by Sophia Vice
“Yeah?” I prompt him to continue nervously.
“As I said, Jason’s apartment is full now that his fiancé is living with him. So, I want you to move in with me, at least until you’re back on your feet.”
I swallow hard. “That’s a very nice offer, but no.”
I see his gaze harden. “May I ask why not?”
“I’m an independent woman. If I live here rent free, I’m no better than a hooker.”
He laughs. “Kyle, lots of people move in with their boyfriend or girlfriend for financial reasons. It doesn’t mean you’re a hooker. You’re really preoccupied with these labels—slut, hooker…what’s your hang up?”
I scowl at him, but he only laughs harder. “You’re cute when you’re mad,” he chuckles.
“I’ll figure it out,” I say, ignoring his sass. “I’ll crash with my friend for a while until I can get some money together.” I’m already feeling anxious about being unmoored and having to sleep on someone’s sofa. A sofa is better than going back to my parents though, so I’ll do what I have to.
Adam shakes his head. “Overruled. You’re living here where I can keep a closer eye on you. I’m not having you couch surfing when you’re having these health problems.”
I stare at him. “You can’t just overrule a decision like this.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Why not? Did you forget how this arrangement works? You obey me. I’m always willing to hear you out if you have an objection, but I make the final decision.”
I exhale sharply. “You said when we started that I could live my own life.”
He tucks some of my hair behind my ear. “And I stand by that. Once you have a steady job and your health is stable, you can move out if you want, and I’ll be supportive. Does that sound fair?”
I look at him for a heartbeat, reading the seriousness in his eyes, before I nod my assent. He smiles, his gaze warming as he kisses my forehead. “Good girl,” he murmurs, and I feel a thrill of satisfaction at knowing that I’ve pleased him.
“This relationship requires that you trust that I’m doing what’s best for you. Do I have that trust?” He looks into my eyes, his fingers cupping my face.
“Yeah,” I breathe.
He grins, and it takes my breath away.
Adam makes me come that night by touching me gently, but he refuses when I try to return the favor, and I fall into a deep, post-orgasmic sleep nestled against his broad chest.
In the morning Adam wakes me up, and I don the bathrobe from last night as he cuts up some fruit and fries some eggs.
“Can I help?” I ask, feeling useless.
“Pour us some coffee?” he suggests, and I smile since it’s obviously a token task to make me feel helpful.
“I have a crew of movers that are going to pack up everything in your apartment and put it into storage for you,” Adam says as I pour our coffees into mugs.
My eyes widen. “What? I could do all of that myself. Plus, I can’t afford a storage unit,” I protest, picking up the coffee mugs to take them to the table.
Adam shakes his head, smiling as he dishes up our eggs. “Too bad. As much as I admire your work ethic, I want you to focus on your health. You can pick out any of the clothes or toiletries you want to keep here, but everything else will be completely taken care of.”
“I can do it myself,” I insist as I follow him to the table.
“I’ve heard your objection,” Adam says firmly as he sets our plates down, “and I would prefer that you focus on yourself right now instead of worrying about all of your stuff. Am I clear?”
His authoritative tone sends thrills of desire down my spine, and I swallow. I know perfectly well that I’m on dangerous ground, and I don’t really want another spanking like the one he gave me for not paying my electricity bill or when I rolled my eyes at him. “We’re clear, sir,” I mumble.
“Good. Let’s eat.”
There’s a moment of silence as we both dig in. Adam glances at me, and I can tell by his look that I am not going to like what he has to say next.
“I’ve also arranged for you to have a nutritionist and a personal trainer work with you every day until your health has improved,” he announces.
My jaw drops. “What? I don’t need that. That’s way too much.”
“I decide what’s too much, babygirl, remember? Nothing is more important to me than your health.” He makes his point by spearing a piece of apple on his fork and feeding it to me.
I chew on the apple and swallow. “It’s excessive.”
He sighs. “Do you have any other objections, besides the fact that you think it’s excessive?”
