Chapter Thirty-Three
Because I Said So
Carter
“Move in with me.”
Livia paused, a forkful of beef-flavored Maruchan ramen noodles halfway to her mouth. She looked at the food, back at me, and then shoved it all in and chewed on it along with what I’d said.
And because that left some silence, I, of course, had to fill it.
“I know it seems fast,” I said, rubbing her calves in my lap. “But to be fair, this whole thing has been a little expedited given your condition.”
“Okay, Bridgerton.”
“I know you love your condo. You’re close to work, it’s a luxury high rise, and I just live in this tiny little house on the water.” I gestured around to said house.
Then, as if I’d paid him, Zamboni leapt onto the couch, burrowing himself between where we sat and the back cushions. He had to wiggle us a little out of the way to fit and we both chuckled.
“But look! It comes with a built-in dog!” I said, scratching Zambo’s head. “And in exchange for the slightly longer commute, you get a blank slate of a house to do whatever you want with.” I swallowed. “And me.”
I had come to measure my life differently than before.
I used to mark the passing of time by the months or years, perhaps the weeks of the season.
Right now, we were dipping our toes into the playoffs, and all my focus when I wasn’t with Livia was there with the team.
Maybe that’s what I should have been measuring my life by at the moment, how far we were into the playoff season, how many games we had to go, how many wins until we could fight for the Cup.
But I now marked the passing of time by the size of the tiny human growing inside Livia.
Today, they were the size of a grape. Livia was twelve weeks along.
She was feeling better and better every day, her nausea almost entirely gone and her headaches fewer and farther between.
She was still tired a lot, though, which made sense.
I’d learned a lot about pregnancy in the last two months, like that she was not only creating a life but also building a whole ass new organ to sustain it.
And maybe it was the fact that we were near the end of the first trimester, that the reality of our situation was hitting me more and more each day, that I couldn’t keep those words trapped inside me any longer.
“If you hate this house,” I continued. “We can buy another. We can live wherever you want, Liv. You can pick everything about it. But I want to hold you when I’m falling asleep at night and have you there in my arms when I wake up.
I want to feed you and bring you ice water, rub your feet and make it so you don’t have to lift a finger once you’re home from work.
” I swallowed. “And I want to be there the first time our baby moves. I want to make a nursery together and fill a house, any house, with baby toys.”
Livia set her bowl of pasta aside, now nearly empty, her eyes softening as she listened to me. I grabbed her hand in mine.
“Is it too much to ask if I ask for everything?”
Her smile knocked the air from my chest, just as much as the sight of her on my couch like that did.
I loved her like this — sweatpants and one of my shirts, her hair in all its natural beauty, face clean of makeup.
She was a fucking knockout, and I cherished when she got dressed up for me, but it was this that I felt most honored to witness.
“First a collar and now this,” she mused, squeezing my hand playfully. She paused a moment, her eyes searching mine, and then answered with one simple word. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
She nodded. “I want it, too, Carter. Besides… it would be a little strange for our baby to have to travel back and forth between two houses, wouldn’t it?
Not to mention pretty exhausting for us.
” She chuckled, maneuvering to sit up a bit more.
She winced as she did. Her stomach was still just barely showing that she was pregnant, but she was feeling it more, and I reached out to help her get comfortable.
“But that’s not the only reason I want to do it.
I love you, Rook,” she said, looping her arms around my neck and giving me a swift peck on the lips.
“I want to spend all the time I can with you.”
The sigh I let out was filled with relief.
“You act like you were worried I’d say no.”
“And you act like that’s unreasonable.”
She frowned, picking at her nails. “Well, that’s fair. But I’m in this. I’m with you.” She looked back at me. “And… I was thinking… what if we use some of the money from our deal for this?”
I blinked. We hadn’t talked about the money, not since that final payment hit her account. I was perfectly content to just leave it behind us. She’d more than fulfilled her part of the contract, and I was a happy customer.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean yes, I love your little home, but… let’s buy a new one. Together. One that’s ours.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded, smiling. “Yeah. Listen, that money is still going to be used for what I intended it to be used for — to set our kid up for life.” She rubbed her belly. “And this is step one of that.”
“I don’t know what I did in a past life to earn this one, but I really want to thank that motherfucker for doing it right.” I kissed her as she giggled against my lips, and then I was pulling her into my lap.
Instantly, my body reacted to her. If I thought Livia was hot before, it was nothing compared to now. There was just something about knowing she had my baby inside her that made me absolutely fucking feral.
I didn’t care how caveman that was of me, either.
I inhaled on a groan, deepening our kiss and wrapping my arms flush around her.
“You know,” she said against my lips, nipping at the bottom one. “We still haven’t broken that thing in yet.”
I arched a brow in question.
“The collar.”
Oh.
My cock twitched in my sweatpants, and Livia must have felt it, because her grin doubled, and the little vixen ground herself against me.
“Are you up for that?” I asked tentatively, though my body was screaming for me to run and grab that damn collar right now if it meant I got to be inside her tonight.
“I can’t think of anything I’d like more right now than to hold tight to that collar while I ride you.”
She hummed the words low in my ear before licking it from the lobe up, and I cursed, grip tightening on her hips.
And then I was up in a flash, spanking her ass playfully and sprinting to my bedroom for the collar. Zamboni scrambled at my urgency, giving us both a look before he huffed and waddled back to his dog bed in my room.
When I slid back into the living room on my socks, Livia was already naked, her sweats discarded, and she lay on her side like a Renaissance painting.
She was so beautiful it stopped me in my tracks.
I tracked every inch of her rich, velvety skin, from the slope of her nose to the small swell of her belly all the way down to the red polish on her toes.
