Unconditional (Masters and Mercenaries #5.5)(45)

He didn’t know if he could do it, didn’t know if he wouldn’t get two days in and back out on her, but he knew one thing. She was offering him something unconditional. She would sign that contract and be with him on his terms even if he wouldn’t honor hers. She would give him a year of her life with no conditions, just a simple request.

And he couldn’t take it. Not the way he wanted to. He picked up the pen. He didn’t need to read it. There was one person in the entire world who could offer him a contract, tell him the terms, and he would believe her without proof and that was his sub, his lover, his woman. He signed his name.

“I’ll be there on Sunday.” He couldn’t let her get nothing. He would grin and bear it because when offered paradise, he would take a couple of nights in purgatory.

As he walked out he decided that the smile on her face was worth any discomfort he would endure.



A few weeks later, Ashley stepped out of Emily’s bedroom after looking in on her.

“Is she asleep?” Keith was standing right outside the door. It still shocked her every time she looked up and he was standing in her little house. He was a gorgeous masculine beast amongst her very feminine décor.

“Yeah. She’s okay. I was worried because she had a little fever earlier, but she seems fine now.” She closed the door behind her. He still wasn’t comfortable around Emily. He wouldn’t look right at her. He ignored her most of the time, but when she’d reached out to him earlier, he hadn’t flinched. He’d patted her little head as he paled and moved on by.

She was calling it a win.

It was easier to deal with now that she knew the reasons behind it. Time. She needed time and patience to show him that he could do this. Maybe she was fooling herself. Maybe he would walk at the end of their contract, but she would go down fighting.

“Then come with me.” He used his Dom voice on her. It had the immediate effect of making her * go soft and wanting.

He’d played with her in the club, even f*cked her a couple of times, but he hadn’t reached the intimacy level they’d had before that terrible night they had broken up. He’d held a part of himself back, giving her every ounce of pleasure she could wring from the physical, but just shy of being pure heaven because she knew he was thinking. He was considering. He was plotting instead of being in the moment with her.

He turned and walked down her small hallway toward her bedroom. She followed him, her heart starting to pound because his shoulders had squared, his energy transformed from laid-back to alpha male.

He stopped at her bedroom, opening the door and gesturing her inside. “Get undressed and present yourself.”

Desire crept across her skin. She needed this and she hadn’t really gotten it since before their breakup. He hadn’t dominated her. He’d made sure she had her pleasure, but he hadn’t demanded from her and she’d deeply missed it.

The last two weeks had been a slow, awkward dance. He’d been obviously nervous the first Sunday he’d spent with her. When he’d shown up on Tuesday afternoon, she’d been a little shocked. When he’d knocked on her door on Wednesday, she’d just smiled.

He loved her. He might never have said the words, but she knew it. He couldn’t look at her the way he did and not want her. He couldn’t show up on her doorstep after everything that had happened to him and not love her. It hurt her heart that he shied away from Emily, but they were working on the problem.

Love wasn’t easy. She’d learned that a long time ago. It had taken a while to put it together, but having her baby had crystalized so much for her. Her mother had been wrong. Her mother had allowed a single man to define her. Ashley wouldn’t make the same mistake. She was worthy. She was good. No one could take that from her.

But she could give to those she loved and she intended to give to him.

She walked past him with a confidence she hadn’t had before she met him. He thought he had nothing to give her? Oh, he’d given her this. He’d given her a sexuality she hadn’t known existed, a sexuality that wouldn’t exist without her deep love for him.

Her shirt was a button-down so she eased it off, unbuttoning one at a time. There was no real hurry. He liked to watch her. She liked to watch him watching her. She let the shirt fall to the floor before shoving out of her jeans. She’d noticed that he stared at her when she was in street clothes, like he was utterly fascinated by her normal life. Seventeen days. It had been seventeen days since they had signed their contract. She’d only asked him for two of those nights to be spent with her and yet he almost never went home. The moment she’d requested his presence, he’d taken advantage, sleeping in her bed far more often than he didn’t. Yes, he usually was gone before she awoke, but she had to think it was progress.

“The rest of it,” he said, closing the door firmly behind him. He glanced over, looking at the baby monitor.

He might not look directly at Emily, but he always made sure that her monitor was on before he got into bed.

Little things. They gave her hope. She’d realized that she couldn’t judge him by his words. His words came from fear. His actions came from his soul.

She slipped out of her bra first, releasing her breasts. Cool air hit them, making her nipples peak. She let her hands slide down her body, skimming her curves until her thumbs tucked into her panties. Pushing them down, she followed the line of her body until her knees hit the carpet. She shoved the undies aside and let her knees slide open. Her whole body relaxed as she slipped into her submissive role.