Page 75 of Bottoms Up
“No, I wasn’t right to say it. I discounted something you liked. I’m not in charge of you anymore. You can spend your money on whatever you want. We might need a conversation about what goes on the walls of our house, but…” She met my gaze. “I’m sorry.”
I put the painting back and pulled her to me, hugged her. “Apology accepted.”
I’d seen Marco and Cora disagree, seen Kirsten argue with her men, so I took a page out of their books and said, “You were right, but you hurt my feelings.”
“I’m sorry. Do you have a favorite artist? Michelangelo, or maybe da Vinci? Someone I can hang next to our horror quilt?” A wry smile. “Seriously, I’d love to hang something on our walls that’s meaningful to you. If I can find something for sale, I’ll buy an original, but we may have to make do with a very good copy, if nothing’s on the market.”
I kissed the top of her head. “A topic for another day. You need salt, so we need to find a restaurant. Do you have a taste for anything in particular?”
“I saw an Italian place across the street. I’ll get something with tons of cheese, and then add more salt. That should do it.”
Chapter 25
Silver
Four nights later, all the contracts had been signed.
In blood.Literal blood.
For better or worse, Julian and I now owned a jaguar shifter. A pain-toy who doubled as our personal security.
I’d contacted Heather a few days earlier to let her know we’d have an extra passenger and probably a decent amount of luggage, but it turned out, he said a single suitcase of clothing and weapons would last him until the rest made it to us in about a week, because a courier was bringing it, rather than shipping it. Atlas didn’t trust his weapons with a commercial shipping company, and Marco hadn’t blinked at paying a bonded courier.
Atlas was in bodyguard mode for now, but the moment the plane reached cruising altitude, we’d shift him into toy mode — my cock in his mouth, Julian’s in his ass.
No extreme pain today, just being used. Owned.
It turns out, when talking with Marco about security, Julian’s freedom had created a complication Marco wasn’t willing to ignore. Long story short, if someone kidnaps me and starts cutting pieces off me, sending them to Homewood while telling Julian he can replace me…well. It seems Marco’s going to see to my safety whether I agree to it or not.
Also, Gavin told Marco I wanted our own place and had looked at other homes on the mountain, trying to find a spacewhere Julian wouldn’t have to travel far, but we could be off on our own. I hadn’t intended to bring it up for months, maybe longer, but since Gavin did, I kind of had to tell him what I wanted.Damned vampires and their mindreading.
And so, we were meeting with a contractor later in the week to have a house built on Homewood’s land. We wouldn’t actually own it — Kirsten and Cora weren’t selling land inside Homewood’s boundaries — but it wouldfeellike ours.
A space designed for us. Built for a vampire. Chosen by me. Not ours on paper, but in every other way. Enough for me to feel comfortable selling my townhouse. This was real. Permanent.Ours.
But my days and nights were going to be at the Beast Castle for the better part of the next couple of weeks. I’d gone on a vacation when it wasn’t convenient, and I’d have to bust ass to get caught up.
Meanwhile, we were at cruising altitude, and Julian looked to Atlas and made the ASL motion fornaked, followed bykneel. We had a half-dozen commands, for now.
We’d add to them as needed.
* * * *
Julian
I missed Silver. We talked on the phone, or on a video call, several times a day, but I had tons of work to do after being gone, and she was busy with rehearsals. The best thing, though, was that I wasfinallygoing to get to see her perform in person.
The fourth day we were back, Atlas drove me to Will’s place on the ridge as soon as the sun went down. I knew they called it the Beast Castle, and I’d seen pictures, but seeing it in person made it so much more real. It just has the one round section that looks like a turret, but the brickwork and the way it’s nestled into the woods, it really does look a bit like a miniature version of acastle. Not that it’s small, it’s just that the castles I’ve lived in are fucking huge.
The gate opened as we pulled up to it, and one of the security guys pointed Atlas past the house. I saw Silver and told Atlas, “I’ll get out here.”
“And I’ll be with the property’s security.”
Marco had sent Atlas to the Drake Security offices, where he’d signed some stuff so he could work alongside them, and he’d been given a quick training session, so he’d know the basic operating procedures. I learned he’d been in the same unit Ranger was in. Not at the same time, but they knew a lot of the same people, and everyone had vouched for both of them, to each other.
I lifted Silver and hugged her, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. Or, I supposed I should think of her as ahe, today. I couldn’t remember him ever smelling this much like a man.
But he still melted into my chest. Still breathed me in like he needed the scent of me deep inside his chest.
