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“What is this, Olivia?”
There was no softness in his voice, and she winced at the cold, hard tone. “I—I just… you said we needed to talk. I’m ready to talk.” It was pretty lame, as far as explanations went, but she couldn’t seem to conjure up anything better.
Hope shimmered at the curiosity coming to life in his eyes. “Why the outfit?”
Olivia caught her bottom lip with her top teeth, a nervous habit she knew drove him wild in all the best ways. Lowering her head, she looked up at him through her lashes. “Can we talk in my room?”
It took longer than she would have liked for him to answer, but she made herself wait patiently, and she was rewarded with a short, brisk nod. “Go wait for me on your bed. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
The careful hope she’d carried with her all afternoon was now a living thing inside of her. Olivia took off down the hall, slowing abruptly at her husband’s sharp admonishment. “No running!” But even his scolding couldn’t drown the happiness bubbling in her chest. If anything, it fed the renewed light inside of her, gave her something to cling to as she waited for him to come to her.
In her room, she hopped onto the bed, drumming her feet against the side while she waited. And waited. And waited. When the waiting became too much, she jumped down and began pacing back and forth in front of her bed.
“Olivia Jane.”
The sound of his voice froze her in place. It wasn’t fear, exactly, that sent the butterflies dancing in her stomach. It was some strange mix of anxiety, anticipation, and excitement. She turned around, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of her Daddy filling the doorway.
In the nearly twelve years they’d been married, she’d never quite gotten over how handsome he really was. Age had only refined his features, chiseling down the jawline now enhanced by a neatly trimmed beard. Not a single gray hair was to be found in the sweep of brown atop his head.
And those eyes. Those pale, ocean blue eyes that seemed to see right through her to the darkest depths of her soul. She’d fallen in love with those eyes the moment she’d looked up from where she’d dropped her armful of books in the quad to find him watching her. With just the hint of a smile, he’d helped her to her feet and offered to walk her to her next class. From that very first meeting, she’d known, somehow, that he was someone she would be safe with. Loved, even, if she let herself be loved.
It was shocking, how things could be so heartbreakingly different and yet still the same.
The sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled to his elbows, perfectly showcasing his lean, taut forearms. And threaded through the loops of the old, faded jeans he’d changed into was the thick leather belt her bottom was well acquainted with. Was she drooling? She lifted a hand to her mouth just to be sure, relieved to find her chin dry as she remembered with a jolt that he’d spoken to her.
“Yes?” The word was barely a whisper.
He lifted an eyebrow, a gesture that never failed to have her tummy doing somersaults. “Are you doing what you were told?”
She was so distracted by him, by the longing in her heart, it took her a moment to remember what he’d told her to do. When she did, she rushed to her bed and hopped up on the mattress again, her hands folded in her lap.
With a hum of approval, he retrieved the straight-backed chair from her little desk along the far wall of the room and carried it over to the bed. Placing it directly in her line of sight, he dropped onto the hard wooden seat.
“You want to go first, little one?”
The endearment emboldened her, and Olivia nodded. Her fingers twisted against each other in her lap, and the nervousness she’d held at bay all afternoon flooded her system. “I…” She swallowed, her throat suddenly too dry to speak. “I just, I know things have been weird and I…” Forcing herself to look up, she met his gaze, his eyes filled with emotions she hadn’t seen in so long she’d forgotten what they looked like. “I want my Daddy back!” The words burst out of her, accompanied by a rush of hot tears streaming down her cheeks.
Seconds ticked by with the silence growing heavy and strained between them before he finally spoke, his words cold and solemn. “Do you?”
“Huh?” Sniffling, she swiped at her eyes and stared at him. What was he asking?
“Do you really want your Daddy back? Or is that just what you think I want?”
She blinked, momentarily at a loss for words. “What kind of question is that? I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t want it!”
Sighing deeply, he scrubbed a hand over his face, and she was struck by the thought that he looked so much older than his years. “I want to believe you, Olivia. God, I want to, so badly. But I need to know you mean it.”
Stunned by his response, she gestured helplessly at her pajamas. “What do you think this is all about? You think I just put on my little girl PJs and had you come in here, to my space, for the hell of it?” Though she hadn’t been given permission, she slid from the bed and knelt in front of him. “Why don’t you believe me?”
“It’s a lot of little things. At first I thought you were just pushing the boundaries, testing me. But then the last few times I punished you, you seemed to resent it. Not immediately, but you were… distant, for a day or so after.”
Had she done that? Sitting back on her heels, she ran the past few months over in her mind. There had been a period of time, she was forced to admit, where having him issuing orders left and right had grated on her nerves. She hadn’t realized it had affected him so much, though.
“You’re right. I was struggling with submitting to you, especially at work. But,” she broke off and shook her head, still not quite ready to bare her soul to the man who’d already broken her heart a dozen times over.
“No. None of that, Olivia. Finish your thought.”
Chewing on her lip, she gathered her courage and after several long moments finally lifted her head to look up at him again. “Can I be completely honest?”
