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He’d really left his job.
I didn’t need further proof to know he was serious. He’d done the right thing, for himself, for us, so that we could spend the rest of our hopefully long lives together.
I pulled my hoodie and my tee over my head, and I draped the clothes over the back of Lucian’s chair. Socks next. It was where he sat when I polished his shoes and helped him get dressed in the morning. My sweatpants followed, and then I dove for the bed. My emotions, the intensity of my hope, flared up like fireworks, and I crawled under the covers until I was on his side of the bed.
“Master?” I pressed a kiss to his shoulder and got comfortable next to him.
He hummed in his sleep, smacked his lips a little, and then I suddenly had his arm around me, and he was pulling me closer. I grinned, unable to help it, and I was beginning to realize he wasn’t waking up. What were the odds of his having taken a sleeping aid? KC had mentioned Ativan after the hospital, and I didn’t know if they’d prescribed that for the newly released patient too.
I touched his cheek gingerly, not used to seeing him with that much stubble.
I liked it. It had a fair bit of silver in it, which was just sexy as heck. All of him was sexy. And beautiful. Every cut line, from the sharpness of his jaw to his dark eyebrows and the shapes of them. He could look so stern and unyielding, and yet he had the most generous heart. For every time he claimed not to like brats very much, there was a moment when Noa’s antics cracked him up. I’d caught him so many times, trying not to laugh when Noa got going. He failed more often than not. And same with me. Lucian had this reputation for being very strict and demanding, a typical high-protocol Master, and sure, he was. But he was also extremely caregiving and doting. Protective and considerate.
I carefully ran my fingers through his dark hair, and he let out a breath and relaxed into my touch.
I’m here, Owner. I’m never leaving your side again.
I was so tempted to wake him up, but he needed his rest.
“I love you more than anything,” I whispered.
CHAPTER 5
Lucian Leroux
If I hugged him a little harder, maybe he wouldn’t disappear when the dream faded. And it would fade…any moment now. Noa was awake. I could hear him giggling in the other room, probably watching cartoons in bed. Or some violent YouTube clip of skaters making terrible falls.
“Master…?”
Yes, that was the voice. The sweetest whisper. I took a deep breath and buried my face against his neck, and I let the dream pull me under. My eyelids had never felt so heavy before; I wasn’t sure I could pry them open. God bless Ativan. The vivid dreams were a bonus—as long as they were of the good variety. I didn’t want another nightmare where Cam broke up with me.
“Master, wake up.”
I don’t want to, my darling. You’re here. When I wake up, you won’t be.
He was dropping featherlight kisses along my shoulder, the sensations pushing a sluggish shiver through me.
I twitched when I heard a sneeze. Weird dream state—why would I dream about him sneezing?
I love you with all that I am.
He exhaled a strained laugh and rubbed my arm. “I love you too, Owner, but you’re kind of squishing me.”
I frowned. Why couldn’t I see him? Why couldn’t I see anything? Well, almost. Just a pale gray space with fragments of memories. I could picture him so easily, but he wasn’t actually here with me. I envisioned his smiles; I didn’t see them. So I turned around, and the invisible ground beneath me disappeared. I tried to look over my shoulder, and a dizzy spell hit. At long last, I cracked my eyes open, and I sat…up…in bed? Fuck. I squinted and scrubbed at my face. Goddamn dream. Goddamn reality.
“There he is.”
What? I froze for a second, then let my hands drop, and I whipped my head toward the sound. I sucked in a breath, which made me cough, and I had to clear my throat.
You’re here.
“You’re here,” I rasped.
This time, I saw his smile. One part amused, one part timid. And his bed head. He’d slept here all night? I yanked away the covers, and I groaned internally. Motherf— Must he be so irresistibly sexy? I didn’t know what drew me in more in this time of desperation, his perfect little body or the fact that he was still wearing his Property of Master Lucian underwear. He had countless pairs of them in different colors, but he had others too. So…if he was planning to end things with me, surely he wouldn’t be in our bed right now, wearing his slave briefs?
I swallowed a bucket of nerves and met his gaze.
Please forgive me, my love.
