Page 40 of Such A Good Girl

I hadmonthsto make up for.

EPILOGUE

ASHLEY

Long distance sucked.

It had been the right choice for me, but as the months had passed, the time away from Bobby grew more difficult.

I wanted more.

Bobby sat at his workbench, cutting leather strips, while I nursed the coffee he’d made for me on the couch.

As was often the case, at his house, I wore nothing but my collar and cuffs, under the agreement I was free for his use. I had expected his zealous passion for me to wane as the months passed, but with each visit, it only increased.

Lamp light glistened over the roped muscles of his forearms, still one of my favourite parts of his body. I loved the way I turned to putty in his arms. Whether it was manipulating my body to yield to him until I lost all sense, or the way he’d scoop me up so tenderly to tell me he’d missed me.

At my house, he was the perfect boyfriend by day, charming my sister and her family, and treating me like an absolute princess. Only by night did his inner creep come out.

There was a level of apprehension about upsetting the delicate balance we had. But where I’d at first craved my independence, over the months I craved the stability he gave me.I enjoyed being his pet and his princess and grew loathful of the emptiness of my bed without him.

‘Bobby,’ I said, sidling up beside him and using my hand to still his. ‘Can we talk about something?’

Without hesitation, he downed tools and pulled me onto his lap. ‘Always.’

‘I wish we didn’t have to be apart so often.’

His fingers travelled the length of my spine with a tenderness that made me weak.

‘Are you asking to move in with me?’ His eyes glittered at the thought.

‘I don’t know. I don’t want to be long distance, but I also don’t want to give up everything again. I did it once, and I hated it. There’s no room at my place for your workshop, and I don’t want to move this far from my sister.’ Nerves made my stomach roil. With Jerry, he’d demanded I drop everything for his career. It’s what a good girlfriend did. Would Bobby expect the same?

‘Darlin’, I’d work out of a garden shed if it meant being with you every day.’

My muscles relaxed, and I looped my arms around his neck. ‘You would?’

‘I love you Ashley. You crawled into my life and leashed me good and proper. I’d follow you across the world for one more glance at that fine ass of yours.’

I laughed, endorphins buzzing through me.

‘Do you mean that? That you love me?’

Reaching into my hair, he grasped the strands and tipped my mouth to his, his lips brushing mine as he spoke.

‘I fucking love every single part of you, Ashley. I love it when you wake me in the morning to tell me every detail of the wild dream you’ve had, or watching the sun stripe your paint speckled cheeks as you work. I love the quiet moments where you whimper in my lap as I play with your hair. I love it whenyou crawl for me, and when I can still humiliate you even after we know one another so well. I love that you gift me with your submission and take my depravity with such fervour.’

‘I love being yours,’ I whispered back. ‘I love that you can bring me to my knees in the most heinous way, but that you don’t view me as lesser when you cherish me. I love that you’re my very own creep.’

‘You’ll never get rid of me,’ he groaned between harried kisses. ‘You’remine.’

Bobby stood, leaving me pouting at his sudden departure.

‘I have something for you, something I’ve been meaning to give you,’ he said, sounding somewhat shy. A side of him I wasn’t used to.

‘A gift?’ I squirmed upright and smiled.

The box in his hand was small, velvety and black. My eyebrows shot up.

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