AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A person who had built the two most beautiful places in the world. Who made her laugh more in a week than she had the previous thirty-three years of her life. Whose natural inclination was toward kindness, not egotism or cruelty.
With a sigh, she swiped across the screen one more time, pretty sure she’d reached the end. Except there was a single additional picture—one she didn’t know Aiden had taken.
It was a picture of herself, standing in front of his cabin. Her back was to him, head turned and slightly down as she studied the explosion of wildflowers. Only a small part of her face was visible, but what she could see looked peaceful, even wistful. As if she hadn’t a care in all the world.
Her heartbeat sped up as she studied the little sliver of her own face. She’d never felt that way before this week, let alone seen it in a picture.
And here she was, driving away, as if eternal happiness grew on trees in easy abundance.
“Fuck. This.”
Maneuvering out of the picture slideshow, she clicked on Aiden’s number and hit call.
He picked up on the first ring. “Liv, I’m—”
“No, fuck this,” she interrupted. “We’re not just saying it’s too hard and giving up. This is fucking real what we have, and I refuse to throw it all away because I’m scared.Fuckbeing scared. I’ve been scared my entire goddamn life, and it’s all sucked until now, and I don’t want the rest of it to suck, too.
“I don’t fucking care that you’re a professional Dom. I think it’s hot as hell, frankly. I’m perfectly happy to share you so long as I’m the only one you actually care about, and so long as you share me, too. And I don’t give a flying fuck about my job. I never have. I’m going to work because I need to have my own money, but there are a shit ton of remote jobs nowadays. Or maybe we can even find something for me to do at the Manor. I don’t fucking know. But I do know we can figure out how to make this work as long as we’re not too chickenshit to even try. So this is me fucking trying.”
She was out of breath by the time she finished. She sucked air into her lungs as she waited for his response, willing her heart rate to calm down before she had another damn panic attack.
Only he didn’t say a word. Not a declaration of love, not a rejection, nothing in between. The only sound was her own breathing as the seconds ticked by.
Fuckity fuck, she’d scared him off. Was he even still on the line? She confirmed the call was still connected. Maybe he was too shocked to speak?
Every single part of her anxiety was telling her to end the call and block his number. It had been stupid to call him, stupider still to say allthat, and the only way to save face was to spend the rest of her life pretending it had never happened.
Yeah, fuck that, too. The time for hiding under her broken shell, using it as a shield between her and the rest of the world, was over. She’d shot her shot, and that was something to be fucking proud of. Time for him to declare his feelings for her, or else break her heart. At least she’d know.
Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she demanded, “Anything you want to say?”
“Look to your left.”
Whipping around, Olivia shrieked as someone appeared right outside her driver’s side window. “What the fuck!”
It took a few seconds for the rest of her brain to catch up with the please-don’t-murder-me-Mr.-Serial-Killer part, and she realized it was Aiden. With another shout that made him yank the phone away from his ear, Olivia flung her own phone aside and threw open the car door, almost nailing him in the process.
“Aiden!” She shouted his name as she tried to leap out of the car. The seatbelt dug into her hips and chest, making her wince, and she fumbled with the buckle for way too long before she managed to release the fucking thing. Half a heartbeat later, she practically fell out of the car and into his arms. “Oh my God, Aiden, Aiden, Aiden...” She was kissing every single part of his face she could reach. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Chasing you, obviously,” he said, burying his hands in her hair. “About ten minutes after you left, I figured out what a fucking idiot I was being. Which, by the way, Zach will take credit for. But don’t listen to him.”
Laughing, Olivia went up onto her toes and kissed him properly. She was in control for about a split second before he took over, deepening the kiss, moving them slightly so he could push her up against the back door of her car. His whole body pressed up tightly against hers, one hand clenching her ass like a lifeline. And oh God, how had she ever thought she could live without this. When at last he pulled away, she felt like she was floating ten feet off the ground.
“Good thing you pulled over before you got to town,” Aiden said, smiling down at her. “Or the good people of Fairford would’ve gotten a bit of a show.”
“Who cares.” Olivia was still breathless from that kiss. “A whole convoy of motorcycles could’ve gone by, and I wouldn’t have noticed.”
With a laugh, Aiden said, “Oh, you would’ve noticed, all right. And it would’ve made you even hotter.”
“I’m not even gonna bother denying it,” she said, chuckling, though her laughter died off quickly. “So...about all the stuff I said.” Goddamn, could her heart beat any faster? “How do you feel about it?”
“As relieved and happy as I’ve ever been in my life.”
“Oh, thank fuck,” she muttered, making him laugh again.
“You’re right, Liv, about all of it. We can make this work. Wehaveto. We just need to trust each other enough to be honest—which we’ve both clearly been too fucking scared to do for the last several days. That’s got to end now if we want any chance of working through the bumps in the road.” His expression turned more serious. “Because they’re going to come up. This isn’t an easy life we’re trying to build here. But Christ, I don’t want a life without you in it. That sounds like pure fucking torture to me. And I’ll do every single thing in my power to make sure we figure this out so we’re both truly happy.”
She smiled at him. “Happily ever after?”
