Page 111 of Cherry Auction

She huffs out a breath so hard it makes her hair fluff out of her face. It’s fucking adorable and my cock jumps in my pants.

I can’t fucking believe she’s finally here. I grin so big I think my cheeks are gonna fucking bust.

My Mads and me. After all these goddamn years. We finally made it.

“Marry me.”

She gasps, eyes wide, but her smile gets as big as mine.

Then she tugs against where I’ve got her wrists pinned. “Lemme go.”

Alright, not exactly the answer I was hoping for. But I do release her wrists and step back, freeing her.

Then she starts skipping—literallyskipping—through the large suite towards the bedroom. “C’mon,” she calls over her shoulder. “Follow me.”

I hurry after her, and when I get to the bedroom, she’s opening the accordion closet doors and walking inside.

“What are youdoing?”

“Close these on me and turn off thelight?”

“Mads— Anna. Seriously, what the fuck?” I finally get to the closet and see she’s sitting in the very corner with her arms wrapped around her legs. When she looks up at me, she’s never looked younger or more vulnerable. I immediately want to yank her out of there and pull her into my arms.

“Pull the doors shut and turn off the light.”

“Anna, this is?—”

“I want to marry you,” she says, shutting me up. “But we need her permission, too.”

Fuck.

She was right. This is going to be complicated.

“It doesn’t feel right shutting you up in here like this.”

She shakes her head, obviously impatient with me. “This is just a shortcut to bring her out. I’ve done it dozens of times. It’s okay. Trust me.”

Fucking fuck. She’s scared of the dark. It’s her worst fear.

“Of course I trust you.” I can’t say anything else because I know its what she needs from me. And I’ll always give her what she needs, no matter how it kills me. Wasn’t that what this whole last year was about?

I thought that would be it, though. One great sacrifice, and then I’d be done. Some part of me actually thought, despite the bullshit I spew in therapy, that I could take up the reins again once Anna was back and be master of my own destiny again.

Fuck. This is going to be forever, isn’t it? I’m never goingto feel that sense of control I did back when I was numbing all emotions and keeping everyone in my life at an arm’s length. I was a miserable fucking bastard, but I thought I was in control. Even if it was an illusion, it was a comforting one.

But… being happy is better. Being in the yellow and orange part of the feelings wheel is better. Letting Anna all the way into my fucked up, gnarly little center is fuckingbetter.Even if it comes with chaos that’s always spinning me off my axis. I want it. I want all of it and all of her.

“Then—” She gestures with her head towards the doors. “What are you waiting for?”

I swallow hard, then close the closet doors on her with her inside.

“Now the lights,” comes her muffled voice. “All of them! And shut the curtains!”

Jaysus fecking Christ.

I hurry so I can get it over with. I yank the blackout curtains shut first, then turn off both bedside lamps we’d left on earlier, the only lights in the room. Finally, I shut the door, leaving the room in total darkness.

How long are we supposed to fucking wait? Standing here in the dark is even freaking me the fuck out?—

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