Текст книги "Breaking Brandon"

Автор книги: Elizabeth Reyes

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

Chapter Seventeen

Brandon

The following two Sundays, Brandon had made sure to mention before Regina even brought up the brunches that he had plans. She had already told him these brunches would be a weekly thing and unless she had good reason to not make them she’d likely be there every time.

Brandon knew it was just a matter of time before he’d have to suck it up and meet her family. He just needed a little more time. This whole relationship thing was a huge change for him. While everything seemed to be going smoothly and telling her about his past and his dad had been less painless than he’d anticipated, he was still trying to get it right. What he had agreed to was to meet her friend Janecia for what had started out as their girls’ night out on Fridays but had now turned into date night.

This, of course, was another first for him. Fortunately, Janecia’s boyfriend, Clay, was a cool dude. He was a little on the foul-mouthed side but otherwise easy to hang with and talk to while the girls caught up on their girl talk. It helped that he seemed just as crazy about Janecia as Brandon was about Regina, because at this point, there was no hiding how he could barely keep his hands and lips off her. It should have been embarrassing, but Clay’s behaving pretty much the same way with Janecia made Brandon’s behavior seem less offensive.

This was the third Friday they’d done this, and Brandon was feeling way better about it than the first time. Just like the first two times, the girls laughed a lot, but this time there was a lot more talking between the couples, not just the girls having their own girl conversation while Brandon and Clay talked motorcycles, their careers, and sports.

Everything had been going fine until the girls came back from their third trip to the restroom. They were both very quiet compared to how they’d been before they left, and Regina was noticeably upset. Brandon had noticed they were gone a bit longer this time, and he wondered if something may’ve happened to them on their way back.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, leaning in and clenching the arm of her chair as soon she sat down.

Regina shook her head, and Brandon stared at her for a moment then looked up at Janecia. “Did something happen?”

Clay’s concerned expression went hard as he too noticed the change in the girls’ demeanor. Janecia quickly took Clay’s hand with both of hers. “Nothing happened, but Regina . . .” She gave Clay a strange look Brandon didn’t understand. “She’s not feeling too hot all of a sudden.”

Brandon turned back to Regina, feeling more than alarmed and rubbed her back. “What is it, babe?”

All Regina would do was shake her head, until she finally admitted it might have been something she’d eaten. “Maybe we should just call it a night?”

Her words were barely audible, spiking Brandon’s concern into overdrive.

“Yeah,” he said, immediately holding his hand up to the passing waitress. “Whatever you want.” Both he and Clay pulled out their wallets, but Brandon told Clay he had it then turned back to Regina. “Should we go to urgent care?”

She assured him she just needed to get home and lie down. They paid and said their good-byes to Clay and Janecia. Brandon didn’t miss how Janecia’s and Regina’s words to one another seemed strained.

By the time they reached his Jeep, Regina was in tears. Brandon held her against the door, his heart speeding up as he searched her eyes. “What is it, baby? Something hurt? Are you sure we shouldn’t stop at the ER?”

She shook her head again. This time she seemed angry. “Let’s just get out of here, please. Take me home.”

Things only got worse on the ride home. Brandon couldn’t get a thing out of her, but by the time they made it back to his place, she was really crying. He started to pull out of the driveway. “We’re going to the hospital,” he said as he turned to look back.

“No!” she finally said, reaching out for his arm and holding it. “I don’t need to go the hospital. I just need to get inside, please?”

She looked so broken up it he could hardly stand it. Parking the Jeep again, he jumped out and practically sprinted around to help her out. He had no idea if whatever she was feeling might have her lightheaded, and he didn’t want to chance her falling.

Holding her close, he walked her into his apartment’s front room. As soon as she sat on his sofa, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Feeling completely helpless, Brandon sat down next to her and held her. She continued to sob against his shirt. He racked his brain, wondering what could have her so upset as he smoothed her hair and kissed her head. A couple things came to him: the strange look he’d seen Janecia give Clay that calmed him immediately and Regina and Janecia’s strained good-bye.

“Did . . .” He stopped to kiss her head again as she struggled to catch her breath between sobs. “Did something happen between you and Janecia? You two argue?”

To his enormous relief, she nodded against his chest but clenched her hands on his shirt a little tighter. Whatever they argued about was obviously upsetting, but at least she wasn’t sick.

