Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
“Yes,” Grady agreed.
Wait. What was changing? Oh God, were they finally realizing she was too much work? Were they going to get rid of her?
Steele started walking out the door. Would they just throw her out? But instead of heading to the stairs, he moved farther back down the hallway.
He paused at a closed door. Grady opened it and Steele carried her into her dream room.
She gasped in delight. It was a mix of gray, cream, and bright neon colors. Maybe it shouldn’t have worked, but it did.
An oversized crib with four sides was set out from the wall. Down the end of the crib was a matching changing table. And on one side of it there was a big rocking chair.
Directly across from her, in neon lights, was her name on the wall.
There was a tea set in another corner, along with a pretend kitchen. And then storage took up most of the wall.
But it was the ceiling that really shocked her. It was painted bright green and had ropes across it with sloths hanging from them.
The last area held a small stage with a disco light above it.
For dancing.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “This is . . . it’s amazing.”
“You like it?” Steele asked.
“Like it? I love it.” A sob escaped. “But I don’t deserve it.”
“Stop it, Effie,” Grady said firmly.
“I’ve been a terrible girlfriend these last few days. Moping around and feeling sorry for myself.”
“You’ve had a big shock. Joe died in a car accident so of course it’s going to bring up bad memories. You are allowed to react how you react,” Grady told her.
“I close my eyes and all I see is the crash,” she confessed. “And I thought . . . I thought something had happened to you. I got all my memories mixed up. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you. To either of you. And I . . . I didn’t realize it. I didn’t consciously think it, I promise. But I think I was going to push you both away, make you give up on me so then I wouldn’t have to risk losing you both.” She started to sob and Steele moved to the rocker.
He sat and drew her onto his lap, holding her tight and rocking her back and forth.
A hand went up and down her back soothingly, and when she eventually calmed down enough, she opened her eyes to see Grady kneeling in front of them.
He used a tissue to gently wipe her face. “Blow.”
She blew her nose. She was too tired to continue to fight them on everything.
“I can’t believe you guys did this all . . . for me.”
“Do fucking anything for you, baby girl,” Steele told her gruffly, using his finger under her chin to tilt her face back. “Except leave you. Got it?”
“If we fell over at the first hurdle, we wouldn’t be the men for you,” Grady added.
“But we are the men for you because we fucking love you. I love you, Effie,” Damon told her.
“What?” she whispered.
“I didn’t know if I’d recognize love, if I’d ever feel it,” Grady told her, running a finger down her cheek as she turned to face him. “But what I feel for you can’t be denied. I love you, Effie.”
More leaking. Great.
“I love you, Thomas Grady.” Leaning in, he took her mouth. Slow and long and sweet.
When he drew back, he smiled. “You taste like sugar.”
“Jelly beans.”
“Least you ate something,” Steele muttered, referencing the fact she’d barely been eating. Then he took her mouth with his.
When he drew back, she was dazed and grinned up at him. “I love you, Damon Steele.”
He grunted. “Damn right, you do. And you’re going to stop this fucking nonsense about this being too much for us. About you being a burden and whatever other shit is going on in your brain. You need help to do that, that’s why we’re here,” he said, tapping her forehead.
“If you’ve got to stay in Little headspace to achieve that, we’re down for that.”
“Maybe not all the time, but I definitely want to play now.”
“Then that’s what you’ll get. Right after your spanking.”
“What? You were serious?”
50
Oh yeah, he’d definitely been serious.
Steele did not like Effie shutting them out. He didn’t want her listening to the shit in her head and pulling away.
And he did not like that she’d tried to walk without their help.
“You could have hurt yourself. That’s unacceptable.”
“And I think we’ve made a mistake in being so careful,” Grady added. “I think you saw that as our relationship changing, when it was just us making sure that you recovered from the accident. You’ve been stiff and sore.”
Steele studied her. “You didn’t hurt yourself when you fell before, did you?”
“I want to say yes, so I don’t get spanked. But I know I’d just get a delay.”