Page 67 of Daddy, Sir

Fiona relaxed but didn’t lean against me again. Instead, she scooted back.

“And that is why we are in this position now,” she said. “Come to think of it. I believe the reason women have two X chromosomes and men have only one X is because they needed to have a Y one so females would be constantly wonderingwhythey do the things they do.”

“I rather doubt that?—”

“Really? Then tell me this.Whyis it that men think they have to pretend everything is peachy-keen when they aren’t?Whydo they state they don’t need extra care when they do?Whydo they think they need to beat their chests and go all Tarzan when there are times when what they really need is to let Jane hold them and tell them it is going to be okay? Hmmm? Can you explain that, Mr.—Mr. Man?”

“And she’s back,” I said with a grin, loving her squeal and the way she grabbed my neck as I stood in one motion.

“I’m serious! I feel like shit for treating you so horribly.”

“Babygirl, you might have played some pranks on me, or blamed me for some of those silent but deadly gas attacks, but you have never once treated me badly.”

“Yes I did. Believe me, I cursed you and plotted so many different ways to get even after you left town. I even treated Finn pretty awful when he wouldn’t give me any information or tell me why he thought you’d left. My folks were either very good at pretending to be totally ignorant or they bald-face lied to me when I kept hounding them about it.”

“Fee, I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to give anyone a chance to try to stop me because I was afraid if I did, they would. I needed you to take that scholarship. I needed to know you’d continue down the path you’d staked out ever since you got your first report card.” By this time, I’d reached the bathroom and set her down on top of the counter, keeping my arms caged around her. “And, to be honest, I needed to get away and find out who I was. I’d based my self-worth on my abilities to throw a football instead of thinking about a future beyond high school. We can talk it to death and ask all the why and what if questions you want, but that’s not going to change anything. What I’d much rather do is know you forgive me and move on to what we can change. Do you think you could or would even want to do that? Want to start over?”

She stared up at me, the emerald of her eyes shining in the light. “That depends.”

“On?”

“On if you’ll forgive me, and donottell me there’s nothing to forgive. You may not want a litany of all I need forgiveness for, and I’m not sure my ass could withstand that many strokes of your hand, but before we can move forward, which, by the way, I very, very much want to do, I’m afraid I’m going to need forgiveness from my friend, and complete clemency from my Dom.” She cocked her head to one side and twirled her finger around a red strand of her hair. “Do you think you could or would even want to do that? Start fresh?”

Lifting my hands, I cupped her face between them. “More than I want my next breath.”

Her smile was radiant, but her eyes weren’t twinkling in a way that told me she was fully satisfied.

“I, Landon Augustus Westerly, do hereby extend a full pardon to Fionnuala Méabh Flanagan, absolving her of all her misdoings. How’s that?”

Her lips twisted a bit and her nose crinkled as if she were truly considering the worth of the pardon so freely offered.

“Did I miss something, babygirl?”

“No, you were extremely magnanimous, Landon, but I realized I missed something.”

My heart skipped a beat as her words hit me. I couldn’t blame her. After all, not a single bit of this was her fault regardless of what she might think. Too much time had passed. Too many miles had been taken down two separate paths for them to converge again.

“I understand.” I let my hands drop from her face and stepped back to allow her the space she obviously craved because she instantly hopped off the counter. She’d taken twosteps toward the door when she turned back to look at me from over her shoulder.

“You coming?”

What?

“Where?”

Making a full turn, she placed her hands on her hips. “I thought you said you understood?”

“I did–”

“Then where do you want me?”

She could have been speaking Latin for all I understood. At a complete loss, I shrugged. “Where do you want to be?”

Her smile only served to confuse me more.

“Well, I’d like to be in your bed with you doing deliciously naughty things to my naked body, but I know I wouldn’t be able to enjoy those things until you do your Dommy thing.”

“Dommy thing?”

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