He pulled away from her, gently wiping a few of her tears as they continued to flow without slowing. He kissed her wet cheek then got up. “I’ll be right back.”

Rushing into his bedroom, he grabbed the box of tissues and brought it out to her, taking a seat next to her again and wrapping his arm around her. He couldn’t imagine what she could be so upset about. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something she’d be getting over anytime soon. Kissing the top of her head as he continued to run his hand up and down her back, he whispered, “You wanna talk about it?”

“She promised me!” Regina said, startling him as she pulled away to look at him. “She promised me she’d never get on Clay’s motorcycle, and now she’s gonna do a run to Puerto Nuevo with him.” She sobbed. “A whole weekend to and from Puerto Nuevo on that death trap!”

Brandon stared at her, not sure how to respond to this. He knew Regina’s late husband had been killed on a motorcycle, but they’d yet to discuss the details.

“Babe,” he said cautiously as he rubbed her thigh gently. “Not everyone who gets on a bike gets hurt.”

She stood suddenly. “Yes, they do!” It took him a moment to recover from her sudden jump, but he was up with her now too. “When I was in grade school, my friend’s dad was killed on one. In middle school, my little league softball coach was killed on the way to one of my games. Then in high school, two different boys I knew were in accidents on them. One was killed instantly. The other one was a vegetable for years before he died. Everyone I’ve ever known who’d come in contact with one of those things has died or has been very seriously injured.” She looked around desperately. “I have to call her!”

She grabbed her purse and started rummaging through it. Brandon took her by her hands and realized she was trembling. “Calm down, Regina,” he urged as she fought with him to grab her phone.

“Let go of me! I have to call her and beg her not to.” She was beyond crying now. She was hysterical, but most alarming was how her eyes bugged out and her hands flayed and trembled uncontrollably.

Brandon had no choice but the bear hug her and bring her down to the sofa over him, risking a knee to the groin if she didn’t calm down. “Regina,” he said loudly and firmly as she squirmed to get loose. “Stop this and look at me, baby.”

Breathing very heavily, she stopped for a second to look at him then collapsed against him, crying again. “I can’t let her go, Brandon. She’s gonna die. I know she is.”

“Sweetheart,” he said a lot gentler this time. “When you hurt your ankle, you told the guy at the ER you were on anxiety pills before but didn’t take them anymore.”

Regina pulled away from him and looked at him wide-eyed. Like all the other times he’d sprung something on her, she’d obviously expected him to have forgotten, and he’d stunned her again. “I don’t need them anymore.”

Brandon remembered the other time he’d seen her hand tremble out of control: the day she’d been upset and confronted him about the girl she’d seen him with at Gaslamp. He’d let it go then without mentioning it, but there was no way he was letting it go this time. “I think you do.”

She continued to shake her head. “No.”

“Yes, baby.” Sitting up, they both straightened out, and he took her trembling hand in his, showing her how it shook. “Look at you.”

Pulling her hand away, she continued to disagree. “That’s not why I was on them.”

“Then why were you?”

She still sniffled, but at least she wasn’t hysterical anymore. His bringing up her anxiety pills seemed to have done the trick. He’d stunned her into calming.

“It was for something much worse,” she whispered then looked up at him with those big beautiful but worried eyes. “But I’m better now. I don’t need to be on those pills anymore.”

“Okay,” he said simply with a reassuring smile. “Maybe not the pills you were on but,” he touched her still trembling hands, “maybe a lower dose?”

She stared at her hand for a moment without saying anything, and he hoped to God she wasn’t going to get upset again. Then she took a very deep breath. “I’m a fraud, Brandon.”

“What?”

She nodded, continuing to stare at her hand. “My family all thinks I’m the headstrong, independent, always happy one of all of us. My parents and siblings are in awe of my strength,” she said sarcastically. “But look at me. I’m a mess. None of them know the real truth. They don’t even know I had to be on medication.” She looked up at him a bit hesitantly then continued. “Chris, my friend from New York? She’s actually my ex-therapist. Nobody except Janecia knows I was even in therapy or that I needed to be on anxiety pills for as long as I was.”

“That doesn’t make you a fraud.”

“Yes, it does. I lost it.” She stopped and seemed to think over what she was going to say next. “I held it together after Ryan’s death. My family came out to the services, and my mom even stayed with me for a week. I assured them I was fine but then weeks later I completely lost it.”

