37 Lindsey
Lindsey
I DIDN’T THINK I’D ever want someone to meddle in my personal affairs after Jeremy, but here I am, having Dane not only help me clean my house and with my bills and finances but now fold my underwear as well.
“You really don’t have to—”
“I know that”—Dane grins as he pulls out a lacy bralette from my laundry basket—“but I want to.”
“Well, thanks. You’ve helped so much already today. I owe you for folding laundry with me.”
“You don’t owe me anything. I told you, I’m happy to help.”
His words turn my insides to goo. Accepting help isn’t something that’s been easy for me, but Dane, he’s different.
It’s probably because of our dynamic, but at the same time, I believe him when he says he wants to help.
He doesn’t make me feel like a burden, and in the hours that we’ve been together, nothing has felt forced or weird.
It’s just been…good. Easy. Easier than any relationship has been in my life.
I pick up the pants from a pair of scrubs to fold them, a reminder that I have work tonight. I usually don’t mind going—I like what I do—but I’d rather stay here all night with Dane.
“You know…” I point at the now-folded bralette he put on a pile of other underthings. “I was wearing that the day I ran into you at the games.”
He looks down at it, then, before I can comprehend what he’s doing, he snatches it and shoves the thin material in his pocket with a sly smile.
“What are you doing?” I laugh.
“Keeping it.”
“Starting a collection?”
“You could say that,” he says as he picks up the last item to fold.
When I asked him for my underwear earlier at his place, he told me no, that he was keeping them. I blushed, but secretly, I loved it. I love that he wanted to keep a piece of me, a souvenir of our first night together.
I don’t know what he plans on doing with them, but it isn’t my job to know. Dane is my Dom, and if he wants something, I’m learning that I give it to him without question as long as I’m comfortable with it.
Our session by the fireplace earlier only showed me even more how much he cares.
Especially with the promise of building toward a training collar.
It proved to me that he’s not just committed to the dynamic we’re building but to my life and mental health, too.
He’s choosing to move slowly instead of rushing the commitment like I thought I wanted.
No one’s ever cared about me like that before, at least not to this extent. I still wonder what it will all mean—if the collar will come with promises like monogamy and everything that could follow—but right now, I’m too happy and content to overthink it. One thing at a time.
I place my pants in a pile before Dane starts to put everything we folded back in the basket. When he’s done, he asks, “Would you like help putting them away?”
“It’s fine; I can do it later.”
He nods. “Alright, what next?”
“You don’t have to do anything else. You’ve already helped me cancel a dozen subscriptions I didn’t even know I was paying for, dusted, done the dishes, and organized my fridge.
” I almost flush at the last one. I think he threw out something from the back that was at least two months old.
It was embarrassing. “Were you a housekeeper in another life?”
He chuckles. “No, but my dad was very strict, and I did a lot of chores.”
“I can relate to that. Having a strict dad, I mean. Ours was very rule oriented, the opposite of how I am with Kas. Which, now that I think about it, is probably why I’m the way I am with her.”
Dane nods and leans back on the couch. “Makes sense.” He studies me as if he’s figured something else out about me before he continues. “I was my parents’ only child. My mother didn’t like to do housework, nor did she like to parent me, as I mentioned. She took on the friend role.
“My father was the opposite. He always treated me like I was an adult, so as soon as I was old enough to work, I was just an extra set of hands, a little soldier. I had lists each day he’d make me get done, even when I was in school or working long hours with him in the summers after I started learning the logging trade. ”
I scrunch up my nose, feeling sad for the young Dane I never knew.
That’s no way to grow up, but in many ways, it explains why he is the way he is.
He’s regimented and likes routines, which probably make him feel safe.
Just as I’m learning that having boundaries and rules makes me feel safe.
Given this, it’s interesting that I’ve slipped up so much with Kas.
“Did you ever get to play and be a kid?” I ask.
Dane pauses, his hands resting on his knees, gripping the fabric.
