Page 287 of The Protective Gryphen

He pushed on.

“If I’m not doing well, I need you to take control and get me out of there. Like today, I couldn’t move. I was frozen. I need you to be the one who solves the problem. I need you to care for me that way because while sex is amazing, I need an emotional bond to you too.”

Gryphen understood why.

“I’ll be your protector and care for you when you need me to, but you have to trust me. You have to let me just do what is best for us without fighting me on it. If you want me to keep you safe, Ian, then that means absolute trust and faith that I am making the right decision, even if you think I’m not.”

Ian added that to his contract.

“I agree with that addendum to my condition. I already have that faith in you.”

This seemed pretty easy. If more people went into relationships with telling the other what they wanted, they’d likely last a lot longer.

“Next, Ian?” he asked.

He checked off the next one on his list.

“I want honesty. I want to know that you’ll never lie to me, minus birthday presents, parties, or things along those lines. I’m talking about the big things that damage a marriage. They aren’t lies. Those are surprises. I don’t think secrets are healthy, and I would rather have you just tell me and adjust than be blindsided and hurt. I don’t want to hurt, Gryphen.”

He touched his cheek.

“So no secrets. Okay.”

Ian clarified.

“None whatsoever.”

Well, then, he had to get something off of his chest.

“I have kept something from you.”

Ian lifted a brow.

“What?” he asked.

“Yesterday, when you were on the phone with Elizabeth, Graham had to help me get into my kilt.”

He wasn’t sure where this was going.

“Okay, and?”

“I was commando,” he reminded him.

Ian stared at him.

“Are you trying to tell me that he saw you naked?” he asked.

“Yes. It was easier to get into the things and that’s probably why Scottish men went commando underneath. I told him not to tell you.”

“Why?” Ian asked.

“So you didn’t leave me.”

Ian reassured him.

“I wouldn’t leave you for that unless you cheated on me. If you get naked with a man and sex happens. I’m going to be devastated and damaged.”

“I was hard at the time.”

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