Brandon had no idea what she meant by lost it, but if it was much worse than tonight, he was almost afraid to ask. So he offered something else. “You lost your husband suddenly and very tragically. Maybe it took some time to sink in, but it’s normal to grieve and feel inconsolable over something like that.” She shook her head. “It is, babe, and if—”

“I bought a gun, Brandon. At first, I was just really lonely and depressed and missed him terribly. Then I found out I was pregnant.”

The pregnancy she mentioned in the ER was another thing he hadn’t forgotten, but he’d had no intention of asking her about it. It was just another thing he wasn’t sure he could stomach hearing about.

“The baby gave me hope that at least I’d have a part of Ryan with me for the rest of my life. It was bittersweet, but I was happy, and then I miscarried. I hadn’t even had a chance to tell my family about it. I was waiting for the perfect moment.” Brandon wrapped his arms around her as the tears began to slide down her face again. He was determined to not let her lose it again. “As sad as I was, I was also angry. I hated him for having gotten on that motorcycle when he’d promised me he never would. He did it behind my back. He used to ride back home before moving out to New York, and he’d told me about it when we first started dating, but I told him I didn’t date guys who rode motorcycles, so he assured me he never would.” She stopped suddenly and looked at Brandon wide-eyed. “You don’t ever ride motorcycles, do you?”

Brandon had, but he’d never had any desire to own one. At this point, if he planned on keeping Regina in his life, and he had every intention to, he certainly wasn’t going to ride one now. “No,” he said, wiping away a tear from her cheek. “I don’t. And I won’t ever. I promise.”

Her eyes searched his trying to find any trace of dishonesty. Brandon felt for her since obviously both Ryan and Janecia had made the same promise and broken it. He kissed her on the forehead. “I’m into Jeeps and off-roading. I’ve never even been into dirt bikes. I swear to you I’ll never ride a motorcycle.”

That seemed to calm her worried eyes a bit, and she went on. “The day I miscarried I drank an entire bottle of wine, and I trashed my apartment.” They were both silent as she stared at her still-trembling hands, and Brandon held his breath. “I had every intention of taking my life. I even bought the gun off the street because I didn’t want to go through the waiting period and all the red tape of getting it registered. I was too much of a coward to take pills and try to overdose.” She looked up at him her, pained eyes once again swimming in tears. “I have the worst luck in the world, and I figured I may as well do it the sure way. Knowing me, I’d make it through an overdose and would have to face my family, who would then know what I coward and a fraud I really am. I bought the biggest gun I could find to make sure it did the job.”

“Why does that make you a coward or even a fraud, Regina? You had two terrible losses back to back, and you snapped. It’s not unheard of.”

“I’m not the first person to lose someone,” she said, raising her voice. “People lose loved ones all the time, and they get through it. I never even got rid of the gun” She frowned, motioning to the wooden chest.” It’s buried in there somewhere. I made the mental argument with myself that I should keep it since I was a single woman living alone, but deep inside, I knew it was really for fear that I might need it again someday.” She pointed at him with that feral look in her eyes she had earlier when she’d told him about Janecia, so Brandon held her tight. “You lost both your parents, one of them just as suddenly and tragically as I lost Ryan, and I bet you never considered taking your life.” Shaking her head, she stared out at nothing in particular. “I can’t even imagine,” she whispered. “You’re so much stronger than I am. I’m so weak. After everything you’ve been through and all by yourself, you didn’t fall apart like I did. I had my entire family and friends, and still, if it hadn’t been for my neighbors, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

Brandon lowered his face to try to get her attention. He waited until he had it and she was looking right at him. “People handle things differently, and everybody grieves differently, okay? No, I never considered taking my life, but think about it. What did I do? I did the very same thing you almost did. Maybe not literally but I made the decision to stop living. I went through the motions of waking and working and continuing with my life, but I wasn’t living. I didn’t even realize it until you came along. This is living.” He kissed her softly because he’d just had a huge revelation. “What I was doing before you . . . Baby, I may as well have been dead. My life now with you compared to what it was then . . . I was dead.”