“Not often, just at school during recess. Eventually, my old man did teach me how to speed climb the poles, and I liked that. He liked it, too, because I could compete and earn extra money when I won. He loved when he’d win in the adult competition and I’d win in the kids’. ”
“I’m surprised you still enjoy it.”
“Did you watch me compete at the games that day?” he asks.
I shake my head. “I was planning on it, but when I ran into you, I was rushing out to come home and take advantage of the empty house.”
Dane nods, and I like that he doesn’t question the decision I made. He knows me well enough now to understand why I chose to do that over watching the competition. Though now I wish I had seen him compete. Hopefully next year.
“What do you like about speed climbing?” I ask.
Dane’s hands relax against his legs. “It challenges me, and it’s something I’m naturally good at. I also like the adrenaline—all the reasons I enjoy working out and running.”
I make an ew face. “I hate running. So does Kas.”
He chuckles. “I know, she looked like I asked her to go to hell and back when we ran a bit at the course yesterday.”
I smile. “Sounds like her.”
“She did it, though. I was proud of her. She’s also good at axe throwing.
” He says it with a small smile, like he’s remembering an inside joke.
My interest piques, not only because of the smile, but also because it made my stomach flip when he said he’s proud of her.
I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but it makes me scoot closer to him.
“Really?”
He nods. “It’s with rubber axes. But when she’s older, I bet she could easily take part in the games with a real axe if she wanted.”
“Did you tell her that?”
He shakes his head. “She was hanging with her friends, but I will if you think she’d like hearing it.”
“I do. Kas is like me; she needs reassurance about things.” I pick at invisible dust on my shorts.
“I don’t think her dad gives her enough of it, since she only sees him once a month.
I try to stay up-to-date on her life and do so where I can, but she mostly plays her games.
The first thing she’s shown interest in outside of them is the obstacle course, but I think that’s because of a boy there.
So if she’s good at axe throwing, definitely encourage her. ”
Without thinking about it, I place my hand over the one Dane has on his knee. His fingers lace with mine, and a second later, I’m being tugged into his side.
I let out a small yelp at the sudden movement.
His chest shakes with laughter, and I smile up at him before settling into his side.
His body is warm and strong, and sitting here with him on my couch is something I could get used to.
I should take the moment to ask him if he thinks our relationship will go beyond our D/s dynamic, if he sees more days like this together, but I keep it in.
“I’ll tell her then,” his deep voice rumbles. A second later, his lips ghost against the crown of my head. I lean into the kiss and enjoy the silence and embrace of the man I’m quickly becoming more and more at ease with.
I don’t know how much time passes, but before my eyes can become heavy, Dane shifts, and I look up at him.
“Can I ask you something?” he asks.
“Anything.”
His arm is now around my shoulder, and his hand trails down my bare arm. “What happened between you and your ex-husband?”
“He’s a cheating bastard, that’s what.” I blow a breath through my lips. “Among other things.”
Dane stops stroking my arm and grips it. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“No, it’s okay. Honesty, right?”
His arm resumes stroking as he nods. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
I snuggle into Dane’s chest further, not caring if this is or isn’t a thing I should be doing as his submissive.
He doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, his body relaxes when I put my head over his chest, his steady heartbeat pounding in my ear as his other hand comes to rest on the knee I’ve folded under me that is now on top of his thigh.
“We met in our twenties in school,” I start off.
“I was smitten with him. He said he loved my curves and my brain, loved that I wanted to help people and be a nurse. Eventually, we got married, then I got pregnant with Kas shortly after I started working at a local ER. Jeremy was interning at his father’s agency, training to be a sports agent himself. ”
“Don’t tell me he slept with another intern,” Dane snarls.
The anger in his tone only makes me like him more. “He could’ve, and maybe he did, but I bring it up because that’s really when our relationship started to change. He wasn’t into my pregnancy and didn’t show up for a lot of the doctors’ appointments. Nathan or my mom came more often than he did.”
Dane squeezes my arm he’d been stroking, and it gives me the strength to continue. It’s been a long time since I’ve told my story, but it feels good to tell him.