13
Emma Lia Grant
Twenty keys—andnot a one of them opens that heart-shaped padlock. Tristan wins again. Luck remains on his side, and that thrills the fuck out ofhim.
He grins and drops the final key into a box with the others that didn’t open the padlock. “Will you stay with metonight?”
I’m still angry with Tristan for allowing Claudia to stay in his house. “No.”
His brow lifts. “No?”
“I don’t want her here after the shit that she pulled, and things will not be okay between us again until you send heraway.”
“Things will be okay between us again if sheleaves?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Okaywhat?”
“Consider hergone.”
I almost melt when I hear those words. He’s bending for me, and I think that it’s only fair for me to do the same. “I’ll stay with youtonight.”
“Would you like to take a bathtogether?”
I took a bath an hour ago, but I just had my ass reamed. Things feel a little out of sorts, and I think that immersing in water would feel good. “I would love to soak thebum.”
“Are you inpain?”
“Not pain. It just feels… not thesame.”
“I loved fucking you in the ass. It was singlehandedly the most amazing fuck that I’ve ever had. Nothing has ever topped thatexperience.”
I was a little afraid that he had built it up in his mind to be this fantastic experience and that it would fall flat for one reason or another. But he says that I’m the best fuck that he’s ever had. That’s saying a lot, considering how much sex he’shad.
“I can’t say that I loved anal. It hurt at first. A lot. But it did feel good toward theend.”
“It was good enough that youcame.”
“I certainly did.” Like a stick ofdynamite.
“I don’t want tonight to be the last time that we dothat.”
I smile. “We’llsee.”
“You’re using my own words on me, bebelle. I likeit.”
Tristan and I soak in his claw-foot tub until our skin prunes and the stinging hot water turns lukewarm. He helps me out of the tub and then wraps me in a fluffy white towel like I’m a child. And it’s not the first time that he’s treated me like a childtonight.
He pulled me onto his lap and rocked me when I was hurting. His caress didn’t comfort the pain in my nipples or the tenderness in my ass, but it did soothe me emotionally. And I liked it verymuch.
I brush my teeth as I think about the dynamics of our relationship. He hurts me because he needs that for his satisfaction, and then he soothes me afterward, which is what I need for my satisfaction. I’m beginning to understand how a Dom-sub relationship can be truly satisfying—as long as a still-interested ex-submissive isn’t in the picture. I’ll never be okay withthat.
We finish brushing our teeth, and Tristan moves behind me. He kisses my bare shoulder while I watch him in the bathroom mirror. He looks up and our eyes meet as he pushes my hair away from the side of my neck, leaving a trail of kisses to that sweet spot below myear.
And fuck me, I melt againsthim.
