Well, now I had to look at him.
He smiled faintly and touched my cheek. “Or when we’d end up at the same party and send each other a wink from across the room.”
I’d always loved that one.
His smile faded. “Or how crippled with worry I got when I figured out you were being mistreated by Marcus. I don’t want him to draw another fucking breath, Corey. And I had to be the one who got you away from him. When we talked about it—we founding members—it just had to be me. I wouldn’t trust anybody else to do it.”
He shook me to the core with those words, and tension buzzed through me, a new kind, a heavy one that made me fidgety and needy and even more hopeful.
“I needed to see you happy again,” he murmured. “I needed to see another message from you with a novel-length ramble about a book you wanted me to read.”
I grinned sheepishly. “I ramble a lot.”
“I love that about you, Corey. I love that you bring a truckload of energy into every room you enter—and I fucking hate that I made you uncertain this weekend. I saw the way you backed down and grew silent this morning when you asked Archie if you could make him laugh. Just because I walked into the room. You piped down, when I want the opposite. I want those mad rambles when you get so fucking excited that you can’t stop yourself.”
I exhaled shakily and found purchase at his hips, needing my fingers to press against something, to squeeze something, and I went with his hoodie.
“I know a thing or two about a thousand little moments,” I said. “It’s how I woke up from everything with Marcus. Realizing that I haven’t loved him in a long time, understanding the guilt I’ve felt, the shame, the uncertainties—and why. It’s like a flip of a switch, and there’s no coming back from it. Not that I would want to, but now I can’t understand why I ever defended him. It makes me sick to my stomach.”
He sighed and closed his eyes, our foreheads touching again. “I guess you’re right. It really is a flip of a switch. And the thing is, we kinda saw it coming—Colt and me. Right before the fire, we theorized that the Corey we missed wasn’t buried very deep. But I still went into this with the expectation that you’d be a damn mess.”
I giggled, which made him grin softly and kiss my cheek.
“We have a problem now, though,” he went on quietly. “Archie and Sloan are the ones in denial about the future, while I already know I won’t be able to let you go. So tell me, Corey, how are we gonna solve that?”
Sheer bliss exploded inside me, and I could barely stand still. I wanted to climb him like a tree!
“We definitely shouldn’t play the odds,” I teased.
He chuckled and let his hands fall to below my butt. Then he surprised me by picking me up, and I yelped and threw my arms around his neck. My legs around his hips followed before I felt secure.
“I guess we’ll take a leap of faith.” He cupped my cheek and kissed me chastely, as if we’d done it a million times before, and it was nowhere near good enough. “We’ll see how the future pans out. We’ll fight for something that works for all of us.”
I nodded and stared at his lips.
“Because right now, you want to focus on having fun,” he said with a knowing smirk.
Guilty!
“And enjoying the freedom from Marcus,” he added.
“Freedom to serve willingly,” I corrected. “Without shame or a guilty conscience.”
He hummed and leaned in again, but he stopped a couple inches away. “Do you want to serve me, little one?”
My stomach tightened with so many yesses. “Yes, Sir,” I whispered.
“Good boy,” he whispered back. “Then you know what you may call me from now on.”
Oh God.
Dominus.
I swallowed dryly. “Pop.”
He shook his head in amusement. “You know, it weirdly works…? But that’s not what I’m looking for.”
I knew that.
“Dominus,” I murmured.
The look in his eyes grew heated and so intense, and I had to brush my fingers over his jaw when it ticked with tension. I was a willing captive desperate for more, and I made the move this time. I pressed my lips to his and kissed him tentatively.
He kissed me back and almost gently pressed me up against the wall behind me.
Greer was in control, and he was in no hurry.
It was maddening.
When I tried to deepen the kiss, he nipped at my bottom lip in silent warning. Then he tilted his head and flicked his tongue against mine, followed by a slow, seductive push where I felt the wet warmth of his tongue so clearly that I shuddered.
I grew harder in my pajama bottoms for every kiss that bled into another, and for every second that pushed me deeper into a pool of raw lust. He started kissing me passionately, hungrily, and trapped me against the wall with more force.