Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Avery
When I wake up, he’s holding me. I cover his hand with mine, and I close my eyes.
I think about us. About our lives. About the way we’ve been treated.
About the people who have left us, used us.
The people who are lost to us. We don’t have to keep choosing that.
We don’t have to keep modeling our abandonment over and over again.
“You’re awake,” he says, his voice gruff against my cheek.
“Yes,” I say.
“I have some things I need to say to you. I’ll pay for you to go anywhere in the world.
To go to any school you want. To do any rodeo circuit you want.
I’ll buy you a new horse, a new trailer.
New clothes. Whatever you want. Whatever you need to go do with your life, I want you to go do it.
Do you need to try another Dom for a while?
Whatever you need. Nothing will disqualify you from being with me.
There is nothing that you can do to lose me. ”
I jolt against him. “Are you serious?”
“Avery, I love you. I think I’ve loved you for a long time.
I love the way that you’re made for me. My perfect woman, my perfect submissive.
Sweet and feisty and you fit me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.
Only you. You’re twenty-four, and I don’t want you to feel trapped. My dove is not meant to be in a cage.”
I put my hand on his face, my heart beating hard. “I don’t feel like I’m in a cage. The freest I’ve ever felt is when you tie me up.”
He growls, kissing me, deep and unrestrained. There is no protocol. There is no dance. No choreography. He’s just over me, and in me, and claiming me with all the need between the two of us.
When he finishes, we’re both breathing hard, my throat raw from how many times I’ve screamed out my orgasm in the last two days.
This is not going to be a quiet life.
I don’t want one.
I thought that every day was going to be a grind. The same as the last. Me riding on an exercise bike, pedaling endlessly and never getting anywhere. But there’s him. And all this magic that we’ve made together.
“I’m going to buy the ranch from your father,” he says.
“Caleb…”
“I’m going to buy it from him and I’m going to make sure that it’s run properly. He’ll always have a place to stay. He’s never going to be out on his own. Between the two of us, we can keep him managed. But it should never be all up to you.”
“That’s more than generous.”
“I love you,” he says.
He’s said it twice. I haven’t said it back. I can’t remember the last time I said it to anyone. Can’t remember the last time they said it to me. It takes me a moment to realize that tears are tracking down my cheeks.
“I love you,” I say. “This is such a strange, miraculous thing. How is it that we could be made for each other like this? How is it that you’re here? That you’re mine.”
“I’ve been told that life has miracles in it.
All the time. A lot of people told me it was a miracle that I made the kind of money I did.
I guess that’s true. But it never felt like a miracle to me.
This does. You’re the miracle that I’ve been waiting for, Avery Carmichael.
I never knew what to say when people asked what brought me the most joy.
I know they were looking for answers about all the money.
All the luxury things I can afford and do. It’s you. You are my happiness.”
I lean my head against his shoulder, and this moment is like a trust fall. For both of us, I think. This deep certainty, that we are supposed to be together. That we’ll continue to be together.
That we can trust the love we found between us.
I know we can.
I love Caleb Flynn. As much as I ever thought I hated him.
But I think the real problem was, I never knew what love was supposed to look like.
And now I do. Thanks to him.
“Oh, Dove,” he says. “I’ve got plans for you today.”
“What are they?”
“I have a lot of meetings today. I’m going to sell this company off. So that I can travel with you. So that I can follow you wherever you need to go. To whatever school you want to go to, to your rodeos.”
I smile, because I’m not sure which of those things I’m going to do. Maybe all of them. Yeah. Maybe all of them.
“And you’re going to spend all that time tied up under my desk paying attention to my cock.”
I smile.
Oh yeah. I’m made for him.
Maybe this wouldn’t be everyone’s version of love. But it’s ours.
And that’s just right for me.