Page 48 of Until I Own You

Seth stops a foot away from me. That foot is a dangerous space for us. It is far enough to maintain a distance and close enough to destroy it. “What happened the other day, that wasn’t a mistake.”

He doesn’t ask. He states it as a fact.

I open my mouth to rebut, a squeak coming out of the back of my throat. But no words. None.

Because…he’s right. It is a fact. Am I don’t regret it.

I’ve been replaying it in my head over and over, refining the moment to use for the next time I touch myself.

Am I so easy to see through?

“You want me too.”

That’s a fact too, one I don’t have the wherewithal to attempt to argue.

My cheeks burn with shame that it’s been so obvious. “Seth–”

“And now that I know that, I’m not going to be able to survive until I have you as my sub, Bridget.”

My body is made of one thousand matches, and Seth has just set me alight.

What does a person say to a request like that? A demand like that?

“How did you…” I trail off.

Seriously, Bridget? Can’t manage anything but questions about the hows and the whys when the man you’ve wanted to be your Dom all this time has decided he wants you?

“I pulled some strings with Nate.”

My eyes widen. “He–”

“Doesn’t know why,” Seth finishes, reading my mind. Of course, he can. He’s a Dom. Wants to be my Dom. He should know what’s best for me.

It hasn’t been even a full minute of Seth asking me to be his sub, and I’ve already given into the role. Into the dynamic.

However, that’s not shocking. I’ve been waiting for this. Craving this.

For ten years. Since I was sixteen, when a relationship between us would have been even more perverse than it is now.

“We have the Underground to ourselves until midnight.”

“Then my carriage will turn into a pumpkin, I guess,” I mutter to myself.

Seth smirks.

And though that was a stupid thing to say, a childish thing to say, I don’t feel childish in his eyes. Not anymore.

“You don’t want me,” I say in a small voice.

“You don’t think I know what I want?” he asks, not with unkindness, but a firmness that reminds me his want should always go unquestioned if I am going to be a good sub for him.

“I just mean…” I dip my head down, avoiding eye contact. I know from the reading I’ve done and the scenes I’ve watched that I must be invited to do something like that. “You have experience. And I don’t. You will grow tired of me.”

Seth’s hand envelops my chin. His fingers are softer than I’ve ever noticed. He tilts my head upward, so our eyes meet. His are glowing. “On the contrary, I would love to have the honor of training you, Bridget.”

I am not sure I exist anymore. I have floated out of my own body. This must be a dream.

“I’ve watched you go through life trying to be brave,” he says. “Trying to match yourself with the person you know you are, always falling short. And I know why.”

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