to step past that and slip into that comfortable role.
“So, this is what we’re going to do…” He watched her as the pause lengthened and the reality set in. If she was going to protest, it would be now, but she didn’t. “We’re going to clear the slate with the hard punishment you’ve earned. Then we’re going to discuss some serious life changes, because this isn’t working for either of us.”
She’d always had a pretty good poker face when she wanted to. She watched him, eyes a little wider than usual, but otherwise her expression was smooth. The nervousness was in the hands though. Allegra had always been very expressive with her hands, and he could see them writhing in her lap like they were looking for an escape.
But she didn’t say no. She didn’t try to argue with him. She remained silent.
He waited a few more seconds and then said, in a gentle voice, “You know how this works, Allegra. You can safeword. If this isn’t what you want, I’m not going to force it on you.”
Her lips parted then sealed again without a sound. She shook her head, drew in a deep breath and then let it out as a long sigh before she finally spoke. “I’m tired. It’s been a long day, and honestly, I just want to go to bed, but I also want—I want what we used to have. I—” Her voice trembled as she paused.
She took another deep breath, reaching up to brush dark hair off her face. “Can we fix this? Can we go back to how things were?” There was a wistful note in her voice.
He leaned forward, reaching across the low table to touch her leg. “Of course we can, sweetheart. Listen, this is just a hiccup. We’ve gone through a lot of changes in the past year, and yeah, things fell by the wayside, but if we both want it, we can pick them back up now. Is that what you want?”
“Yes, please,” she said, half-sighing the words. “I need that structure. It always felt so right when you were running things.” Her hand moved to cover his. “No matter how stressed I was, I always knew you would help. I miss that, but I thought you didn’t want it anymore. Honestly, I couldn’t blame you. Being a Dom is a lot of mental labor and—”
“I miss it too, Allegra. I’ve been missing it for a long time.” He straightened and cleared his throat. “It seems like we had some serious miscommunication. You thought I didn’t want to be a Dom. I thought you didn’t want to be my submissive anymore. I wish we’d talked about it instead of making assumptions, but we’re on the same page now. Right?”
“I think so.”
“So, just to be clear… you want our dynamic back. That means rules and structure and punishment.”
Allegra nodded. “Yes.”
“And you know I’m going to lay down some punishment now for the major rules you already broke when you hid things from me?” This time her yes sounded more like a sigh, but he accepted it. “Good, last question: do you want to put it off until tomorrow? If you’re too tired, or you need some more time to think, we can wait.”