Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
But no more.
“Tell me. I want to know if you slept with him.”
Olivia snorted.
Garrett shook his head. “No. It wasn’t like that at all. It was nothing but training. Finn was in the session with us. Julian felt I was missing something.”
“He saw you were a switch before you were willing to admit it,” Olivia suggested. “He’s like that. My dad always said Julian was able to see things other Doms missed. He trained under Julian, too. I have heard rumors that before my mom came along, Julian offered to take in my papa because he knew he was a sub and Dad wasn’t able to claim him at that point.”
Keane felt his jaw go tight. “If Julian Lodge thinks he can add my sub to his family, he’s fucking wrong. I don’t care how much money he has. I won’t let it happen.”
“Master, Julian was only trying to help,” Garrett said quietly, but it was easy to see he relaxed a bit. “He sensed the struggle in me and realized why. Finn taught me some things, but I was never bold enough to ask. Julian encouraged me to talk to you. He said you were an excellent top and wouldn’t refuse me. He told me when I stopped being scared, I would truly find my path. I don’t want to be afraid anymore, but I also don’t want to lose Olivia.”
Olivia frowned. “Why would you lose me? You think the fact that you two want each other bothers me? I mean, I’m the girl who walks in on my dads being extremely affectionate with each other.”
“I don’t ever want you to think I don’t want you,” Garrett said haltingly, and Keane finally understood.
“This isn’t another Bobby situation,” he offered. “Olivia isn’t afraid we’re going to leave her for each other. She knows we don’t work without her. She knows this is finally the right relationship. Even if one of us is a stubborn bastard who needed his ass kicked.”
“I didn’t have to kick it hard,” she replied. “I mostly just had to stay. That’s something else my dad taught me. Sometimes love means staying when the person you love tries hard to push you away.”
“Push you away?” Garrett straightened up, looking to Keane not as his Master but as his partner in loving Olivia. “What did you do?”
Strangely, that overly possessive growl coming from Garrett’s mouth made him feel better. Though they might be starting something new tonight, Olivia would always be their focus. She would always come first, and that was true and right for them. “I was trying to save her from getting involved in my mess.”
The brat’s eyes rolled. “Yeah, because it’s your mess. You know I’m the one who got drugged and nearly kidnapped, and naturally some man comes along and claims it all as his own. Dumbass.”
“That’s ten for you.”
“What did he say?” Garrett asked.
Olivia waved him off. “The usual. I don’t love you. Blah, blah, blah. It was only sex. Yadda yadda. All the while he’s looking at me like I’m the last bit of water on planet Earth and he’s dying of thirst. Master is a terrible actor. He needs to stick to running ranches. Maybe the cows will believe his act.”
“And twenty more,” Keane said, hardening his tone. “I apologized, and apparently you never felt the sting of my words because you didn’t believe them.”
Olivia tilted her head up, and he could have sworn tears were shining in her eyes. She bit her bottom lip as she looked up at him. “Because I couldn’t stand a world where you didn’t love me. I didn’t want to believe, Master. I wanted so badly for it to all be a lie.”
He softened immediately, all irritation gone when he realized how close to tears she was. “Baby, I didn’t mean any of it. Not a word. I was trying to save you. I didn’t want to drag you down with me.”
And then her lips curled and she stepped back, an impish grin on her face. “See, that’s how you do it. Also, why am I getting thirty and Garrett’s not getting anything for not almost sleeping with Julian? He did have a session behind your back. Is that how things are? I can play with whoever I want? I like The Hideout. The guys are younger there. The Club reminds me too much of my parents. There are a couple of Doms there I’ve wanted to play with.”
He leaned down and shoved his shoulder into her midsection, catching her and hauling her up and over. He gave her ass a hard smack. “Try it, baby. See what happens. To you and to whatever Dom tries to touch my sub. Garrett, I expect you to be better behaved than this righteous brat. We’re going to the playroom because you both need some discipline.”