Page 124 of Axe Marks the Spot

Dane nods, and I like that he doesn’t question the decision I made. He knows me well enough now to understand why I chose to do that over watching the competition. Though now I wish I had seen him compete. Hopefully next year.

“What do you like about speed climbing?” I ask.

Dane’s hands relax against his legs. “It challenges me, and it’s something I’m naturally good at. I also like the adrenaline—all the reasons I enjoy working out and running.”

I make an ew face. “I hate running. So does Kas.”

He chuckles. “I know, she looked like I asked her to go to hell and back when we ran a bit at the course yesterday.”

I smile. “Sounds like her.”

“She did it, though. I was proud of her. She’s also good at axe throwing.” He says it with a small smile, like he’s remembering an inside joke. My interest piques, not only because of the smile, but also because it made my stomach flip when he said he’s proud of her. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but it makes me scoot closer to him.

“Really?”

He nods. “It’s with rubber axes. But when she’s older, I bet she could easily take part in the games with a real axe if she wanted.”

“Did you tell her that?”

He shakes his head. “She was hanging with her friends, but I will if you think she’d like hearing it.”

“I do. Kas is like me; she needs reassurance about things.” I pick at invisible dust on my shorts. “I don’t think her dad gives her enough of it, since she only sees him once a month. I try to stay up-to-date on her life and do so where I can, but she mostly plays her games. The first thing she’s shown interest in outside of them is the obstacle course, but I think that’s because of a boy there. So if she’s good at axe throwing, definitely encourage her.”

Without thinking about it, I place my hand over the one Dane has on his knee. His fingers lace with mine, and a second later, I’m being tugged into his side.

I let out a small yelp at the sudden movement. His chest shakes with laughter, and I smile up at him before settling into his side. His body is warm and strong, and sitting here with him on my couch is something I could get used to. I should take the moment to ask him if he thinks our relationship will go beyond our D/s dynamic, if he sees more days like this together, but I keep it in.

“I’ll tell her then,” his deep voice rumbles. A second later, his lips ghost against the crown of my head. I lean into the kiss and enjoy the silence and embrace of the man I’m quickly becoming more and more at ease with.

I don’t know how much time passes, but before my eyes can become heavy, Dane shifts, and I look up at him.

“Can I ask you something?” he asks.

“Anything.”

His arm is now around my shoulder, and his hand trails down my bare arm. “What happened between you and your ex-husband?”

“He’s a cheating bastard, that’s what.” I blow a breath through my lips. “Among other things.”

Dane stops stroking my arm and grips it. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s okay. Honesty, right?”

His arm resumes stroking as he nods. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

I snuggle into Dane’s chest further, not caring if this is or isn’t a thing I should be doing as his submissive. He doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, his body relaxes when I put my head over his chest, his steady heartbeat pounding in my ear as his other hand comes to rest on the knee I’ve folded under me that is now on top of his thigh.

“We met in our twenties in school,” I start off. “I was smitten with him. He said he loved my curves and my brain, loved that I wanted to help people and be a nurse. Eventually, we got married, then I got pregnant with Kas shortly after I started working at a local ER. Jeremy was interning at his father’s agency, training to be a sports agent himself.”

“Don’t tell me he slept with another intern,” Dane snarls.

The anger in his tone only makes me like him more. “He could’ve, and maybe he did, but I bring it up because that’s really when our relationship started to change. He wasn’t into my pregnancy and didn’t show up for a lot of the doctors’ appointments. Nathan or my mom came more often than he did.”

Dane squeezes my arm he’d been stroking, and it gives me the strength to continue. It’s been a long time since I’ve told my story, but it feels good to tell him.

“Jeremy didn’t want to touch me, and every time I tried to initiate intimacy, he’d make up some excuse and spout asshole comments about my changing body. It only got worse after I had Kas. He started constantly asking when I was going to lose the baby weight or get a consult about my C-section scar.” I pause to wet my lips. “Then he started acting like a jerk about how much I was working. He wanted me to stay home and raise Kas but also wanted me to pick up extra shifts. Looking back on it, I think it was so he could have his affairs without the risk of me finding out. Eventually, I did, though.

“I came home from a shift early. Kas was at my mom’s for the night, and I walked into a candlelit dinner. I thought it was for me, maybe his way of trying to reconnect with me, until I heard the moaning.”