Page 68 of Governor

He nods. “Unless you want us to bring Susa in.”

Tendrils of fear threaten to strangle me again. “What if she wouldn’t be okay with that?”

He shrugs. “If I don’t think she will, we won’t tell her. But I’m pretty sure she will.”

“You do?”

“I do.” His gaze holds mine and I feel calm trying to creep in. “We can talk today, if you want to,” he says. “Or we can do more. At the very least, let me make you some French toast and get some food and water in you. You’ll feel better.”

“I thought submissives were supposed to do all that.”

He’s dead serious when he lays his other hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Every good Dominant knows their first responsibility is to take care of their submissive.”

Chapter Twenty

While Carter cooks breakfast, he makes me sit at the counter and drink another glass of water before he’ll let me have coffee.

“I don’t want you to get dehydrated,” he says. “One of the best things you can do after a night like last night is drink water.”

I do as I’m told. There’s part of me that knows this is just a temporary bubble of perfection, but I don’t want to escape it. I want it to continue.

Not the hangover—the rest of it.

This.

Whateverthisis.

“I hope you had fun last night,” he adds.

“I had alotof fun last night. That meal was amazing. I’d like to go back to the tap house. I think maybe one of those flights would have been okay. Possibly two.”

“Yeah, the two full pours, on top of three flights, and two rum and Cokes, really knocked you for a loop.” Carter smiles. “Hey, good news is, now you have a baseline.”

“Yeah. Oh, wait. We have more of those two I really liked, don’t we?”

“Yep. Maybe later we canmoderatelyindulge,” he says. “Have some with dinner.”

“Agreed. With the moderation, I mean.”

He doesn’t look up when he speaks again. “Or, we can finish them both off tonight, before Susa gets back tomorrow, and see what happens.”

The air has taken on a sudden density it didn’t possess before. I don’t know what the right answer is.

I don’t know what he wants to hear.

I know whatIwant to say, and it terrifies me at a visceral level I didn’t even know existed within me before now.

Because I want to say yes.

I want to not just say yes, butfuckyes.

He glances at me, his brown gaze full of intense mystery.

“We could,” I say. “What do you want to do?”

When Carter meets my gaze, I force myself not to look down, not look away.

“Honestly?” Not trusting my voice, I nod. “I want us both to stay sober while I show you what I think you need today. That way, you can tell me if I’m right or not. We can get drunk together later.” He focuses on cooking again.