Page 22 of Claiming His Prize

“So, where’d you go?” she asked when the next commercial break came up.

“Chad’s.”

“Oh, yeah? What’d he have to say?” she asked curiously, moving away from him just enough, she could see his face. As she moved her upper body away, Todd reached out and grabbed her legs, pulling them over his lap, and Allison giggled as he raised one of his eyebrows at her.Even now, when they hadn’t made up yet, he managed to make her feel loved and as if he couldn’t get enough of her. Another girl might not allow him to maneuver her around, might try to make him work harder, but Allison didn’t think he’d done anything out of malicious motivation, and she wasn’t going to play games. She was ready to work things out and acted like it.

“He’s missed you at the family dinners,” Todd teased gently, rubbing his hand over her ankle as Allison bristled, eyeing him suspiciously. She was only ready to forgive if he was ready to ask. “He thinks your parents have been unreasonable and understands why you’ve been waiting for them to make the first move.”

Looking into his dark brown eyes, Allison could see the warmth and understanding.

“I thought you understood that, too.”

“I did… do.” He ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it the way he did when he was searching for the right words. Hiding a little smile, Allison did her best to keep a stern look but knew her expression had softened. It always did when he ruffled his hair like that.“But I think it had also become pretty obvious, they are just as stubborn as you are, and someone needed to break the ice.I think they even realized they were wrong to try to make you do everything their way but are also worried about you and think they know the best way to make sure you’re happy and secure.”

“It would have been nice to hear it from them.”

“None of you would have heard anything. I think you’re all stubborn enough to sit around and wait for someone else to make the first move.” Todd raised his eyebrow at her again, this time in a challenging way. “Would you have eventually decided to be the bigger person and reach out?”

“You still should have talked to me before talking to them,” Allison said grumpily, although she couldn’t argue his point. Maybe the stalemate with her parents had gotten a little ridiculous. Sure, they were unreasonable, but in a lot of ways, so was she. Was she really expecting her proud parents to come crawling to her? Talking to them, as long as she held her ground, wouldn’t be considered crawling on her part, but she’d found it easier to keep pushing it off and concentrate on the other things in her life that were easy and made her happy.

Deep down, she knew her parents probably wouldn’t have turned her away if she’d gone back to talk to them, even if she’d insisted on going her own way in life. The only thing that had been keeping her from doing so was the fear, maybe they did care more about their status than her and her own pride.The pride she got from them, the same pride probably keeping them from her. That was an unsettling thought, mostly because she didn’t want to be as unrelentingly proud and uncompromising as her parents.

“Yes, I should have,” Todd said, interrupting her thoughts as he reached out to cup her cheek, rubbing his thumb over her soft skin. Allison turned her head to press her lips against his palm. “But then the proposal wouldn’t have been a surprise. Every time I brought up trying to talk to your parents, you became kinda unreasonable.” A small smile played on his lips, and she smiled back reluctantly, knowing he was right.

“I just don’t want you making unilateral decisions about things that affect both of us. Especially when it comes to something to do with my family.”

“I won’t… at least, I’ll try not to. I definitely won’t do it again on purpose.” Reaching for her, he pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist as she placed her hands on his face, tipping his head back to look at her. “That wasn’t my intention. But I don’t think there’s ever going to be anything else I would need to keep from you, anyway. I’m only planning on proposing once.”

“Oh, well, that’s good to know.”

They smiled at each other.

“I just want to make things right for you. Always. I hated seeing how depressed you were whenever you talked about graduating. I could practically see you thinking about them and wondering if they were going to be around for that. Also, considering how many points I already had against me in their books, I figured asking for their blessing about proposing to you would probably give me a few points in my favor.”

“Blessing, not permission?”

He gave a little growl. “Do you think I’m the kind of guy who asks for permission to marry my girlfriend? Besides which, you don’t need your parents’ permission for anything. You can make up your own mind. I just wanted them to know my plans, and they obviously thought they knew what your answer would be.”

“Well, that’s good,” she said thoughtfully. She liked that Todd hadn’t asked for permission, yet had still given a respectful nod to the old-fashioned custom.

“I just wanted to fix things for you. I couldn’t stand seeing you unhappy when there was something I could do about it, and on top of that, I wanted your parents to know who I was and to know I was taking care of you.”

“I do understand, I really do,” she said with a sigh, running her hand over his chest. “And I accept you had the best of intentions.”

“If it helps, I think your parents still aren’t thrilled, you’re with an up-and-coming businessman instead of someone who’s already more established,” Todd teased. “But because they miss you and love you, they grabbed at the chance to talk to me and have me help mend the breach.”

“Actually, that does help a little,” she teased, snuggling into him as the show came back on. They watched without talking until the next commercial break, which was also the end of the show. Allison sighed in contentment.

“I am sorry about storming out this morning,” she said ruefully.“I needed the space to cool off, but I shouldn’t have just left like that.”

“It’s alright.” Todd shifted her around in his arms to a more comfortable position.“I understood.And I should have told you in a better way.”

“I could maybe wish you were a little less understanding,” Allison murmured, sliding her nails up the back of Todd’s neck into his hair, raising goosebumps along his skin as he gave a small shiver.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.” She curled her fingers through the silky soft strands along the nape of his neck, giving him a coy look. “I’d really like to see what our sex room looks like, you know.”

There was a moment of silence as Todd mused over her words, his cock hardening beneath her bottom. It wasn’t the first time it had done that since she’d gotten on his lap, but it had a tendency to waver off and on since they hadn’t been doing anything sexual.

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