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With Violet, it didn’t matter how simple her reasons were. I was more fascinated by her than any other woman I’d ever met. She had no real demons to fight, no dark secrets. She just craved it, and I understood that craving. It used to drive me. Now I had another driving force: my son. And Violet was becoming a part of it all.
I was on my way out of the life when she came barging in with her new appetite and unrealistic expectations of what a Dom should be. I was selling the club, unattached, and completely free to be the respectable father I’d hoped to be.
All I had left to do to break free was sell the club and walk away. Now I found I had something to walk toward. And for the first time in my life, I hoped I’d be enough for a woman.
I started out her master, but I had already become her slave.
Christmas shopping with my mother was a nightmare. Thankfully Molly agreed to accompany us today to distract me. Mother was insistent on getting all her shopping done in a day. I found myself looking at items for Rhys and searching through the toy aisles in the store for Bryce, but had no idea if it was even appropriate at this point.
Last week had been a dream. I had spent a few days with Rhys, getting to know his son. Though Bryce seemed a bit weary of me at first, as if I was an intruder, he warmed up to me quickly.
I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that the last time I left them Bryce’s lip quivered slightly, as if he didn’t want me to go. I refused to stay the night, though Rhys objected.
Sunday afternoon, Rhys had fallen asleep on the couch as Bryce and I played on the floor with his new Lego set. We spent the afternoon pulling out his arsenal of toys from his toy box as his father lay practically unconscious in a deep sleep he looked like he so desperately needed. When he woke, he looked up at us and shot to a sitting position, completely disoriented and started apologizing quickly.
“Rhys, we are fine,” I insisted as I nodded over at Bryce, who was telling me about his very imp
ortant plastic hammer. Rhys lay back down, watching us play, his hands on his chest with his head turned our way, looking to me then his son. His gray eyes told me he was hungry and I shook my head with a smile, giving my attention to the other new man in my life. I looked up every once in a while as he watched us play, catching his stare and smiling. I knew for the first time he was thinking what I was.
This is happy.
“Earth to Violet,” Molly said, holding up two pairs of earrings, to which I wrinkled my nose.
Buying a tie for Rhys seemed too impersonal, and though I had let the L word cross my lips, I wasn’t sure how he would receive a Christmas gift. He had a completely different way of showing his affection that didn’t involve sex. He never really vocalized his feelings and had only really opened up to me in my absence while visiting the Caymans. I had rushed into assuming he felt the same, and with each minute we spent together, I could feel his growing feelings, but couldn’t be sure. I did purchase a few toys for Bryce, leaving the mystery of gift giving between me and my new beau open ended. I was going to see him tonight after a long few days of us failing to connect. I was kept late showing houses and Bryce had caught a cold. Rhys didn’t want to chance us both getting sick. I eyed a bottle of men’s cologne on the counter, wondering what type he used.
“So what are you getting him?” I looked up to see Molly smile at my mom who was questioning me and then eyeing me with interest.
“Mom, I swear, please go read someone else’s mind. Does this ever bother Dad?”
“Are you and Rhys exchanging gifts? Are you thinking cologne? Is that his style?” Molly piped, amused at my discomfort. I looked to her with narrowed eyes. She knew more about the nature of my new relationship with Rhys due to a near full confession from me the week I got back from Grand Cayman, a confession I was regretting at that very moment. The tone in her voice mocked the manner in which her question was asked. What I heard from her was “Wouldn’t he much prefer a new whip?” Molly was a petite brunette with big blue eyes. She looked far more innocent than she was, and played it to her advantage.
Molly smiled as she lifted a shirt off a rack and I shook my head at her. Her tiny frame glided quickly through the aisle as I picked up the remains of the end caps I knocked over as I passed through, my ass having a mind of its own. The store was a madhouse and I was thoroughly unnerved at the goings on. My mother seemed fit for the race, and Molly appeared oblivious. My mother lifted a man’s sweater and I shook my head again.
“Mom, I don’t really know if it’s appropriate yet.”
“It’s a sweater, Violet,” she said, giving me a strange look, “and honestly, I don’t know why you mask your feelings for him. The feeling is mutual between the two of you.”
“That’s just it, Mom. I mean, I think so, but I’m not sure.” I shrugged my shoulders as they both eyed me.
“Then take a chance and buy him a noncommittal sweater.” She moved her eyebrows up and down as I yanked it out of her hands. It really was a nice sweater, gray to match his eyes.
“So what’s the hold up, dear daughter?” she continued, plucking clothes off the rack to eye them. “At Thanksgiving you couldn’t live without him.”
“There’s no hold up. He’s just not very vocal with his feelings and I have been nothing but. It’s humiliating but I can’t shut up. I assume he will tell me how he feels when he is ready, and in a way, he already has—”
“In many ways, I’m sure,” Molly added then held her hands up defensively when I took a step toward her, my eyes saying as much as my body language. I sighed as I addressed my mother again. “Anyway, I would just feel better if I knew for sure he was feeling the same.”
My mother looked to Molly then to me, as if she needed back up. “Men are always slow to come around. You have only been dating a few months. He loves you, and I know it. Just give it a little time.”
I put both hands on my face, embarrassed by the conversation. “God, it’s disgusting. I’m being needy. Two weeks divorced and I’m needy.”
“Your mom is right, Violet, but don’t beat yourself up. You are a woman. The minute we meet a decent man and have a good orgasm, we start planning the wedding. Whoops, fuck, I’m sorry, Mrs. Hale.”
“About which part?” she said, grinning at Molly. She knew better than to get through a day with Molly unscathed.
I shook my head at the both of them. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“No,” Molly said, looking pointedly at me, her lips pursing. “You are the only one who has a new hot boyfriend.”
