So I take her hand. “Let’s have breakfast,” I say.
I have tea. Victoria reads a paper. I get a book from the shelves without asking and read it while sipping on my tea here and there.
It feels so unbelievably normal.
Henry comes and tells me my cats have been fed and were the sweetest babies, he even shows me a photo of Pepples and Porridge lying on him like they only do on me, little traitors.
“Thank you,” I say. “For being so considerate.”
“Thank her,” he says.
“Did you tell him to do it?” I ask incredulously.
“I did indeed,” says Victoria without looking up from her newspaper.
I don’t even know what to say, so I go back to reading my book. But I can’t focus. Instead, I grin at the pages like an idiot.
“Come,” she says at some point. “Lawyers will be here in a minute.”
We’re walking to a study filled with old books, a single massive desk from another century, and a golden painting.
“Ah, Bill,” says Victoria, while my eyes are occupied taking in the room. I am distracted, and if Victoria hadn’t given me a pat on my back, I wouldn’t even have noticed.
“This is Miss Mia Phillips, my companion,” says Victoria and I spin round. She didn’t say that, did she?
My eyes find hers, a dangerous shimmer in them.
“Mia, this is Bill Davies, my star-lawyer who has yet to lose a case,” she says with a chuckle.
I shake hands with Bill. But whatever conversation is happening, I can’t focus. The only thing on my mind is: She said I am her companion.
So we’re a thing now. Officially?
I am told to sign something, and I do so without asking any questions.
Bill leaves, and the moment the door is closed, it bursts from me.
“So we are official now?”
Victoria laughs. Her rich, self-assured laughter.
She leans in, grasps my chin and kisses me.
“We are,” she says. “Unless, of course, you have other plans.”
“I don’t,” I say and kiss her again.
“Good,” she says. “I’ll tell Henry to get your cats and other stuff here.”
It takes me several moments until I realise what she just said.
“Wait—I can’t—Bella—me here—that’s all a bit fast, isn’t it?” I stutter out.
“I require my sub to be with me at all times,” she says carelessly. “Miss Thorne is welcome to visit any time.”
“You want my cats and me here all the time?”
“I did say that already,” she says, slightly annoyed.
