Page 15 of Tormented Dreams

CHAPTER TWELVE

And so, it began. It wasn't quite the start of the beautiful kind of friendship either of them wanted, since schedules and obligation limited their time together, but they were certainly both on a track that led them to believe in the fulfilment of their own desires and dreams.

Xavier introduced her to those at the club he had close personal relationships with. Joel, Jake, Logan and Connor, and Grace struck up an easy friendship with their wives, as well as Trinity, their assistant manager. It pleased him that she got on so well with the people he spent most of his free time with. That was important to him, and cemented his feelings that maybe Grace was ‘the one.’

They scened together regularly, spent time together when they could, and enjoyed each other's company. And both of them judged the success of their budding relationship against their own agenda.

Neither of them was being deceitful. They simply had no idea that the other had an entirely different intent to their own.

They weren't being manipulative either. The two of them were simply content to see where things were heading and judged everything with two very different sets of criteria.

For Xavier, the fact that their time together was so difficult to schedule outside the club, a specific period they both made a concerted effort to keep clear, was confirmation that his own perception of the kind of relationship he wanted was entirely justified. As much as he wanted to spend time with her outside of their day to day routines, it was just so difficult to find it. When she was free in the evenings, he was on call or at the hospital. When he had his weekday morning and afternoon off, Grace was working. During the weekends, he was busy with his research. There simply weren’t enough hours in the day. Xavier would be lying if he didn’t admit to being frustrated. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to know what made her tick. He wanted to expand on what they’d started to build and find out what her own dreams were. To find out if they were compatible in the ways he believed they could be. She was everything he wanted in a woman… and he wanted more.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t already deeply committed. His feelings for Grace weren’t anything he’d known before. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to see her every day. He wanted forever. He just wasn’t sure how they could successfully make it happen unless they followed his plan. Because he didn’t want to let her down. He didn’t want the shortcomings in his schedule to put her off. For her to mistake his lack of time as a lack of commitment, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Whereas for Grace, the fact they were so perfectly in sync in their kink compatibility, and also in tune on such a sexually combustible level, led her to believe that compatibility wouldspill over into wider areas of their relationship. Because, surely, two people who were so effortlessly attuned to each other in two of the most important areas of a relationship, especially one as distinctive as theirs, must also be a perfect fit in the other areas which were important. That certainty fed her belief that Xavier was the perfect baby daddy.

Like her, he didn't have children. His body clock surely must be making itself known, just like hers, as the years advanced. And that conviction allowed her to leap feet first into their budding relationship, confident she had indeed met her soulmate. After all, she had never felt this magnetic pull of attraction and desire so strongly in her entire life, so how could she possibly be wrong?

So, while Grace was weaving dreams of houses in the suburbs with a nursery and a pretty garden, with room for a child, maybe children, plural, to run around, Xavier was wondering just how long he should wait before he broached the subject of an unconventional, 24/7, remote Master/slave relationship.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Iwanted to talk to you about our relationship," Xavier started one evening when they'd found a rare chance to go out to dinner. "To share a dream with you I've had for a number of years, and maybe find out about your own."

They were sitting in a quiet corner booth in one of those elegant, high-class restaurants that specialised in a muted ambience of sophistication. Despite the sedateness of their surroundings, Grace's pulse sped up, and she could feel a prickly heat around her face and neck as her breath caught at the anticipation of what he was about to say, pooling inappropriately in her nether regions. The fact that they were talking in terms of a relationship had to be positive, right? That he wanted to discuss the dreams each of them had was everything she wanted to hear. This was what they’d been working towards over the past weeks. This closeness and the inclination to move things to the next step.

Excitement heated her veins at the thought he already wanted to take things a step further than just scening at the club. Their time together there had been scintillating; she couldn't denythat, and neither could she deny she was eager to take it a step further herself.

As desperate as she was to put their relationship on a more permanent basis and make things exclusive, she'd tried to be patient, not wanting to scare him off. After all, they were already there, for all intents and purposes.

Oh, it might not have been agreed in so many words, but Grace knew neither of them had scened with anyone else since she’d taken out a club membership almost two months ago. The only thing missing from the current state of their relationship was the actual acknowledgement of a commitment that had already been made as far as she was concerned. And it looked like that was about to change right here and now.

Grace felt a shiver of anticipation slither down her spine. She was so close to touching her own dreams she could almost feel them taking shape right there in front of her. First, the declaration of commitment, then they could move straight on to settling down.

Xavier seemed endearingly hesitant for such a self-assured Dom. He didn't need to worry, of course. She fully intended to grasp his offer with both hands and never let go. She was already more than half way in love with the man. Granted, she didn't know him quite as well as she might like on a social level, but what she did know about him enthralled and enticed her.

Okay, so maybe it was possible she was looking at the situation through rose coloured glasses, considering the newness of their relationship and the fact they hadn't managed to get together much in more casual settings, but Grace wasn't going to let that deter her.

She wasn't a young, immature chit of a girl who didn't know her own mind, or one who might have her head turned, dreaming of fairy stories. She was a grown woman, with enough knowledge and perception to understand a man's character.

She had sufficient life experience to know relationships required a good deal of give and take to be successful, and she was savvy enough to accept it would need work. She was also perfectly willing to put that work in, and she believed Xavier was too.

No, actually, she didn't believe there were any rose-coloured glasses clouding her vision here. Grace prided herself on the understanding that there was more to a successful relationship than just a few fireworks in the bedroom… although those were certainly a bonus, since she also wasn't stupid enough to think either of them could have a satisfying life with someone who didn't understand or share their unique brand of kink. Not that they'd actually gotten as far as the bedroom yet, of course, since their relationship had evolved almost entirely within the confines of the club because of both their hectic schedules. Nevertheless, Grace still felt they had a good basis to work from.

"I'd love to hear your dreams, Xavier. I have some of my own, so I know how important they can be," she told him, a little breathless in her anticipation.

Xavier smiled indulgently and took her hand in his across the pristine white linen of the tablecloth. "I feel so comfortable with you, Grace. As if I've known you forever, not just a few weeks."

Grace felt a frisson of good old-fashioned lust zing through her at the feel of his thumb drawing circles on the flesh of her palm, a heat that had nothing to do with the warmth of the crackling open fire in the hearth across the room.

God! She couldn't wait to get this thing that had built between them onto a more certain footing. It was quite insane the way she wanted him so much… But she wanted so much more as well, so she forced herself to be patient and hear him out.

The other quietly dining patrons, already hushed and circumspect, faded into insignificance as all of Grace's attention narrowed to a pinpoint that was Xavier Diaz.

"You seem to just fit into my life as if you've always been a part of it, and that gives me the confidence to talk to you about taking things in a different direction… something a little more permanent."

Grace felt as light-headed and giddy as a schoolgirl on her first date. Everything was just so perfect. They were so in tune with each other it was uncanny.

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