“Fuck, Liv,” I breathed, shaking my head. “Look at you.”
“I’d rather look at you in that collar,” she said, curling her finger.
I took my time walking to her, and when she reached for the key around her neck, I held the leather in my hand out for her to unlock. It unfastened with a soft snick, and then Livia ripped it from my hand.
I saw it happen in real time, her slipping into her dominance.
It had me rock hard and ready to beg.
“Take off your clothes,” she commanded. “Slowly. Let me see my play toy for the evening.”
God, I’d missed this.
I stripped as slowly as I could with all the eager energy roaring through my veins, and when I was fully bare, Livia smirked at my cock already erect and dripping for her.
“On your knees.”
I dropped instantly, eyes on hers, practically panting as she fastened the leather around my throat. She pulled it tight, and when it was where she wanted it, she used the key on the chain around her neck to lock it in place.
Every nerve inside me sizzled to life at the sound.
Her smirk turned wicked as she tugged the D-ring, testing the collar, tugging my chin up to meet her eyes. “There he is,” she purred. “My Rook. My good boy. You ready to serve your Queen tonight?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The words tumbled out hoarse, desperate, automatic.
Her nails grazed down my chest, leaving goosebumps in their wake before she grabbed a fistful of my hair and shoved me onto my back. I landed with a grunt, staring up at her as she straddled me, every curve of her body silhouetted in low lamplight.
“Hands behind your head.”
I obeyed instantly, fingers locking. The collar tugged at my throat as she leaned down and kissed me hard, deep, before pulling back with a sly grin. “You don’t move them until I tell you to. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her hips rolled once, deliberately slow, grinding against me until I was trembling beneath her. When I bucked my hips, unable to help it, she slapped my thigh with a sharp smack.
“I said still,” she warned, tugging the collar again. My cock ached, straining so hard I thought I’d lose it right then.
The power thrummed between us, hot and familiar and perfect. And the way she looked at me — fierce, proud, hungry — it burned through me like I was nothing but tinder.
Livia licked her lips as she pressed up on her knees. She spit on my cock, letting the saliva drip from her lips as I groaned and watched it coat me. Then, she used her hands to tease and play, to pump me until I was nearly in pain from doing my best not to move.
“It kills you to stay still, doesn’t it?” she teased, her grip tightening. “You want to bury yourself inside me. You want the pleasure of fucking my sweet pussy, don’t you?”
“Fuck yes,” I croaked.
“Beg for it, then.” Livia released my cock in an instant, hooking the loop on the collar and jerking so I was in a crunch staring up at her. “I’ll only give it to you if you want it bad enough.”
“Please, Livia,” I pleaded, my voice hoarse, cock aching as I tried to fuck the air like it could relieve me. “I need it. I need you. Please, let me fuck you. Please give me what I need.”
She seemed satisfied, her lips curling as she released me. I had to engage my core to not let my head slam back against the ground, and I’d no sooner laid down than she was grabbing me and lining me up right where I wanted to be.
Livia sat in a slow, torturous decline, taking all of me and moaning as she did. The sight was too much, especially with the view of her slightly swollen belly. I groaned and rolled my eyes up to the ceiling to stop from coming instantly.
“So fucking big,” she praised. “You fill me perfectly.”
And then her hips were rocking, slow and steady, like she was savoring every centimeter of me. I finally felt locked in enough to look up and watch her, and then my hands were wandering, roving over her breasts and nipples, teasing and toying until I found my way down to her clit.
“Yes,” she encouraged, rolling against the touch. “Fuck, that feels so good. I feel so fucking good right now, Carter.”
I groaned at the sound of my name in that breathy voice of hers. Livia started moving wildly then, bucking against my hand as she fucked my cock and used me to get her release. When she shook and moaned and cried out, I felt her tightening around me, and I couldn’t hold back.
She rode me hard as we both shattered, Livia leaning forward to clutch the collar and hold me there, owned and undone. I spilled beneath her with a ragged cry, her moans echoing mine until we collapsed in a heap of sweat and laughter.
But before I could even catch my breath, she leaned over me, eyes flashing. “We’ve got a lot of time to make up for,” she whispered, dragging her lips along my jaw. “And apparently the new update of these pregnancy hormones is that I’m absolutely insatiable.”
“Fuck,” I whispered, not sure if I was excited or scared.
“So, you better get hard again for me, Rook. Round two starts now.”
I tried to laugh, but it was cut short when she squeezed me in her hand, already coaxing me back to life.
“Jesus, woman,” I groaned, rolling us so she landed on her back with a gasp.
I kissed her, deep and hungry, soaking up every sound she made.
“Maybe I want to take the reins for this round. What do you think of that?”
She arched a brow as I hovered over her. “Don’t push your luck.”
“Oh, come on,” I teased, kissing the corner of her smirk. “You know you like it. When I remind you I’ve got you. That you’re safe with me. That you can let go and let me lead.”
Her sigh turned into a moan as I punctuated each of those promises with slow, lingering kisses across her breasts. Her hips arched into mine, thighs spreading to let me in, and I knew I had her.
“I’m going to take care of you,” I murmured against her neck. “You understand me? I’m going to cook you anything you crave. Run you a bath every night. Massage you until you’re moaning for me the way I love to hear. You’re going to let me dote on you, Livia Young, because I fucking said so.”
Her laugh was breathless, sultry. “God, I’ve never found it so hot to be bossed around.”
I smirked, pressing into her, voice rough with laughter and desire and a love so deep I thought it might break me.
“Funny,” I said. “That seems to be the number one turn on for me.”
And with the laugh I earned and cherished, I kissed her again — letting the night swallow us whole.