Authors: Avery Gale
Taking her hands from his, she reached up to cup his face as she spoke. “I spoke with my brothers just last night, asking them questions about the workings of Ds relationships, and amazingly it was Alex whose words had the biggest impact.” She gently placed her finger over his lips when he started to speak, silencing him as she continued. “His words of wisdom were to stop analyzing something that just
is
and to follow my heart. And my heart belongs to you, Colt…I love you more than I ever knew I could love anyone…You have given me so many gifts, but more than anything, you have put joy and meaning back into my life and I honestly believed I’d lost those forever.”
Colt pulled the ring from its velvet perch and slipped it onto her finger before leaning down to kiss her hand, running his lips over the ring that now brought their hearts even closer together. “I can’t promise you I’ll be a perfect husband, hell, I can guarantee you I’ll be way less than perfect as a matter of fact.” He looked at her and then leaned forward to brush a light kiss over her lips before speaking again. “But I can tell you that I will always love you and cherish you more than you can possibly imagine. You are the light and center of my life. I want to marry you as soon as possible, sweetness. And as soon as we return from our honeymoon, we’ll have a collaring ceremony.”
Jenna smiled at the mention of a collaring. She’d been almost eighteen before she’d figured out the beautiful diamond choker her mother wore was actually a collar. When she’d asked about it, her mother had been completely honest with her, explaining that in relationships like hers and her father’s, a collaring was actually more significant and binding than a marriage ceremony. It had fascinated Jenna, and she smiled now at that memory.
“I spoke with your mother and father, and I can promise you your mom is in full wedding-planner mode already.” He smiled and shook his head before saying, “God help your brothers when she hits the gate and starts in on the plans she was texting to me even before their plane had left Paris. I know you have a lot of things going on with deciding about redirecting your career and all that would entail…” He found himself in very novel territory as he blew out a breath and then said, “I’d love to work with your mom on the plans if you don’t mind. I want to make this something so special you’ll remember it as one of the most beautiful days of your entire life rather than the end of a stressful couple of months of planning and preparation. I want you to concentrate on getting yourself to a place where you can balance your need to help others with the time I’m going to be taking up keeping you naked and shivering in a sexual haze.” He was pleased to see her eyes dilate and a small smile move over her lovely face and knew his words had broken some of the tension just as he’d hoped they would.
Jenna couldn’t believe it…this man, the one she knew was a Dominant to his core, was offering to work with Typhoon Catherine to plan the wedding of her dreams so she could concentrate on getting ready to start college after the first of the year? At that moment, she finally looked down at the ring he’d slid onto her finger and gasped. “Oh my God in heaven, Colt…this is the most amazing ring I’ve ever seen.” The gold band had interlocking swirls of titanium whose focal point was the enormous princess-cut diamond flanked by a dazzling pair of alexandrite stones. The stone had always been her favorite, its changing color fascinating her. Looking up into his eyes, she asked, “How did you know?” in a voice that was little more than a wisp of air.
Wrapping her in his arms, he pulled her into his chest and kissed her temple before he spoke. “As your Dom and your fiancé it is my job to know everything about you, my love. Don’t think for a minute you will have even the smallest secret…I’ll spend the rest of my life uncovering every wonderful little detail that makes you the most intriguing woman I have ever known.”
Jenna wrapped her arms around Colt’s neck and sighed as she inhaled the woodsy scent of his aftershave. Pulling back, she slowly ran her fingers along the underside of his jaw before raising her eyes to his. “I want to live here. I want to go back to college and get a degree that will allow me to help other women who have endured and survived the horrors that lurk around every corner. But I can do most of that from here, and I want to talk to my brothers about building here on the mountain if you’d like that, I mean, well, I want to live close to my family and they already love you, and well, I’m going to have to be around a lot if I’m going to be the world’s best aunt and then someday when we have a family…oh my God, you do want a family, don’t you? Oh geez, we didn’t even talk about that…and well, I want to continue to learn about Ds, and I love going to The Club, and Kat is my best friend and…”
Colt leaned his head back and laughed out loud. “God I love you so much. You are just an absolute treasure…You beguile me and living here with you as my wife, raising our children…which yes, by the way, I want very much, is just about as perfect a life as I can imagine.”
Pausing for several seconds while she settled, Colt used very best Dom voice and said, “Now, about this issue of you being out here all alone and so lost in thought that you didn’t even hear my approach. Do you remember our discussion about how serious an issue I consider your safety and how important I consider your attention to each and every detail relating to that? Hmmm?” He almost laughed aloud again as he saw the lust and anticipation flash through her dark eyes. “Let’s just have a little reminder lesson, shall we? Stand up and strip, pet. Lose everything but the ring…” His words laced with love rather than reproach, and Jenna felt the last pieces of the ice that she’d wrapped around her heart so long ago melt away.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For years, I was accused of living in “Fantasy Land” so I decided to put it to use and started writing. I enjoy creating characters who are loveable but never perfect, who live in and visit all the places I’d love to go, and who overcome obstacles to find the sexy happily ever after I believe we all deserve. I fall in love with the characters I create and enjoy making them each wacky and wonderful in their own way.
The only consistent trait in my heroines is their inability to cook and that is the only trait they each have “inherited” from me. When I’m not working at my very ordinary job, I am either writing or reading. And even though my family professes to support my writing efforts, I’m fairly certain they are merely glad to see I’ve finally found an outlet for what they considered an over-the-top imagination.
For all titles by Avery Gale, please visit
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com