“Do you jest?” Danica snorted. “I haven’t once thought that you weren’t holding up your end of this relationship. I’ve been pushing you until you almost break. I’ve been so demanding on your heart and body that sometimes I lie awake at night, watching you sleep, wondering if you’ll have to leave me because you can’t take me anymore.” She stopped Alicia before she could speak. “No, Alicia. I’ve thought a lot about it. Yes, ideally, I would love to have that kind of relationship that I spoke of. Then I actually got to know you and realized that you’re as important to me in business as you are at home. I don’t want your career to end after we cement our legacy. I don’t want you to go home and have babies and pamper me when I get home unless that’s whatyouwant. If you want to continue working with me during the day and some of the nights, you’re more than welcome to. I think we’ll be a formidable team the longer this goes on.”
“Really?” Alicia had to admit, she was becoming addicted to the rush this new career brought. Who knew she would soon own a controlling interest in Moreau Industries? “I mean, maybe things will change once we actually have our baby and have more time to think about our plans and future, but for now… I wouldn’t mind staying in the office with you. Who knows? Maybe I really do have a knack for this stuff.”
“I know you do. I wouldn’t have risked my damn company and reputation if I thought you couldn’t handle it.” Danica grinned against her cheek. “Yet I have to own up to what I’ve done. I’ve put doubt in your heart and mind. I’ve disturbed the trust between us. It’s unforgivable. But I can make it right, I think.”
Alicia didn’t argue with her. “How?”
“My first mistake was assuming your role in my life would be one of a submissive domestic. Now I know that you’re much, much more than that. I still want to explore that side of ourrelationship with you for many years to come. Perhaps we’ll find our ultimate balance. Until then? I have another thought.”
“Oh? What is it?” This would either be really good or… out there. Maybe both, knowing her wife.At least I know that much about her.
“You’re right, my love. We advanced in our relationship so quickly that I didn’t have time to learn the real you. I tried to make you into my perfect woman… when I should’ve seen the woman you already are as perfect.”
“I’m not sure what you mean, but go on.”
“You’re not the kind of woman who will be a lifestyle submissive. Not to that extreme. I love you, my pet, but you’re no Mrs. Warner.”
Nope.I sure am not.“Keep talking like that, and I’ll think you have a crush on her. I mean, you’ve apparently slept with half of the Married Women’s Alliance, so…” A personality as big as Lara’s was half.
“Alas, she and I were never fated to be.” That was sarcasm, right?I can’t keep up with her dry humor sometimes.Was dry humor even natural to her? Or had it been beaten into her as the only acceptable form of humor while growing up? Alicia could see both. “You and I, though? We can forge our own type of relationship. I won’t lie, Alicia, I still want to be your Domme at times, if you’ll have me.”
“Of course I’ll have you.” How could she ask that? Alicia knew about that much at least before they got married. “There’s something else, though, isn’t there?”
“Isn’t there always?” Danica chuckled. “Our little sanctuary is almost complete. As soon as it’s ready for us, I want to explore who you really are when the kink comes out.”
Alicia cocked her head.
“Life has been so hectic, precious. This Sunday, let’s take the day off and simply enjoy who we really want to be to each other.”
“Sunday. The shares I bought are supposed to come through by Monday.”
“Yes, my love. Monday is another big meeting with the other shareholders. That will be the day we take what’s ours.”
“Shouldn’t we be preparing for that, then?”
Danica kissed her, the passion so ripe that Alicia shuddered where she sat. “We will. In our own way. You will decide who you want to be when it’s all over. You’ll never stop being my wife and the mother of my children, but you can choose what other paths you want to take. Will you be my doting housewife who perhaps chases other ambitions as our children grow? Or will you be as ubiquitous as I am when people hear the name Moreau?”
Alicia still wasn’t sure what she meant, but with that look on her face? She knew full well what she was talking about… and Alicia was ready to embrace it.
Chapter 21
Alicia woke up Sunday morning to her wife smothering her.
Oh, not on purpose. The poor dear had spent most of Saturday attending functions before dragging Alicia to a gala for another round of speeches. By the time they got home, they were both too tired to enjoy each other’s company outside of a short shower and some light kisses that petered off as they fell asleep. Alicia had spent the past three days constantly apologizing – and not to Danica, either – for her paranoia. As well-founded as that paranoia was, it didn’t do anyone any good for her to fly off the handle like that.
In turn, her wife was apologizing too – and not just to Alicia. Before leaving Midnight on Thursday night, they tracked down Natsuko and explained what had happened. Shaken and embarrassed, the heiress accepted their apologies before insisting she fly back to Osaka without her boyfriend. She did, however, appreciate the gratuity offered after such a huge mistake.
The Moreaus then spent the rest of the night discussing the possible marriage between Natsuko and Russell. It seemed so impossible… yet not outside the realm of crazy possibilities. It would obviously be a marriage of convenience with no love and only enough closeness to create new heirs, but neither Alicia nor Danica was excited by the prospect of that young woman being subjected to Russell’s controlling narcissism. When Alicia brought up Clarissa Livingston again, her wife said, “My father can’t stand not being in control of every little thing. I had enough freedom until I made a decision he didn’t like, or I tried to go off the life script he had written for me the moment I was born. I willingly went to Princeton, but for a long while, I thought about studying abroad in Europe or going to the West Coast for a change in scenery. He… did not take that well.”
All of this was as much for Danica as it was for her wife. They were not only learning about each other, but themselves.My wife has spent her whole life unwittingly following her father’s script, no matter what she did in her personal time. That all changed when she met me and forged her own path.The Moreaus needed an overhaul, all right. It would start with them.
In between meetings and chats about renovations, Alicia and her wife finally sat down to discuss their child. Alicia was still convinced that she was pregnant, and her daily morning sickness and other changes wracking her body at a mere four or five weeks cemented that in her mind. The first thing she was doing after the shareholders’ meeting on Monday was going for another test at the doctor’s. This time, she wouldn’t takeyou’re not pregnantseriously. She’d find a competent doctor.
Now, on Sunday morning, Alicia enjoyed a dawn of peace.
Danica rolled off her, allowing her to breathe. Alicia wrapped her arm across her wife’s chest and felt the quiet power rumbling beneath her breath and muscles.This is the woman I married.This is the mother of my child.The woman who had an important role to fill.
Alicia never thought much about marriage roles. She still didn’t. If being a housewife worked best for their relationship, she was open to the idea. She was also open to taking on other roles in her family’s dynamic, as long as she had a partner willing to pick up the slack since she was not Superwoman.Would she be okay with our child needing us both equally? Would she be okay with nannies taking shifts while we’re working? One thing at a time, Alicia!