The corner of her lip lifted, and her eyes were flooded once again, but this time there was a smile behind them, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

“I was so afraid to tell you about what I’d done,” she said against his neck. “The only people who know are my therapist and the neighbors who broke down my apartment door after hearing me trash the place and screaming like a crazy person. Janecia doesn’t even know. All she knows is I had a breakdown and had to start seeing a therapist. I was afraid you’d see me differently—lose respect for me—but as usual, you’re amazing, Brandon.” She pulled away and their eyes locked. That gentle innocence he’d been drawn to way back when, reflected in the way she looked into his eyes now. “I love you,” she whispered.

For a moment, he froze. Aside from his mother, no one else had ever said these words to him, and it nearly suffocated him. It was subtle, but there was no hiding the disappointment in her eyes when he didn’t immediately respond.

“You do?”

She nodded nervously. “I do.”

This was the last thing he expected to hear tonight, especially after everything they’d just discussed. As terrified as he was to admit it—say it out loud—he had to.

“I love you too.”

He got that look from her, that same one she’d given him when he promised he’d never ride a motorcycle. It was suspicious, and he knew why. “I do.” He laughed, hugging her tightly then kissing the top of her head. “You just caught me off guard, but I do.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you, Ms. Brady.”

She laughed, and it was a beautiful sound—beautiful and satisfying—considering she’d been so miserable just minutes ago.

“Make love to me, Sergeant Billings,” she whispered against his lips.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a growl as he stood up and lifted her in his arms. “Your wish is my command, princess.”

Feeling like the luckiest man in the world, he rushed off with her.

Chapter Eighteen

The following Friday Regina walked out of his bedroom after changing into nothing more than Brandon’s Padres T-shirt and panties as she often did after work during the week. She informed Brandon they wouldn’t be meeting Janecia and Clay for appetizers and drinks like they had the past few Friday nights.

Brandon chose his words carefully because he didn’t want to ignite anything, but he had a feeling she’d be regretting this later. “Babe, you can’t just stop talking to your best friend over this. I know how strongly you feel about it, but do you really want such a long friendship with someone you care so much about to end like this?”

Regina opened up the box of pizza she’d ordered in lieu of their date night out. “It’s not ending,” she said, pulling a slice out of the box and setting it onto a paper plate but didn’t look at him. “They left this morning for Puerto Nuevo.”

“Oh,” Brandon said, feeling like a complete ass now.

The last thing he wanted was to have her thinking about this all night. Mercifully, before he could come up with a way to change the subject, her phone rang. She walked away from the pizza on the table and into the kitchen where she’d left her phone.

Brandon walked over to the pizza box and opened it, examining the gourmet pizza she’d ordered from her favorite place. Unlike the pizzas he was used to with lots of red sauce, she’d mentioned this was made with white garlic sauce, so the whole thing was mostly white, but it at least it had sausage.

He’d just taken a bite of the pizza and the flavors had exploded in his mouth when he heard the tail end of Regina’s conversation and froze.

“She’s dating my Ricardo? Are you sure it’s the same one?”

Chewing slowly, he waited as Regina paused and he heard the refrigerator door open. “Get out!” she said, suddenly sounding a little too giddy for someone who’d just walked away in such a somber mood. “She’s bringing him Sunday? Does she know he’s my ex?”

She paused again while Brandon swallowed down his pizza. It went down a little harder than he’d expected.

“Oh, wow. Did she say if he’s still surfing? I wonder if he still looks the same.”

After hearing that, Brandon started toward the kitchen. He didn’t want to be petty, but Regina’s interest in her Ricardo was irritating as shit, so he figured he may as well get close enough to hear every word. It wasn’t like she’d hushed her voice or was trying to keep this conversation private, so he leaned against the kitchen entryway and took another bite, looking straight at her. Suddenly, she seemed uncomfortable. It was almost as if it’d just hit her that Brandon could hear what she’d been talking about.

Clearing her throat, she turned away and reached into the fridge. “No, don’t be silly.” Now she lowered her voice, making Brandon chew slower in an effort to remain calm. “I know she’s annoying, but I’m seeing someone now, remember? Besides, I wouldn’t play those immature games. Listen,” she said, abruptly turning back to Brandon with a smile. “We were about to eat. I’ll call you later. Let me know if there is anything you need me to bring.”

She hung up and put the phone down on the counter. “You want a soda?” she asked, reaching back for the refrigerator handle.

Brandon shook his head, staring at her as he stuck the last piece of pizza in his mouth and continued to chew.

“Did you like it?” she asked, smiling brightly.

