“We will always support you, Liv,” Ansley says. Everyone gathers into a group hug and part of me feels guilty. I need to talk about this to someone.
When Caroline goes upstairs to check on Mia and Bailey and Bec begin their own conversation, I walk outside onto Caroline’s back porch. Ansley follows me.
“Are you really okay?” Ansley asks as she closes the door.
I lean against the rail and she walks over to stand next to me. I want to talk to someone about Victor and me. He hasn’t kept our relationship a secret from anyone in his life. Why should I?
“So, I wasn’t completely honest about my relationship with Victor,” I admit to her.
She squints at me and sighs. “I had a feeling.” It’s all she says, so I’m unsure how to continue this conversation. “I understand being secretive. I wasn’t completely honest with you or Caroline about Lincoln and me in the beginning.” Clenching and unclenching my hands, my heart races.Should I tell her?
“What Victor and I have is unusual,” I tell her, watching her out of the corner of my eye, trying to gauge her reaction.
“Unusual how?” she asks.
I take a long breath and release it slowly as my stomach somersaults. “We have a Dominant/submissive relationship.” I swallow and stare straight ahead, not wanting to see her reaction.
“A Dominant/submissive relationship?” Unsure if she means it as a question or not, but that’s what it sounds like, so I nod.
“He’s helped me overcome a lot of things I went through with my stepfather, but now things are becoming complicated.” My throat is so dry.
“Complicated how?”
I swallow several times, trying to wet my throat. “I want more,” I whisper.
“And he doesn’t?” Ansley turns, so she’s facing me. I’m not sure how to answer her question, so I shrug.
“This has been going on for a while and he hasn’t even hinted at wanting more. His ex wife did a number on him and I think he’s scared,” I tell her. Ansley steps closer to me and wraps her arm around my waist.
“Liv, I know taking that jump is scary. Trust me. But you deserve to be happy. You deserve it more than anyone I know.”
I offer her a small smile. “So you think I should tell him?” I ask.
“I do. You deserve to know for sure, but I’m almost positive he’s going to give you everything your heart desires.”
Chapter sixty-three
Victor
Olivia rubs her finger along my thumb ring as I drive her to work. “I can’t believe you kept this all these years,” she murmurs. I flip my hand and interlace our fingers.
“Of course I’ve kept it.”
I watch her out of the corner of my eye. Olivia runs her fingers up to my wrist and over my bracelet before she rubs her thumb over the bracelet I gave her. She leans down and grabs a box out of her purse as I pull up to the curb in front of her office building and hands it to me.
I stare at the box for a moment before glancing at her. “What’s this?”
She smiles at me. “I ordered that a while ago, but it finally came in yesterday. Leo gave it to me last night after he stopped by my house.” I watch her closely. When she gave me the presentfrom the Braves game, she was excited, but this time she seems hesitant. “Could you open it after you walk me in?” she asks.
I want to open it now, but I’ll wait since she asked me to. I walk her into the lobby and we’re both surprised to see Lincoln and Ansley.
“Hey!” Ansley greets Olivia.
Olivia smiles at her in surprise. “Hi! What are you doing here?”
“Lincoln and I have an appointment downtown to look at a place for my boutique, but I told him I wanted to see you first.” Ansley glances at Olivia to me without any surprise in her eyes that we’re together. I wonder if she knows about us. “Would you be interested in building me a website and app for my boutique?” Ansley asks.
Olivia looks surprised as she glances from Ansley to Lincoln. “You want me to do that?”
