Page 50 of Flog Me, Sir

Chapter Seventeen

Lissa

Six months later...

I finally agreed to move in—but hadn’t agreed on a date. For months, we took turns travelling back and forth from Boston, and every day I fell a little harder, until I no longer claimed to be falling in love, but fully in love.

Garret had gifted me with a key to his condo, and I let myself, Lily, and Mrs. Hummel in without his knowledge on a Tuesday morning, a day when he wouldn’t expect to see me since he’d flown back to Boston that Sunday night.

Adam had agreed to keep him at work late that day, giving me all the time the three of us needed to prepare his surprise. Lily grumbled about needing to hire another assistant for Mrs. Hummel, but was happy for Garret and I for having found one another. Or for having Mrs. Hummel throw us at one another like she’d done.

I hugged the older lady against my side once we finished with the apartment. “I appreciate you,” I told her, before kissing her weathered cheek.

“I love you, too, child.” She patted my hand, and we stood back to admire our work.

A few knickknacks of my own joined Garret’s on his bookshelves, along with my stack of manuscripts I’d actually allowed him to read.

My latest story had gone a darker route, for which I blamed my Sir. The naughty man had yet to cease from pushing my boundaries—not that I had any hard limits to begin with, but still. Nipple clamps, a cane, whips—he’d even strapped me down with a vibrator between my legs until I literally passed out from over stimulation.

I loved every second beneath his hands, his body.

Sighing, I squeezed Mrs. Hummel tight. “Thank you again for this.”

“You made the right choice taking up with my boy Garret.”

“I did.”

She patted my back in a motherly fashion, reminding me of the first hug I’d received from my own mother the weekend prior when I’d taken Garret to meet her. She finally left long-term care and lived in an apartment with two other women around her age, all three clean and sober—and looking to remain so for the rest of their lives.

It had been Garret’s idea to visit, and I’d gone along grudgingly, still a bit fearful he would look down upon me for where I’d stemmed from. He’d loved on my mom same as he did his Tillie girl, flushing my mom’s cheeks and putting a sparkle in her eyes I hadn’t ever seen.

Giggling, my mom had fallen head over heels—and told me I’d found a keeper unlike all those she’d brought into our house. Apologies followed along with tears, the beginnings of a relationship I’d never thought or hoped to have with my mom.

Lily came out of the bathroom looking a little green around the gills.

“Are you okay?” I asked, glancing down at the baby bump poking from her maternity shirt.

“This little bugger is worse than the twins,” she said with a scowl.

I hugged her a bit more gently. “Thank you for this—even feeling like shit, you’ve been a better friend to me than anyone but Mrs. Hummel.”

“I’m going to miss you, Lissa,” she said, stepping back and keeping a hold on my upper arms. “And you’d better come up to visit once in a while.”

Garret had a small playroom of his own in the condo, one we’d outfitted together, but it didn’t compare to the church. Seeing as how I didn’t have friends in the city either, I expected we would be heading north for a visit sooner rather than later.

“We will. Promise.”

A few more hugs, and my two friends left me alone. Butterflies in my stomach accompanied me into the bathroom once I made sure dinner was on low in the oven. I showered, shaved, plucked, and dolled myself up.

At seven-fifteen, I knelt in the living area—in direct line with the condo’s front door. My pulse thrummed, and I couldn’t keep from shaking.

The lock clicked, spiking my heartbeat, and I swallowed hard, keeping my focus on my lap and the box I held.

His breath caught, and I smiled.

“Goddamnit, Lissa, you scared the shit out of me.”

I fought not to laugh. “Sorry, Sir.”

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