Page 20 of Claiming His Prize

On the other hand, unlike her parents, he wasn’t willing to let her shut him out—although she might not like his methods of making sure she didn’t, he thought darkly.

7

“It’s a gorgeous ring,” Diana said, studying it rather enviously.She and Allison were seated in the kitchen, while Roger was in the other room, taking up space on Diana’s couch. He was pretending he was reading and not listening to their conversation—except for when he decided to put his own two cents in.Other than that, it was just like old times, back when she was living with Diana, and life was simpler.

Except it hadn’t really been simpler. Back then, she’d still been torn between doing what her parents wanted and what she wanted, on top of the fact she’d been unhappily dating Roger and wishing Todd would come back into her life. Now that she had what she wanted, shouldn’t she be happier?

She let out her breath on a puff of air, running her free hand through her hair.Diana had hold of her other hand and hadn’t let go for the past ten minutes, studying the ring from every side, a wistful expression on her face.

So far, this visit hadn’t gone quite as she’d expected.

First, she’d expected Diana to immediately agree with her about the perfidy of Todd’s betrayal.She hadn’t expected Diana to be more interested in hearing about last night’s proposal rather than this morning’s drama. Although from a feminine standpoint, it made a lot of sense, she wasn’t used to Diana acting like... well, such agirl.Then had come the additional surprise that Roger was over and not inclined to leave, although he’d given them the courtesy of moving to the other room, so they could have a semblance of privacy.

Something was going on between him and Diana. She had a feeling Diana was being punished for something, much in the same way Todd occasionally punished Allison, which was unexpected from Roger—until she’d discovered, Todd and her ex had apparently become better buddies than she’d realized. Roger told her he supported Todd’s actions and had, in fact, known about them beforehand and encouraged him to talk to her parents. Which had been the second big surprise of her visit.

The third came from the strange sense of deflation she had the longer she’d stayed. When she’d left the house this morning, she really hadn’t wanted Todd to follow her. Now, back in her old apartment with Diana, she found she was already missing him, even if she was still mad, although that particular emotion was becoming harder to hold on to.

Still, there were some emotions being uncovered, now that they weren’t masked by her anger—disappointment, hurt, betrayal, helpless vulnerability. And mixed into all of those, a strange sense of relief and love.

Now that she could think more calmly, she realized he’d done itforher.He hadn’t meant to make her feel out of control, which is what the situation with her parents often made her feel, and going behind her back to talk to them had exacerbated that.Todd was used to being in control, not to mention protective, one of the things she loved about him—most of the time. It’s not as if she could pretend she didn’t know he was controlling.

He cared—enough to try to fix things for her, even if she hadn’t wanted him to. It was a nice gesture, a loving gesture, just not one she appreciated at the moment.

“You aren’t going to change your mind about marrying him, are you?” Diana asked, still holding Allison’s hand in both of hers as she looked at her with worried eyes.

“No,” she said definitively. That thought definitely hadn’t crossed her mind. Okay, well, maybe it had crossed it, but she’d dismissed it immediately. Even the idea of taking the ring off caused her chest to constrict painfully. “I’m just so... soangry,and more than that. But at the same time, I know he meant well. It’s just... it’smyfamily. I should have been the one to make the decision whether or not to tell them about our engagement.”

Diana pursed her lips thoughtfully. “What if the situation was reversed? Wouldn’t you want things to have things settled between him and his mom before a major life-altering event? Especially if you’d been the inadvertent cause of the rift?”

Allison shift uncomfortably.She hadn’t had much contact with Todd’s mom other than a phone conversation here and there, but those had made her nervous at first because, of course, she’d wanted to make a good impression.

“Maybe, but I wouldn’t have gone behind his back to do it,” she retorted.

“Even if he was acting irrational about it and refused to discuss even the possibility of approaching her?” Roger asked in the driest voice she’d ever heard him use.Turning, Allison glared at the back of his head.

“There’s no need for comments from the peanut gallery.”

“Proving my point about your irrational viewpoint.”

Deciding it was best to ignore Roger, she shrugged off his observation and pretended they didn’t stick her, turning back to Diana.

“We could have discussed it togetherafterwe got engaged,” she said, looking a little glumly at her ring. “There are certain things that should be joint decisions. I know I agreed to be submissive in the bedroom, and I tend to let him run things outside of it as well, but that doesn’t mean he gets to completely run my life or make unilateral decisions completely opposed to what he knows I want, without even talking to me about it.”

“That I agree with.”

“Shut it,” Diana snapped with a bit of her old spark as she glared at her boyfriend. Roger turned his handsome blonde head to give her an amused but quelling look,Allison recognized well. Although she’d never seen it on Roger’s face, she’d seen it enough on Todd’s.It promised later retribution for brattiness but in a most likely pleasurable manner. There was a little sparkle in Diana’s brown eyes that said she knew it, too and didn’t mind.Allison couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s happiness, thinking it both strange and wonderful, things had turned out the way they had.

“You’re right… but Todd’s right, too, which unfortunately means, nosy over there is also right.” Roger coughed, and Diana ignored him. “You have been kind of unreasonable about your parents, and from an old-fashioned guy’s perspective, he probably wanted to do the right thing and at least let your parents know before he proposed. He has a lot of pride, so it’s probably bugged him you’ve kept him hidden from them. He probably wanted to clear up any misunderstandings and see if they would accept him before he asked you.”

Allison made a face. “But I don’t care whether or not they accept him.”

“Doesn’t mean he doesn’t.” Diana gave her a pointed look, and Allison sighed her acceptance.If the situations were reversed, she would definitely feel uncomfortable, Todd’s mother didn’t accept her. Not that she’d met her yet, but they’d talked on the phone several times, and the conversations had gone really well. “But you’re also right about him taking the reins on an issue where he probably should have at least consulted you.Unfortunately, I don’t really see a good compromise for the situation.”

“Probably cause there really isn’t one,” Allison said ruefully. “We were at opposite ends of a spectrum, and there was no way to meet in the middle... not if he was going to surprise me.” She sighed. “I guess this means I’ll have to forgive him.”

“You could make him work for it.” Diana grinned wickedly. “It might be good for him to grovel.”

“I wouldn’t hope too much for that,” interjected Roger. “Apologize, yes, grovel, no.”

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