Page 22 of Collision of Winters
“And you haven’t been able to do that in a long time,” he murmured.
I let out a breath. He understood that too. I was getting there, and he already knew.
“Right.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “The thing is, I don’t know why I change so easily around you, Wade. I know I do it. There’s something about your dominance that draws out the person I want to be.” Oof, it was getting to be too much. I shifted uncomfortably as my cheeks felt hotter. I avoided eye contact too. “I’m usually better at hiding it, but maybe going three months without having a connection to that side of me is making the cup run over. I don’t know.”
That was as honest as I could be without grabbing his shoulders, shaking him, and confessing I wanted him.
Wade sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Now I feel bad. To ask you to hold back because we need boundaries—but I’m the one forcing you to be up here with me.”
He had nothing to feel bad about. He cared. He’d gone so far as to keep me in the most remote corner of the world so that I wouldn’t escape. That meant business!
I opened my mouth to respond, but he beat me to it.
He looked my way with determination in his eyes. “Forget what I said. I want you to be able to be yourself with me. Be however submissive and little you want. On one condition.”
Holy shit, I was all ears! “What’s that?”
His mouth twitched. “Tell me right now you’ll move back home.”
Oh. Sneaky! Because now he wouldn’t have to use his “brotherly powers for evil” as he’d said?
“Do you honestly think I’ve liked living in Dallas?” I asked. “A buddy online offered me a job, and I just went.”
He didn’t miss a beat. “You may have arrived in Texas for a job, but you left DC for another reason.” He paused. “Don’t worry. If you’re in a regressed or vulnerable mind-set, I won’t push for any explanations.”
So all I had to do was move home? To the place where I wanted to be anyway?
“Dad asks me every week to come home,” I said. “Next time I talk to him, I’ll let him know I’m moving back in to my old room.”
It hadn’t changed. Dad even sent me pictures of my room sometimes, letting me know it “missed” me.
Wade smiled. “Best news I’ve heard all week.”
Yeah… I definitely agreed, but I had to prepare myself too. Ihadleft DC for a reason. Or two. Not measuring up next to my brothers and…well, thebrothernext to me on this very couch.
And to think, I could be a Middle around him?
Oh crap. What if I crossed a line and made him uncomfortable?
“What just happened?” he asked. “Your face fell.”
No need to beat around the bush. I’d come this far. “I’m worried I might overstep if I’m in my Middle space. You have to tell me if I go too far. I mean, it’s one thing to be myself, but it’s a whole other to treat you like you’re in charge of me or something.”
He cleared his throat and grabbed his coffee cup. “I think I can handle a cheeky brat giggling up a storm and pushing buttons. I don’t know what else you might consider overstepping. We’re family.”
Yeah, about that…
I scratched the side of my neck.
In other words, it didn’t even occur to him that I might have another type of feelings for him.
An extra harsh wind whooshed over the cabin, causing something to creak in the structure, and I looked up at the beams in the ceiling.
“We’re safe, Kayden.”
I smiled at him. “I know. I trust you.”
And I trusted him to let me down gently if I accidentally got too affectionate or invaded his personal space.