“No,” I mumble, surly.
His gaze hardens as he puts his fork down. “Want to try that again, pet?”
“No, sir,” I correct myself.
“That’s better. It’s going to get easier between us, Kyle. I’ll remind you however many times you need.”
“Yes, sir,” I respond, and he smiles, biting into a piece of honeydew with a cheeky grin.
Adam and I go to my apartment first thing, and he helps me pack up my clothes, shoes, and other necessities into large duffel bags. The moving company will box everything else up and put it into storage. After everything I want to take to Adam’s is packed away I say a final goodbye to my shitty apartment. I survey the worn floors, dingy windows, and decide that it’s good riddance.
“Thank you for taking today off for me. You really didn’t have to do that,” I say to Adam, suddenly realizing that all of my protesting this morning might have made me seem ungrateful. “And for letting me stay at your place,” I tack on.
He shakes his head as we both get into his car. “You don’t need to be thankful. In this kind of relationship…It’s my honor to take care of you, to take on worries for you. You should expect to be taken care of. To know that the details of your life are settled—that it’s a given. Do you understand that?” He glances over at me as we pull onto the road, his silvery eyes full of intensity.
I take a settling breath. “I guess I’m starting to,” I reply, watching the passing city scenery.
My whole life has always felt like I was trying to find my balance while the floor was sliding out from under me.
Now, finally, with Adam, I feel like things are stable.
I can stand on my own two feet and figure out where I want to go.
I chew on that thought for a while, a warm glow spreading through my chest.
Is it so bad to give him the control? To lean on his strength? Every part of modern culture tells me it isn’t ok— that I need to be completely independent, and that no man should tell me what to do.
But I’m starting to realize that I like it when he tells me what to do. Before, when a thousand choices would be arrayed in front of me, it felt paralyzing. It was so overwhelming that I would end up choosing nothing at all.
Knowing that Adam will just choose for me feels strangely like…freedom.
I relax into my seat, and into this new knowledge, as Adam speeds down the road. “Where are we going now?” I ask him, my voice mellowed by my revelations.
He peers at me sidelong. “You’re asking me? Not making demands?”
“Obviously.” I try to mimic his mannerisms by lifting one sardonic brow, and he laughs.
“Good girl. I like that. And, if you want to know, we’re going to a cafe to meet with the nutritionist I mentioned this morning.”
“Oh. Okay.” For some reason I feel embarrassed about the fact that Adam feels he has to hire a nutritionist for me—to save my fat ass from diabetes, I guess. I look down at my own belly rolls, pursing my lips.
“Whatever you’re thinking so hard about over there, you should quit while you’re ahead.” Adam glances at me as he stops at a red light.
“It’s a little awkward,” I admit. “I wouldn’t exactly call it sexy that my new boyfriend…or Dom, or whatever you are, has to take me to a nutritionist because I have a weight problem.”
“A health problem,” Adam admonishes. “And it isn’t anything to feel awkward about. I saw her myself a few years ago. That’s why I always eat so healthy now.”
“Oh, really?” I’m surprised by this new tidbit. “Were you…um…” I hesitate, struggling with how to ask this question without insulting him.
“Was I what?” Adam’s smile is teasing.
“Were you, uh, over-weight?” I ask cautiously.
Adam laughs, and the deep and resonant sound sends warmth curling around my heart. “No, I wasn’t overweight. But I was overworked when I started my company, and I had never really worked out a day in my life. I didn’t even know where to begin. Once the company took off I realized that I wanted to get more control over my body and stop feeling so fatigued all the time. I hired a personal trainer, and he recommended that I see a nutritionist. That’s how I met Lily.”
I gape a little at him. “Are you telling me you didn’t always look like a Greek god?”
He laughs, that irresistible dimple appearing on his cheek as he pulls into a parking garage. “Nope. I had to work for it, just like everyone else. No one is born with packed on muscle, you know. It isn’t genetics. Just pure effort.”
