Page 34 of Broken & Bound

“Everything okay?” he asked.

He sounded strained and tired. It broke my heart in a new way.

“I just wanted to say I love you again. And that I appreciate you.”

“Love you, too.”

“By any chance would mind if Pasha and I took another few days before you send the jet?”

“Oh, so you’re asking me this time?”

A hint of humor crept in, making me smile. “Yeah, figured you earned it. I’d just like a few more days to recalibrate before I see the girls. Get my head on straight. Would you mind?”

“No, I think that is an excellent idea actually. I trust the Dancer.”

“Oh, do you now? Thank God,” Pasha piped up.

“Fuck off. Better relax while you can because we have so much shit to tackle when you get back.”

Pasha shook his head. There was a few more plans Sebastian shared, but by the end he was much lighter. We disconnected, and Pasha turned into a diner parking lot.

“Let’s eat and find somewhere to stay.”

“Sounds good. But I kind of would love to go back to Maryland.”

“Same hotel?” he teased.

“Yeah. Do you mind? I was thinking we could ride the roller coaster again,” I said, not hiding the grin on my face.

We’d spent another glorious three days alone, getting to know each other deeper, if that was possible. Somewhere between the first smile and the thousandth conversation, she became home. The way she’d faced her fears only had my admiration growing, but there were some side effects.

Mainly in the form of nightmares. They were finally lessening, at least in intensity, but it had become commonplace, and tonight was no different. My girl was dreaming again. The whimper and quiet 'no’ whispered under her breath gave it away.

I’d learned to wait them out, let her reach for me first before I stepped in. My job was to simply be ready to guide her safely back to reality. So tonight, as she cried out my name, I gently brushed her hair back and spoke to her soothingly.

“He can’t hurt you, princess,” I breathed into her ear as she scrambled into my arms.

Hot tears burned down my bare skin as she buried further into me. My arms wrapped around her and stroked her back. The cool, silk material of her nightgown created a sensory distraction for my fingertips.

“He never hurt me. But he hurt X every single time. He would have hurt me, too. I know this now.”

“I know,” I crooned, trying to ease her pain and feeling completely inadequate to do so.

We lay there awhile holding one another in the quiet of the hotel room. Her breathing eased, and I continued to rub her back. I thought she had drifted off to sleep, as she normally did.

“Distract me? I’ll do anything not to have to think about him.”

I groaned as her lips trailed up my neck. Tonight was our last night alone. Tomorrow we’d be home again, and we’d put off having a proper conversation about too many things. This was an avoidance technique of hers.

The major problem was she was too fucking good at it. And the proof in that was even though I couldn’t get the haunting images of the castle out of my head, my cock immediately responded to her lips on my skin.

“You promised to teach me how to suck you,” she whispered in my ear before letting her tongue delve inside.

A full body shudder went through me, thinking about her lips around my cock. “Yes, I did. Didn’t I?”

“Because I really want to, you know. You’ve pleased me a thousand times over. And you do it so well, I really want to learn. I need you to dissolve into a puddle at my feet. It’s my one goal for the evening. My job, so to speak. Teach me?”

Teach her? I wanted to. Desperately wanted to. But I was in too deep. To teach would be to train. I couldn’t separate those two things. It was ingrained in me now. Did she even know what she was asking me?