Again his response was nonverbal; he simply nodded but continued to stare at her. She tried walking past him, but he didn’t move. His body took up most of the door frame, so she stopped, placing her hand over his chest. The tiny smirk on her face relieved him slightly. Obviously, she wasn’t too worried about this.

“My sister was just telling me about my cousin’s new boyfriend.”

“I heard.” He finally spoke up. “Your Ricardo?”

She brought her fingers over her mouth in an attempt to hide a bigger smile. “I just meant my ex.”

Brandon brought his hand around her and squeezed her ass, making her yelp then laugh nervously. “Your ex who you’re still curious about?”

“No,” she said, caressing his face as she pressed her body against his. “Not curious.” She pecked him softly. “I just haven’t seen him in years.”

She tried to kiss him again, but he pulled back. “Curious,” he restated then nipped her bottom lip as he brought his other arm around her and squeezed her other ass cheek even harder. “What kind of immature games was your sister asking you to play?”

That surprised her though she quickly recovered and kissed him a little more aggressively, but he pulled away again.

“Answer the question, Regina,” he said, spreading her ass cheeks and sliding his fingers upwards.

He almost smiled at her gasping, but he continued to stare in her suddenly aroused eyes.

“Our cousin can be annoying, so my sister thought it’d be fun if I flirted with him Sunday.”

He spun her around and pinned her against the kitchen wall. “And that’s how you refer to me to your family? Someone you’re seeing?” Before she could respond, he ripped her panties off. “Is it? Not your boyfriend? I thought we discussed this?”

Sliding two fingers into her, he loved that she couldn’t even respond since she was so hot she was almost moaning. He dove into her neck, sucking harder than he normally did. His immature side was tempted to leave a mark so her fucking Ricardo could see it Sunday, but then he thought better of it. This was not the impression he wanted to make on her family before they even met him, so he spun her around again and lifted her up, setting her down on the counter. Spreading her wide, he fucked her with his fingers while he dug for his wallet with his other hand.

“They know,” she said breathlessly as she ran her fingers frantically through his hair, “that you’re my boyfriend.”

He unzipped his pants and pulled out his aching erection, all the while kissing her madly. He pulled away just long enough to slip the condom on.

“They know we’re living together,” she said, making him stop for a moment and look up at her. Her eyes widened, looking a little alarmed. “Because we are, right?”

He hadn’t even thought about it, but it made sense. They’d been inseparable since that first night. Whether it was here or her place, they hadn’t slept apart once. “Yeah,” he said, slipping his hand behind her neck and kissing her then slamming into her.

Regina cried out and slid closer to the edge of the counter, spreading wider, and he went in deeper—harder—kissing her just as hard the whole time. He pounded away again and again, trying to push aside the unreasonable jealousy he felt over her and an ex she hadn’t seen in years. Then he remembered her curiosity about the guy and pounded into her even harder, making her cry out even louder, until she was trembling all over.

“I’m . . .” he said as he slammed in as deep as he could.

She moaned, squeezing her legs around him at the same time lifting up to him. “What?” She gasped.

“I’m coming . . .” he said as he exploded into her, and her thighs clung on to him for dear life.

Her arms squeezed around his neck as both of them gasped and struggled to catch up with their pounding hearts and breathing.

“I’m coming with you Sunday.” He was finally able to say it as his lungs struggled to gasp in chunks of air.

She didn’t say anything, and he helped her off the counter. They walked over her ripped panties on the floor as he led her out of the kitchen and into his bedroom where they could collapse. “You ripped my good chonies,” she said.

“I’ll buy you more,” he said, smiling and hugging her to him. “So your ex is a surfer, huh?”

Regina groaned bringing her arms around him and hugging his waist as they continued to walk. “It’s been over seven years since I last saw him, Brandon. That was girl talk you weren’t supposed to hear. I didn’t realize I was speaking so loudly. Even my married sister says things her husband would seriously have a fit about when he’s not around. But it’s just how we girls talk. It’s harmless.”

Brandon brought his hand down and squeezed her naked ass. “You’re not still gonna call him your Ricardo when I’m not around, are you?”

Regina giggled, pulling away from him quickly, but he caught her just as they made it to his bed, and they fell onto it. “Maybe I didn’t fuck you hard enough,” he said, pinning her down, and she laughed even louder. “I was trying to send a message.” He struggled to keep a straight face as he stared down at her. “I don’t think you got it.”

