She snaps her fingers. “Just like that.” She finally looks back at me and holds my gaze. “I want to be your submissive.”
Leaning back, that was the last thing I expected her to say. Her mouth opens, and she blinks rapidly. She thinks I’m rejecting her. “Okay,” I whisper.
She pushes her hair behind her ear. “If you’ve decided that’s not something you want, I understand.”
Grabbing her hand, I lean forward. “No, no. This conversation took a sharp left turn. You caught me by surprise is all.”
She inhales deeply. “Oh, sorry. I’ve rehearsed this conversation the entire way over here. I knew if I didn’t sayeverything all at once, I’d lose my nerve.” Olivia sighs and places her head on the back of the swing.
“We need to have a conversation about this, but first I want to talk to you about you hurting yourself.”
The crease between her eyebrows becomes pronounced. “Why?”
“Because I need to know more details before we enter that kind of relationship to avoid anything that could be triggering.” I pause. “And there are things I could do that might help you.”
Her head perks up at that. “What do you mean?”
Placing my hand on her knee and rubbing my thumb along her knee cap. “We’ll get to that. For now, I don’t want you to hurt yourself again. The next time you feel that way, come to me like you did today and I’ll help you however you need me to.”
“How will you help me?”
Her voice sounds small. I lean my head down until she looks at me.
“However you need me to.”
Chapter twenty-five
Olivia
After the heavy conversation, Victor shows me the rest of his property. He takes me to the horses last. “This is Sunshine, and this is Cinnamon.” Sunshine comes over immediately, living up to her name, while Cinnamon stands off watching. Sunshine butts her head against my chest, making me laugh as I rub her forehead.
“She wants something sweet, probably,” Victor says as he holds out a sandwich bag of sugar cubes.
“How many can I give her?” I ask.
Grabbing one and placing it in the palm of my hand to offer it to her. I stiffen slightly, not knowing if she’s going to bite me, but she sucks the sugar cube between her lips before chewing. Smiling at Victor, he returns my smile. His green eyes are bright making him even more handsome than he normally is.
“You can give her two more,” he answers. I grab another and feed it to her, watching Cinnamon as he edges closer.
“Are you jealous you’re not getting any sugar?”
“A little,” Victor says.
My mouth pops open as I snap my head towards him. “What?”
He smirks and winks at me. “It takes a few minutes for Cinnamon to warm up to people, but trust me, when he does, he’ll never leave you alone.”
Victor ignores my question. Folding my lips between my teeth, I try to hide my smile. I grab another sugar cube and put it in my other hand, holding it out to Cinnamon as Sunshine takes her second sugar cube from my hand.
Cinnamon inches forward as Sunshine takes the last sugar cube from my hand. Just as I’m about to give up on Cinnamon taking the sugar cube, his nose nudges my hand and he sucks it into his mouth. Holding in my excitement to avoid scaring him, I inwardly squeal. Once he finishes the sugar cube, he gets closer and nudges Sunshine out of the way, trying to get closer.
“Don’t get greedy, Cinnamon,” I chastise him. Sunshine huffs and walks away like she’s used to his antics. Giggling and grabbing another sugar cube to give him, Victor comes to stand next to me and shakes his head in amusement. After he’s had his three sugar cubes, he nudges my hand again. “Sorry, no more for today.” But he nudges me again, so I scratch his head. He neighs low, almost sounding like a purr.
“I told you. Now he’ll never leave you alone.”
I chuckle and continue rubbing his head and scratch behind his ears. “So, it only took a bit of sugar to get you to like me. Huh?” He nods his head like he’s answering me.
“That’s all it takes for the majority of the male species,” Victor says. I tilt my head at him and smile. He seems different. Maybe me opening up to him and asking to be his submissive opened up a connection between us. He walks over and wraps an armaround my shoulders. “Come on, the guys will be here soon for dinner.”
