“I won’t tell her but I
still don’t understand why you would think she needs protection from me. You’re
a perceptive woman, you must know I care about her.”
“Of course I know. I’m not blind.”
“Well then?”
“Whether you care about her or not, you have no
idea what she’s been through in her life or the things that have made her who
she is. Yes, she puts up a strong front but deep down whether she looks it or
not, Eve is vulnerable.” Caitlyn sighed and shook her head. “I shouldn’t be
telling you this but by the rumpled condition of your clothing, I see things
between you and Eve have already escalated past the point of no return.”
Donavan glanced down at the wrinkled shirt only
half tucked into his slacks. Point taken.
Caitlyn leaned across the counter and gestured a
hand for him to come closer.
“Do you know that Eve’s mother, Madylin, is an
alcoholic?”
“She mentioned it. Yes.”
“Well when Eve was growing up, Madylin rarely
held a job for more than a few weeks at a time, which led to a series of
eviction notices, unpaid bills, and moving around a lot. Eve took on
responsibilities that no child should have to take on. In order to survive she
was forced to step into the shoes her mother left empty and learn how to cope.
But that’s not the worst part, there were times Madylin was so hard up for
money to pay for her habit she would bring men home…clients rather.”
A knot formed in Donavan’s gut and his knuckles
went stark white. He did not like where this was heading.
“Eve would lock herself in her room at night but
she told me, she could still hear what was going on. Thankfully instead of
falling into the pattern her mother set out before her, Eve was determined to
make a better life for herself, no matter what it took. So if Eve’s a bit of a
control freak it’s because she feels she has to be in order to stay safe.”
Donavan let out a slow, steady breath. Though he
didn’t like what he was hearing, it was better than the alternative ending his
own imagination had conjured up.
“Did you know Eve worked two jobs to put herself
through law school? All the while, she lived in this one bedroom shack,
studying mostly on her breaks and on the bus ride to and from her apartment
each day.”
He searched his mind and recalled seeing Eve once
in the middle of the night at the college library, her nose stuffed in legal
text. At the time, he remembered thinking she was just an anal perfectionist
who didn’t know how to relax. Now he realized she was forced to study in the
middle of the night.
“No, I didn’t know that,” he murmured.
“She’s fought for everything she has, Donavan.
Her career means everything to her. She unintentionally associates it with all
the things she has now that she didn’t have before—safety, consistency, freedom
from the life she lived as a girl.”
“It’s understandable,” he agreed. “But, that
doesn’t change the fact that she is a submissive.”
“I accept that. You accept that. Eventually, Eve
will learn to accept it too but it’s going to take a lot more than a few nights
of pleasure with Eden’s most notorious and sought after playboy to break
through the walls of her past. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, you know I love
you to pieces, but it’s the truth.”
Donavan flexed his jaw. He couldn’t argue with
Caitlyn’s logic. If Eve was going to make peace with her past, she would need
to surrender absolute control in an uncomfortable situation and feel one
hundred percent safe with her partner while doing it. What she needed was a
complete exchange of trust over body and mind. That type of trust wasn’t often
earned in one weekend of kinky sex with a friend.
“Where is Eve now?” Caitlyn asked, drawing him
out of his own thoughts.
“In the room. She’s fine, Cait,” he added, noting
the deep concern etched into her features. “I would never do anything to hurt
her. You have to know that.”
“Of course I
still don’t understand why you would think she needs protection from me. You’re
a perceptive woman, you must know I care about her.”
“Of course I know. I’m not blind.”
“Well then?”
“Whether you care about her or not, you have no
idea what she’s been through in her life or the things that have made her who
she is. Yes, she puts up a strong front but deep down whether she looks it or
not, Eve is vulnerable.” Caitlyn sighed and shook her head. “I shouldn’t be
telling you this but by the rumpled condition of your clothing, I see things
between you and Eve have already escalated past the point of no return.”
Donavan glanced down at the wrinkled shirt only
half tucked into his slacks. Point taken.
Caitlyn leaned across the counter and gestured a
hand for him to come closer.
“Do you know that Eve’s mother, Madylin, is an
alcoholic?”
“She mentioned it. Yes.”
“Well when Eve was growing up, Madylin rarely
held a job for more than a few weeks at a time, which led to a series of
eviction notices, unpaid bills, and moving around a lot. Eve took on
responsibilities that no child should have to take on. In order to survive she
was forced to step into the shoes her mother left empty and learn how to cope.
But that’s not the worst part, there were times Madylin was so hard up for
money to pay for her habit she would bring men home…clients rather.”
A knot formed in Donavan’s gut and his knuckles
went stark white. He did not like where this was heading.
“Eve would lock herself in her room at night but
she told me, she could still hear what was going on. Thankfully instead of
falling into the pattern her mother set out before her, Eve was determined to
make a better life for herself, no matter what it took. So if Eve’s a bit of a
control freak it’s because she feels she has to be in order to stay safe.”
Donavan let out a slow, steady breath. Though he
didn’t like what he was hearing, it was better than the alternative ending his
own imagination had conjured up.
“Did you know Eve worked two jobs to put herself
through law school? All the while, she lived in this one bedroom shack,
studying mostly on her breaks and on the bus ride to and from her apartment
each day.”
He searched his mind and recalled seeing Eve once
in the middle of the night at the college library, her nose stuffed in legal
text. At the time, he remembered thinking she was just an anal perfectionist
who didn’t know how to relax. Now he realized she was forced to study in the
middle of the night.
“No, I didn’t know that,” he murmured.
“She’s fought for everything she has, Donavan.
Her career means everything to her. She unintentionally associates it with all
the things she has now that she didn’t have before—safety, consistency, freedom
from the life she lived as a girl.”
“It’s understandable,” he agreed. “But, that
doesn’t change the fact that she is a submissive.”
“I accept that. You accept that. Eventually, Eve
will learn to accept it too but it’s going to take a lot more than a few nights
of pleasure with Eden’s most notorious and sought after playboy to break
through the walls of her past. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, you know I love
you to pieces, but it’s the truth.”
Donavan flexed his jaw. He couldn’t argue with
Caitlyn’s logic. If Eve was going to make peace with her past, she would need
to surrender absolute control in an uncomfortable situation and feel one
hundred percent safe with her partner while doing it. What she needed was a
complete exchange of trust over body and mind. That type of trust wasn’t often
earned in one weekend of kinky sex with a friend.
“Where is Eve now?” Caitlyn asked, drawing him
out of his own thoughts.
“In the room. She’s fine, Cait,” he added, noting
the deep concern etched into her features. “I would never do anything to hurt
her. You have to know that.”
“Of course I
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