“Says you,” I grumble.
Adam just laughs as he parks the car.
He opens my door for me, ever the consummate gentleman, and he takes me by the arm as he leads me out of the parking garage. Out on the sidewalk his arm bands around my waist, and I find myself strangely pleased. I have never liked PDA in the past, but I feel so secure whenever he’s touching me that I end up not caring who sees.
Predictably, Adam takes us to a very chic and hip coffee shop. A woman sitting at a round white tulip table jumps up as she sees us enter. She’s gorgeous, with brown wavy hair, stunning eyes, and freckles.
“Adam,” she gushes as she hugs him, “you are looking so well. Very healthy.”
It’s kind of a weird comment to make, but I guess that it makes sense for a nutritionist.
Adam laughs and disengages from the hug quickly. “It’s nice to see you, Lily.”
I squint my eyes at them. My instincts are telling me that there is more than meets the eye here. There’s some kind of history between Adam and Lily. My gut twists, and I’m a little dismayed to find that I don’t like it—whatever it is between them. I don’t like it one bit.
“Hi,” I say a bit frostily as I shift closer to Adam, “I’m Kyle.”
Lily is undeterred by my coldness, her smile as bright and radiant as a morning sunrise. “It is so great to meet you,” she says, and to my horror, she wraps me up into a startlingly strong hug.
So, she’s one of those types, I think to myself. A real earth mother. She smells like some kind of floral perfume mixed with patchouli.
She pulls back, and Adam asks me and Lily what we want to drink. While he orders Lily leads me over to her table. I admire her figure as she walks in front of me. I can tell she works out a lot.
I have a quick visual of her tight, toned body in bed with Adam’s athletic one, and I cringe. She’s like some kind of yoga instructor meets Vicotria’s Secret model wet dream.
How can Adam want to be with me when he could have that? I think, despairing.
“Adam told me a little about what’s going on, and that you were at the hospital,” Lily says, breaking me out of my thoughts as her hand covers mine over the coffee table. Her pretty hazel eyes are wide with sympathy.
Obviously she’s read the misery on my face and assumes that I am feeling upset about the state of my health. In a way, I guess I am. I can’t help but stew in my jealousy because I will never have a body like Lily’s.
Adam returns with our orders before I can respond. I take my black coffee, which I only ordered without my usual milk, syrup, and whip out of self-consciousness. Lily ordered a matcha drink. Typical.
“Thank you, Adam,” Lily beams, and Adam smiles back.
How mad would Adam be if I threw her green matcha almond milk latte in her face? I snort at the visual, and both Adam and Lily’s heads swivel towards me.
“Something funny?” I can almost hear the unspoken pet at the end of his question, and it sends a shiver down my spine.
“No. Just remembered something. So, Lily, how does this work exactly?” I deftly change the topic.
“One second,” says Lily, her eyes gleaming in excitement as she gets out an iPad. I narrow my eyes at her. Of course Ms. Lululemon uses an iPad for her meetings.
I startle a little as Adam squeezes my knee under the table, and I look up at him. His eyes are full of warning, and he gives his head an infinitesimal shake.
Somehow, I realize, he must know I don’t like Lily that much. What is he, a telepath?
I bite my lip, looking away from Adam as Lily starts typing something on her iPad.
“So,” she says, “I want an exact rundown of what you eat. Remember that if you lie, you are only hurting yourself. It’s my job to help you, and I can’t do that unless I really know what your diet choices have been in the past. So, for instance, what would a typical day look like? What did you eat yesterday?”
I rattle off what I ate yesterday, including the healthy breakfast, the lunch Adam took me to, and the soup he cooked. I downplay the number of chocolate-chip cookies I ate before lunch by saying ‘a few,’ instead of ‘the entire package.’
Lily looks between me and Adam thoughtfully as she types. “And for how long have you been eating like that with Adam?”
I blush. She’s basically asking how long we’ve been going out. “Only the last few days or so,” I admit.
