I press my lips to her temple, holding her tight against my chest as Asher twists the cap off a bottle of water he must have brought in with him.
He hands it to me, and I bring it to Hannah’s lips. “Have a drink for me, baby.”
She groans and buries her face into my chest.
Asher snickers, brushing his hands up her almost bare back.
Even in subspace, her brattiness peaks through.
“Did you not get enough of a spanking? Do you need Asher to give you another twenty with the paddle?”
Her body tenses ever so slightly, but she shakes her head, opening her mouth to allow me to feed her some water.
“There’s my good girl.”
“Our good girl,” Asher confirms, pressing kisses along her shoulder.
As soon as the water touches her tongue, she drinks greedily. Normally, I would put it down to her being stubborn, but not right now. Not while she’s coming down and the tears have barely stopped falling against her cheeks.
It’s our responsibility to give her what she needs when she’s in this state, even when she doesn’t know what that is.
Once she’s drunk half the bottle, she turns her head to tell me she’s had enough. Asher quickly takes it from me, placing it on the table beside us.
“How are you feeling, Little Doe?”
She mumbles something against my chest. Her eyes are closed, but she has a tiny smile tugging at her lips that makes my heart warm. There was a time that the organ only beat to keep me alive and for my son, but now? Now it beats for the family we’re building.
The future we can have if we can just eliminate one final threat.
“Do you want to stop?” I ask quietly. As hard as my cock is and as badly as I want to sink into her wet heat, this all stops if she says the word. If she’s had enough and all she wants to do is cuddle in bed and watch that god-awful reality television show she’s hooked on, that’s exactly what we’re going to do, and you won’t catch Asher or me bitching about it.
She shakes her head. “No, I just need a minute.”
“You take all the time you need,” Asher murmurs against her shoulder.
Hannah’s body relaxes further into mine, and I allow my eyes to close, reveling in the feel of her in my arms, of being her safe place.
When I open them a few minutes later, intent on having our girl drink some more water, I find Asher is already on it, his small smile of contentment locked across his lips.
We hoped it would be like this. We hoped she would fit between us and that everything would work out, but when it comes to any relationship, especially one with more than two people, there are so many unknowns.
Hannah could have told Asher after that first night that she had no interest in ever being shared again, and that would have been the end of something we’ve spent five years working toward.
Hell, Asher and I had never been with the same woman before that night at the club, sowecould have hated it.
There are any number of things that could have gone wrong, that could have had this thing between us ending before it could ever begin. But it didn’t, and that’s why there’s nothing I won’t do to protect our future.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
HANNAH
The tears have slowed, the tightness in my chest has eased, but I’m still raw.
I probably will be for a few days because not even a spanking can remove the fact that my grandfather is actively trying to tear me away from the life I’ve always dreamed of.
He cares so little for me and my happiness, and that hurts far more than I’m willing to admit.
It’s not like anyone in my family has ever cared much for me. My mother always wanted me to be prettier, more perfect, to represent the family the way my last name demanded.
