Page 17 of Fitch

How could I have forgotten that?

I took out my phone, thumbed a quick message to Ky, then looked up at Dom. “Thank you for reminding me, daddy.”

He inhaled sharply, his pupils dilating. Oh yeah, hereallyliked that.

“We need to discuss the fine print to our agreement. I need you to be honest and open with me. The roles we play aside, it will only work if we are equally invested in this. Agreed?”

I nodded.

Yes, it was all too easy to slip into that boy mode and let him take charge, but I wasn’t an idiot.

At leasthewas thinking clearly.

I was just thinking about getting railed.

“Agreed,” I said.

“Let’s sit and we can discuss any concerns or questions we each may have.”

Damn, the way he spoke like that was so sexy. He had to be a professor or a CEO or something.

So we sat on his sofa, and I instinctively pulled a cushion into my lap. This action, he did not like.

“Do you feel pressured or defensive?” he asked, concerned.

“No.”

So he took the cushion from me and then I fidgeted my fingers instead.

His eyes turned soft. “You’re nervous. If you’d rather do this at the table?—”

I scampered into his lap, surprising him, but after a moment, his arms went around me. I sat like a literal freaking child in his lap, the side of my head resting on his neck, my feet on the seat next to him.

Maybe I surprised myself too. Because while I could honestly say I don’t know why I did it, it felt inexplicably safe.

Like, in that moment, nothing in the world could hurt me.

“Feel better?” Dom asked.

I nodded. “Yes.”

He rubbed my back. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes.”

He was quiet for a moment. His broad chest rising and falling with each breath, and damn if it didn’t want to make me close my eyes and sleep. “When you were on the street earlier,” he murmured, “you were very brazen. Where is that guy now?”

“I...” I let out a sigh and decided to lay the truth bare. “That’s who I have to be out there.”

“Is that not who you are all the time?”

I shook my head against his neck. “It’s not who I want to be.”

“Is this who you want to be?” He rubbed my back.

“Yes.”

He was quiet again, so I elaborated. “It’s been a long time since I felt...” Goddammit. My eyes burned with the need to cry, but I refused. Jesus. I took a deep breath and started again. “I feel like I can relax here.”

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