Chapter 35
Sebastian
“Don’t drop that,” Mira hurried and swiped the box straight out of Ethan’s arms.
“I’m just trying to help.” He turned to me. “Movers. You make enough to hire movers.”
“Don’t look at me, she wouldn’t let me.”
I stood in the middle of the foyer watching her direct Victor, Ethan, Micah, and Noah, pointing boxes toward their assigned rooms. We’d actually talked at length about what went where. Color-coded lists. Diagrams. My girl did nothing halfway.
Something jabbed me in the side, making me jump.
I turned to find Mira glaring up at me. “I thought I was supervising today.”
The guys filed past us, each carrying a box, all of them shooting me identical you’re dead looks.
“Looks like they might be throwing you into the pool if you don’t start pulling your weight.”
I threw my hands up in the air and headed out to the moving truck. My Mira was a force to be reckoned with.
She’d stayed by my side for the four days I was in the hospital and had insisted on taking me home herself. Ethan hadn’t argued. He’d had his hands full dealing with the FBI.
Thanks to Mira’s quick thinking and terrifyingly good hacking skills, Sentinel Tech got all our money back—and then some. The excess was turned over to the authorities so it could be returned to its rightful owners.
The accounts hadn’t belonged to Stan.
They belonged to someone he owed a lot of money.
Elisa had been planted to keep an eye on him when things hadn’t progressed fast enough for his boss. Unfortunately, she’d filled in for various employees across several departments, giving her access she never should’ve had.
Her background check had been doctored and was fake. She’d stolen Victor’s laptop and security key before skipping town. We caught it all on camera after the fact. Her attempting to flirt with Victor and failing, but still lifting his security key and swiping his laptop from his office.
Micah had been promoted and now oversaw all of the analysts, while still keeping his own team at his request.
After Mira helped me find a suitable assistant, she moved back downstairs and took Micah’s old position. While Micah accepted his promotion without hesitation, Mira insisted we post the job publicly and conduct interviews I wasn’t allowed to sit in on.
She hadn’t wanted special favors.
In the end, she had a corner office, her own team, and was doing extraordinary things—helping replace several key components of our security software and making it stronger than it had ever been.
No matter how busy things got, we made time to have lunch in my office once a week.
And every Wednesday night, we ended the day with dinner at Bastian’s. What I didn’t like was the nights she went home to her apartment, so two weeks ago I asked her to move in with me. I’d never been so nervous in my life. We’d already been back and forth anyway. It was the next step.
And for the first time, the next step didn’t feel like something I had to control. It felt like something I was choosing.
It didn’t take us long to empty the truck.
I leaned against the kitchen counter. Boxes were scattered throughout my house.
The guys had just left, the house was quiet again as I watched her move through the space like she already belonged here.
Because she did. She always had. I just hadn’t known it yet.
She turned, catching me staring at her, her brow lifting. “What?”
I smiled. “Nothing.”
She didn’t buy it, but she let it go, padding closer and looping her arms around my waist. The simple familiarity still caught me off guard sometimes.
Mira nuzzled her head into my chest. I kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
She looked up at me, smiling. “I love you.”
“I have a surprise for you.”
Her arms tightened around me just a little. “You always say that like I should be nervous.”
“You should be curious,” I corrected, brushing my thumb along her spine. “Nervous implies expectation.”
She tilted her head, studying my face. “Is this a good surprise?”
“My pet will like it.” I raised a brow with a smirk.
She cocked her head. “Are we going to Sanctum?”
Oh, the first time we’d gone to Sanctum, Mistress Vivienne had grilled us both together and separately.
She’d actually sent us away, asked us to spend the night apart, then if we still wanted to enter into this arrangement we needed to see her the next day separately, which we did.
The night apart had been the first since I’d been shot.
I brushed the memory aside and refocused on the woman in my arms.
“Not tonight.”
My hand closed around hers, grounding, and I kissed the corner of her mouth before guiding her toward the back of the house. In addition to the new contract we’d signed for Sanctum, we’d sat down and created our own.
At work she was an employee, and I was her boss. It was important for her to keep things professional, during work hours. That didn’t stop me from taking my tie, binding her hands behind her back and fucking her over my desk late one night, well after office hours.
“You said there was nothing down here,” she said at the top of the stairs to the basement.
“There wasn’t.”
“What did you do?”
“You’ll see,” I smirked as we walked down the staircase together. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, a heavy wooden door greeted us.
“Sebastian, what’s this?”
“I had this built for you,” I said.
She raised her brow.
“For us, if it’s something you want to use. If not, we’ll forget about it.”
She lit up.
“Go ahead.” I gestured toward the door and stepped around behind her.
She opened the door and gasped, her hand going over her chest. “Sebastian!”
“It’s basic, but we can furnish it however we want.”
She shuffled into the middle of the room, turning slowly, taking it all in.
The light was soft, adjustable, similar to Sanctum. A cross was mounted against one wall. Shelves with neatly arranged cuffs and restraints, each labeled, each chosen with care for her, my Mira.
“This is…” She swallowed. “You did all of this?”
“For us,” I said again. “So we wouldn’t have to borrow space anymore.”
She nodded slowly, absorbing it. Then she turned, walked to the shelf, and picked something up.
The blindfold.
She brought it back to me without a word and held it out between us.
I frowned slightly, caught off guard. “Pet?”
“Under one condition,” she said calmly.
I cocked my head. “I’m listening.”
“You use this.”
Understanding didn’t come immediately. I studied her face, searching. We hadn’t used the blindfold since that night I’d fucked everything up. It wasn’t bad and I’d grown accustomed to seeing her full reaction to my punishments.
“Are you sure?” I swallowed.
It had been a symbol of my lie, my betrayal.
“You have a tell,” she said, her lips curving into an innocent smile. “You shift your weight before you swing. I always know when and where you’re going to hit.” Her fingers brushed my wrist. “It doesn’t have the same effect when I can see it coming.”
Something settled in my chest as I took the blindfold from her.
I turned and walked to the door, closing it before returning my full attention to the woman I planned on asking to marry me next week, but for tonight I’d settle for making her come again and again after making her beg for it, of course.
“Strip, Pet.”
A moment later she stood in front of me in just her bra and panties.
I held the blindfold out between us. “Are you sure?”
She met my gaze, calm and resolute, then nodded. She dropped her gaze to the floor as she gasped her hands behind her back, a motion that pushed her chest out beautifully. “Yes, Master, I’m sure.”
I stepped closer, slower this time, and lifted the blindfold. Before I placed it, I paused, giving her one last chance to change her mind.
She didn’t.
As the fabric settled into place, I understood what she was offering me this time.
It wasn’t obedience, or surrender.
She was offering me her faith. Faith she had in us. Faith she had in her master, in the man she knew as Sebastian Reid, the man she loved.
Never in my life had I imagined I’d find someone I could stand beside in the light and trust completely in the dark.
And for the first time, I knew I wouldn’t have to choose between them.