Has it only been two days? I’ve been so totally immersed in all things Adam, and I spent so much time thinking about him when I was trying to resist his proposal, that it feels like we’ve been going out much longer than that.
I can’t believe that I am moving in with a man, a dominant, control-freak of a man, after only dating him for two days. It’s basically the definition of bad judgment. Shauna is going to completely freak out when I tell her.
“Okay,” Lily says neutrally, “so what was a typical day like before you started eating with Adam?”
I take a sip of my coffee, fully prepared to tell Lily that I usually eat smoothies and salads.
But then I remember Adam’s words from a few nights ago—honesty. It’s one of his rules. I glance over at him sidelong, and he just smiles, his steely eyes gleaming. It’s like he’s testing me; he knows that I’m tempted to lie and is waiting to see what I’ll do.
I take a deep breath. “I never really ate a breakfast. Sometimes a snack bar. Then I would scrounge whatever I could get at the coffee shop, like some cookies or banana bread or whatever, and then I’d get a pizza or some other kind of take out on my way home. I’m not much of a cook,” I tack on lamely.
Lily types furiously and Adam just smiles at me, almost like he’s… proud?
“Any other snacks or groceries?”
I pause to think. “Yeah,” I admit, “Since I didn’t really eat a meal all day I’d be really hungry after work, so sometimes after I finished the take-out I would eat some chips, or some cookies, or some ice cream.” I blush, embarrassed. It feels so much worse to admit all of this to a woman who looks like she would be on some kind of fitness commercial.
Lily suggests that I start my new diet gradually, since “going full-throttle will set you up for failure.”
“No,” Adam interrupts, surprising us both with the firm tone of his voice, “she won’t fail. You don’t need to ramp this diet up over time—she can do it right now. I’ll be cooking, and we can also use the meal delivery service I use, so it won’t be any extra effort for her.”
“Okay,” says Lily, looking as startled as I feel at the intensity in his voice. For the second time today, I feel my heart light up with a warm glow. Adam wants to take care of me.
And I want to let him.
12
Adam
Kyle fidgets the entire way back to my house, her bro
w furrowed.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her, studying her features. “Are you not feeling well?”
She looks at me sharply, startled by my questions. I don’t think she realizes that her face is an open book.
“No, I feel fine. Nothing is wrong,” she says, too quickly for my liking.
“Okay.” I’ll get the truth out of her when we get back to my house.
The moment we step through the door, I’m all business. My pet is keeping something from me, and I have to know what it is.
“Go to the bedroom,” I tell her, taking her jacket off and hanging it up next to mine.
She pales. “Right now?”
I smile at her, amused. “Yes, right now. Don’t make me wait. And”—I catch her elbow as she turns to go—“I want you naked.”
She turns back to look at me, her eyes wide. “Naked? Now, in the afternoon?”
It’s a struggle not to laugh. She’s so innocent and pure—and it makes me as hard as a rock. It will be hard not to fuck her the moment I walk into the room. “Yes, pet. I want you naked. I don’t think there’s anything ambiguous about that. I know this is new to you, but you know you need to follow my orders, even when it feels uncomfortable, right?” I cup her face, tilting it up towards me. I feel her swallow hard where my fingers touch her throat.
“Right,” she agrees, her voice thin with anxiety.
“Good girl,” I murmur, pressing a kiss to her lips before giving her a light swat on the ass.
I busy myself straightening up the living room. It’s already as neat as a pin, but I’m a little OCD about organization, so I can always find something to fix.
The longer I wait, the more her curiosity and nervousness will build.
I smile. Maybe it’s fucked up, but I like her nervous. It makes me hard enough to cut glass.
After about ten minutes I enter the bedroom, my balls tight in anticipation of seeing her full curves and her naked, perfect skin.
My breath catches a little when I see her. She’s standing awkwardly at the foot of the bed, one arm crossed over her breasts and the other covering her pussy. Her hair cascades around her face, and her eyes almost seem to glimmer in the dim light.