“I like that.”
“I think maybe… Can we talk about hockey?”
“Of course.”
“I anticipate that I’m going to begin feeling like it’s in the way of this. Already, I hate that we’re leaving tomorrow, so I don’t get to spend all day being yours like this. It’s making me feel stressed.”
I understand that. I’d never thought something would feel bigger than hockey. Even now, it’s so difficult to fathom something being more important than hockey. It reminds methat hockey, no matter how much of my life I’ve dedicated to it, is only a job.
“Let’s think about some ways that we can change your mindset. First, I was just reminding myself that hockey isn’t life. It’s a job. It might take up a lot of our time—more than a full-time job in some instances—but itisstill only a job.”
“It is,” Shively agrees.
“Part of what makes me so proud of you is how good you are at your job. I take great pride in seeing you command the team. Leading them and guiding them. Teaching them. You’re incredible.”
“Thank you,” he says quietly.
“I know I’ve said that hockey and everything having to do with it is an alternate life because, like it or not, we have to have separation if we’re going to keep this solely between us. However, there are aspects of this that cross over, aren’t there? For instance, you’re still either wearing my collar on your dick or a chastity cage. Right?”
He nods, a smile quirking the corners of his lips.
“Even when you’re here in meetings or what have you, you still check in with me throughout the day, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Are there other things you can think of to remind you that you’re still my omega even when we’re in this separate world?”
Shively stares out at the water for a while. “I don’t know. Maybe a sign or something when we look at each other. Something that says you’re thinking of me. Or maybe just acknowledging that I’m yours, even when we’re in the other world. And I can do the same or maybe a different one so it doesn’t look like we’re mimicking each other.”
“I like that. How about you touch your neck, as if there’s a collar there. So you’re touching the collar that no one else can see. When you do so, I’ll know that you’re thinking about me.”
He grins. “That’s easy. Definitely. I feel like I’ve been touching my neck a lot since leaving the meet-up.”
“You have been. Now I know why. For me?” I think about it. “Ah. How about when I touch my chest, over my heart. Like this.” I rub my chest as if my heart aches. “Because my heart beats for you, sweetheart.”
“That’s sweet and corny, Alpha.” But he’s beaming at me.
“Then it works.”
“Thank you for this,” Shively says.
“For my heart?”
He smirks. “Well, yes. But for this conversation. I feel more confident and like the ground is sure beneath me now.”
“Good. Does that mean you should have trusted me from the start when I said I was taking you to a meet-up of other doms and their subs?”
He sighs dramatically. “Yes, Alpha. You were right, and I need to trust my alpha.”
I laugh and wrap myself tightly around him. “You do. I’m glad you figured that out, sweetheart.”
Shively huffs, but his body sinks into mine as if he’s made of mist and can become part of my body. Just the way I like it.
CHAPTER 30
SHIVELY
I hate being home.I hate Dasan not being here. I hate that I scheduled conditioning for my team since I’m the reason he’s not here.