Barely able to speak from all the laughing, Regina squirmed under him, spreading her legs. “Clearly, I was too caught up in the moment,” she teased with a murmur. “Maybe you need to send that message again.” She bit her bottom lip. “Even harder this time.”

Instantly, Brandon was on his knees reaching over to his nightstand for another condom.

~*~

Regina

The outcome of Brandon overhearing Regina’s conversation with her sister Friday night couldn’t have gone better if she’d planned it that way. In fact, with her rotten luck, if she had actually done that on purpose, she was certain it would’ve backfired on her and ended with an ugly fight instead of ending the somewhat unnerving yet thrilling way it had.

Over the past several weeks, Regina had been privy to that softer, sweeter side of Brandon. But what secretly thrilled her was that, as sweet as she knew he could be now, he still hadn’t lost that dark bewildering side. That side was still there when he was on duty at the base and resurfaced every now and again even around just her, though she could tell he did his best to conceal it. As nervous as it made her, there was something so incredibly sexy about it. She especially loved the power she had to lessen his tension with just a few kisses.

Today’s visit with her family wasn’t the usual Sunday brunch. She’d casually mentioned her nephew’s baptism to Brandon weeks ago. The way the guy remembered even the smallest details of things she’d told him so long ago she’d been certain he hadn’t forgotten. Yet, up until Friday’s incident he hadn’t mentioned anything about going with her. She knew him well enough to have picked up on one thing. He wasn’t anxious to meet her family. Regina knew this was all new to him. Just making an attachment was a huge step for him, so she knew meeting her family would only reaffirm just how attached they were becoming. When she mentioned her nephew’s baptism, she hadn’t wanted to make him feel obligated or forced to go, so she left it on the table but didn’t so much insinuate that she wanted him there.

He already knew that her family Sunday brunches meant just that. Her whole family would be there. This was a little different, and she hoped it would make it a little less intimate so he wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed on his first meeting with them. Since it was her nephew’s baptism, it would be at her sister’s, not her parents’ place like the usual brunches. There would also be other people there besides her immediate family: extended family, friends, and her brother-in-law’s family. Brandon wouldn’t be the center of attention as she knew he’d be had his first visit with them been at one of their brunches.

Running her fingers through his hair, she stared at her new love as he slept soundly. He shifted at the touch of her fingers and wrapped his arms around her even tighter. A soft moan escaped him, but he didn’t open his eyes. “How much time do we have?” he murmured.

She smiled, continuing to run her fingers through his hair. “A few hours. I’m gonna get in the shower, but you can sleep longer if you want. We have time. I just take long getting ready.”

Fortunately, since her sister had chosen a Sunday to have her nephew baptized, those Masses were held in the wee hours of the morning at their church before all the other Sunday Masses began. Her sister had told everyone who wasn’t an actual mandatory part of the ceremony they needn’t be there at the early Mass and the family gathering at her home wouldn’t be until noon. They were having the ceremony professionally taped anyway, and no doubt Regina would be watching it over and over as she did the other videos of her niece and nephew.

Brandon ran his hands up and down Regina’s naked body as he squeezed one eye open. “I could join you in the shower if you want.” The corner of his lip tugged as he nudged her thigh with the erection she’d already felt earlier. “It’s not like I’ll be able to go back to sleep now anyhow.”

Un-wrapping his arms from around her, Brandon jumped out of bed suddenly and headed to the bathroom. She knew what he was in a hurry to do more than actually use the bathroom—brush his teeth. She’d already brushed hers and knew it was just one of the things he was obsessive about. Within minutes, he was back and crawled in next to her again with a very mischievous smile. His hands were already roaming her body.

Staring at him with a smirk, she knew it was a risk but one she’d chickened out of too many times already. She’d waited so long for him to bring it up on his own. A few weeks ago she noticed that the tote with the handcuffs, the riding crops, and the paddle was gone. As exciting as their sex life was, this past Friday was one of the few times they’d done anything out of the ordinary in bed or in the shower. He was as meticulous about making sure she was absolutely satisfied each and every time as he was about everything else he did, so she had no complaints there. Still, a part of her was very curious about his naughty tote and especially why he hadn’t introduced her to it. Now with it gone, she was fairly certain and slightly disappointed that he wasn’t going to ever.