Exposed Exposed (Dom Nation #1) - E. Davies Page 0,125
lightly. “There’s always time for more.”
Slate grinned at everyone we passed, nodding at a few of them. Ever since Isaac had been kicked out, he’d come out of his shell. Or maybe it had to do with my claiming him as my own. Either way, he’d blossomed into the man and the sub he’d always been supposed to be.
Isaac hadn’t shown up here since that night. In fact, reliable intelligence had it that he’d found himself ostracized from everywhere in town overnight, and he’d moved away—far away.
By now, those early nights of fear and uncertainty seemed as far away as the faint pinpricks of stars that greeted us when we got outside and I turned my face up to the sky. The summer air was cool compared to the air inside Dom Nation, and I shivered.
“Are you going to howl? Give me warning if you do,” Slate teased me, letting go of me so he could wrap his arm around my waist. He cast me an extra look, like he sensed the energy vibrating through me and wanted to help calm it down with his jokes.
“Oh, I’m saving that for later,” I promised. Little did Slate know what was in store.
Slate had hinted earlier this month that he would like this. It was just up to me to actually do it, and I was finally ready. We both were. I needed it as much as Slate did.
I swallowed and stepped over the barrier with my boy, nodding at Tony on the way by, to find a quiet spot among the men mingling and chatting outside.
We were just a few steps away from Daddy Cakes, the light spilling onto the sidewalk and street from the brightly lit shop.
My new employees had helped ramp up the business quickly, so we could open both day and night to completely different crowds. And now I could come to Dom Nation any night I wanted, without waiting to sell out the day’s batch of cupcakes.
Here, I thought and stopped, turning to Slate and taking his hands as I swallowed back the lump of excitement in my throat.
The confusion in Slate’s eyes only grew when I sank to my knees on the sidewalk in front of him. “Daddy?” Slate whispered.
I smiled up at him, my hands trembling in his grip. “I first saw you right here,” I said, my voice hoarse. My mouth was dry, and the rush of adrenaline made it hard to speak clearly. “Outside Daddy Cakes. Standing outside my door and my life, waiting to walk in and change my whole world. If you’d allow me…”
I fumbled inside the armband where I kept loose change, my locker key, and tonight, something else entirely. I closed the zipper again once I drew out the thin silver necklace and dangled it from my thumbs, gazing up at Slate.
“There’s a matching ring, but I think—I think this part is more important,” I laughed breathlessly. “There’s a lock.” I turned it to show him. “With a three-digit code that only I know.”
Nobody would think twice about the thin, discreet silver chain. He could wear it at work and at home, and when we let the animals inside us out, I could take it off for the evening. Safety first, after all.
Slate’s beautiful blue eyes opened wide and then grew wet. “Rex…?” he whispered.
I smiled up at him and let go of one hand so I could dab the corner of my eye with my thumb. “If you’ll allow me, I’d like you to be mine—not just this once, but forever.”
“Are you…?” Slate looked almost afraid to finish the words, in case this was all a dream. He even pinched his arm lightly, like he thought I wouldn’t notice the movement.
Yeah, I couldn’t believe it, either. But Slate had seen every part of me—even the parts that scared me—and he loved them all. So yeah, I was ready to spend my life with this boy, and I wanted him to know that.
I beamed up at him. “I’m proposing,” I said and nodded as I took his other hand again. “I’m collaring you and marrying you and in every single way, making you mine for life.”
“Oh, my God,” Slate whispered, bouncing on his toes like he was trying to keep it together. He looked away and cleared his throat, then squeezed my hands. “Oh my God, Daddy. You want—you want…”
“I want you,” I murmured up at him. “So, my boy… will you be mine?”