Page 4 of The Year of Us: July

Reese

I woke up just after eleven on Sunday morning, Cory’s naked body wrapped around me like the octopus of a sleeper he was.

At some point in the night, I’d ended up naked, the warmth of Cory’s skin more than enough to keep me warm.

His arms were around my chest, and he was awake, I realized, one of his fingers toying with the heavy band of the Rolex.

“Good morning,” he whispered, kissing the back of my neck.

I shivered and pressed against him before turning around so we were chest to chest. He kissed my chin and sighed happily when I slid my arms around his shoulders.

“Did you mean all the things you said last night?”

He hummed, blinking slowly. “That you’re mine?”

“I meant about moving,” I said softly. “I believe the other part now.”

Cory smiled and kissed the corner of my mouth. “I figure it’s something we should have had a proper conversation about, but…”

He trailed off, and I reached up to tip his head back and expose his throat. I dragged lazy kisses from the underside of his chin down, groaning when he looked a leg over my thigh and hauled our lower halves closer.

“Of course I want to see you more,” I said, nipping at his shoulder.

“But do you want to see me more or do you want me here?”

“Aren’t they the same thing?”

Cory rolled onto his back and took me with him, lifting until I was on his lap and my knees were tangled in the sheets.

“No, they’re not.” He petted his hands over my hips. “I could be on a plane every Friday night, in your bed before Saturday morning, and back again first thing on Monday. I could spend every weekend waiting for you to get off work and come back here to me.”

“That would hardly count as seeing me more if I was at work,” I said.

“Still more than one weekend a month with an extra day or two on the front of it like we’ve been doing.”

“You were here for three weeks last month,” I reminded him, even as his fingers slowly danced their way toward the inside of my thighs. “You haven’t even been gone that long.”

“And yet, I needed you still.”

Cory’s hands were hot and skilled between my legs, and I groaned when he touched me, grinding down into his lap and using my body to ask for more. Unfortunately, at the same time his fingers curled around my thickening erection, my stomach also growled and he froze.

“When did you last eat?” he asked.

I shook my head, arching into his hand. “I don’t remember.”

“Then you need to eat now.” He released me and reached for his phone on the nightstand.

I stretched my arm behind and beneath me, fingers searching out his cock, but before I could grab it, he smacked my hand away, rolled me onto my back and pinned me to my bed. His phone was still in his hand, his knees digging into my biceps.

“Let me up,” I whined, and he shook his head, tutting his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“I’m ordering us some breakfast. You need to eat.”

“I was trying to.”

“Stop fighting me, Reese.” He said it softly, with such command…there was no room for argument and something tight and terrifying knotted together in the middle of my chest.

It must have registered on my face as well because when I said, “Let me up.”

He did.

Cory moved off me quickly, helping me into a seated position with my back against the wall and my legs stretched out in front of me. He sat beside me, knees pressing together and his expression filled with worry.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, gently setting his hand on my knee. “What happened there?”

The words were in as much of a knot as the feelings were, and I didn’t know how to explain to him that for so long I’d forgotten he was dominant too.

I’d forgotten he was dominant to me…that I was submissive to him.

The demand was a reminder and, without thinking, I covered the Rolex on my wrist like it was a restraint.

When I didn’t say anything, Cory set his phone down on the bed and exhaled quietly, clearly waiting for me to answer.

Of course, he wouldn’t prod or poke me for an answer.

He never had and I didn’t think he ever would.

That wasn’t his style. Cory was dominant in a way that didn’t require posturing or fighting, and I’d never had a choice when it came to him.

Submitting to him was as indisputable an outcome as falling in love with him, and I’d done both in record time.

“I’m fine,” I croaked.

“I’m sure you are, but I still want to know what just happened.”

He was being a good dominant, checking in, touching base. He wouldn’t move things forward with us if he didn’t have my consent, and in that moment…he knew he didn’t.

“If—” The single syllable caught in my throat, stuck against the roof of my mouth.

And he waited.

“If I didn’t want to submit to you,” I rasped, the words tasting like bile. “Would you still have said those things? Would you have still wanted to move here for me?”

Cory gave me a small and almost sad smile, then he leaned in close and cupped my cheek in his palm. I leaned into his touch, happy to have him beside me, so warm and willing and loving and mine.

God, I was a fucking nightmare of a boyfriend.

“Admittedly, there are two ways to answer this one, Reese.”

I huffed a laugh, scratching the back of my neck. “Can I have them both?”

“You can have everything,” he whispered before clearing his throat and smiling at me in earnest. “The first answer is… you call this submission?”

I rolled my eyes and smacked him in the middle of his chest. “What’s the second?”

“You are more than enough,” he said, flexing his fingers against my cheek. “In this life and every life.”

I wanted to crawl under my bed and curl up into a ball and rot.

“Is this not submission then?” I whispered.

“My darling boy.” Cory climbed onto my lap and took my face into both of his hands, using his long and steady fingers to direct my stare right toward his eyes.

Even if I had wanted to look away, the bondage of his body wouldn’t have allowed it.

“That’s why I told you there were two answers.

Yes, of course this is submission. It’s worth more than anyone has ever given me before.

“How?”

“Because I understand the cost, Reese.”

He leaned in slowly and when I didn’t push him away, he slanted our mouths together and kissed me softly on the mouth. I wanted to melt. I wanted to cry. I wanted to give him all of the things he deserved in this world.

“I want to submit to you,” I choked out.

“You do,” he said quickly. “You are.”

“You know what I mean.”

He shook his head, expression half amused and half frustrated. “If you think what you’re doing…Reese.” A tired exhale. “If that’s what you want, then go get into the shower. I’m going to order us breakfast. You need coffee and you need to eat.”