Page 104 of Dance for Me
“I’m presuming poppet doesn’t know about her surprise?”
“No, she doesn’t. I’m questioning my wisdom.”
“She might not appreciate the gesture,” Jasper mused, glancing at her. “Rather, she might not appreciate it at this moment in time. Are you going to warn her?”
Braun studied her face. For more nights than he could count, he’d watched her as she slept. Wondering how to erase the lines of worry and pain from her features. Not an easy task—the watching or the wondering. He’d started to believe the incident would mark her more thoroughly than he’d prepared for.
Seeing her like this, relaxed and peaceful, was invaluable.
He didn’t want to wake her and bring her back to stark reality where life wasn’t perfect. Not when she slept without distress or discomfort. He kissed her forehead, simply because he could. “Would it make a difference? Bodie wants this, I know she does, but it all stems back to being judged. In this case, she’s judged herself and deemed herself unworthy.”
“Who’s unworthy?” Loki demanded, rounding the pit with a tray of drinks balanced on his fingertips. Motherfucking showoff. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Fortunately, your expert opinion won’t be needed, Loki.” Grateful for the interruption, Braun accepted a shot glass from the younger Master. He was too tired to argue the psychology of his sub with Jasper—the damn sadist could outthink even the most evasive of subjects.
Jasper’s cell phone chirped with a text message. Lifting his hip, he retrieved the phone from his back pocket and, after pressing his thumb to the screen, read the message. His lips quirked. “Seems someone is getting antsy,” he muttered to Braun. “Are you ready for this?”
There wasn’t any going back now. Bodie would either love or hate him for whatever transpired next, but he really hoped she saw it as a gift. A steppingstone into the next part of her life.
And if she didn’t...well, she couldn’t hate him forever.
“Now or never,” he said grimly, his stomach knotting as Jasper’s slim pianist’s fingers tapped rapidly over the screen.
With his friends quietly talking among themselves, counting the seconds down in his head, Braun roused Bodie from sleep. Whispering her name, stroking her cheek until those fabulous blue eyes fluttered open delicately, meeting his with slumberous recognition.
Soft, sexy sounds echoed in her throat as she shifted restlessly, content exactly where she was. “Ugh, not morning?”
“Not morning,” he confirmed, love for her overtaking his nerves. The most disastrous of surprises couldn’t quell what he felt for her and he’d figure out a way to make it up to her if this went sideways. “I love you, Bodie, you know that, right?”
Her pout transformed into a delightedly shy smile. “Not as much as I love you. Don’t think I’ve told you that.” Her hand rose, her tiny palm cupping his stubbled cheek. “I’ve loved you since our first kiss. I should have told you.”
The missing piece of the puzzle finally slotted into position with an audible click. A hollow space inside his heart closed in on itself, healing a rift and sealing it off with her words.
She really was perfect, everything he could wish for.
“You’re telling me now, that’s all I care about.” Braun ran his fingertip over her lower lip. Taking her again, right here, was deliciously appealing. His cock vehemently agreed, straining against his pants. “If I didn’t have a surprise for you, I’d be showing you just how much I fucking love you, Boadicea.”
“A surprise?” Hesitance colored her voice. “I-I’m not big on surprises.”
“You’ll like this one.” Please, God, don’t let her turn me into eunuch.
“Incoming,” Atticus rumbled as the main doors opened, then closed with a snap. “Boss, you might want to hide the cuffs.”
The...oh, shit. It took Braun seconds to snap the poppers on Bodie’s cuffs, whisking them off and tossing them to Atticus. At Bodie’s confused look, he shrugged. “Your surprise doesn’t know about extracurricular activities yet.”
“My surprise...” Bodie bolted upright as the sound of wheels on wood reached them. Her eyes were huge, panicked. “Oh my God, Braun, you didn’t.”
“It’s time, Bodie. She’s waited six months for this, just the same as you. The longer we leave the bridge broken, the more it’s going to fall apart, darlin’. Alicia doesn’t care what you look like; she loves you. She asks Connie about you every damn day—and don’t look so shocked. You ask me about Alicia every damn day too.”
Bodie pushed off his lap, forcing herself up onto her feet, hobbling in a slow circle to face the doors. He reached to steady her, but she held up a hand to stop him.
Goddamn it, there were tears in her eyes.
Fearing the worst, Braun cursed himself for being an idiot. Ready to embrace the fallout, he stood and ranged himself behind her, getting his first look at who he hoped would become his sister-in-law.
His initial thought was how similar Alicia was to her older sister. Despite the four years between them, they could have been twins. Alicia’s hair was the same sleek fall of black but much shorter, ending a couple of inches above her thin shoulders. Her eyes were the same shape, framed with long lashes, but while the color matched Bodie’s, the inner spark in them was absent.
She wore a plaid shirt and dark pants. He could almost see her bones under the material. Connie had told him the girl was recovered from the house in a bad state—her parents had not only beaten and berated her on a regular basis, they’d starved her, used her as an ashtray, broken her down to a shell.