“Baby? While you were reading…how did you feel?”
“Like I’d finally found out why I’d felt and behaved the way I always had in the past.”
“You discovered you were a submissive?”
She looked at him then, again, looked at Trace. But just as she had a couple of times already, she focused on him, and he knew that she’d figured something out. If he hadn’t guessed that based on the expression on her face, her next words confirmed it.
“Yes…Sir.”
Brandon nodded. “I’ve known I was a Dominant since shortly after I joined the Marines.”
“I have some Dominant qualities,” Trace said, “but it’s not a part of me the way it is for Brandon. I am willing to learn, however.”
“Which means it’s going to be a unique relationship for us,” Brandon said. “I’m not interested in living the lifestyle twenty-four- seven. I like to be in control in the bedroom, and I want to be in control when it comes to giving you what you need—when it comes to taking care of you, and I’m not talking just in the bedroom. I think that’s something you haven’t had a lot of in your life, something you’ve had to live without, up until now. So when it comes to that, we’ll be in charge, too.
“So, I guess the real question, Rachel, is this. Are you interested in exploring your submissive side?”
Chapter Six
Rachel knew she appeared shocked, because she was. She looked from Brandon to Trace. No wonder they didn’t want to talk at the restaurant. “I…I don’t know how to answer that.” She looked down at her hands for a moment then met Brandon’s gaze. “I mean I guess I do want to know what that can mean for me, so yes, I am interested in exploring my submissive side. But I’m thinking that I wouldn’t just be exploring me. I’d be discovering what being Dominant means to you, too, wouldn’t I?”
“You would,” Brandon said. “Does that concept repel you or scare you?”
Did it? She held his gaze even as she let her thoughts wander. Thinking about the past was never an easy exercise for her. It usually meant—
“Rachel.”
Her head snapped up until their gazes met, and Rachel shivered because she hadn’t thought the command, “look at him.” Her head had done that all by itself. And then her mouth got on board with the whole thing. So instead of keeping her reflections in her head, she shared them.
“I need to explain.” She waited until Brandon nodded. “I was a late-in-life child for my parents. They were both retired from the military, and I grew up knowing how to follow orders before I could even walk. They died within months of each other about a year after I married Buck. Buck’s uncle and my dad were really good friends.”
“And you met Buck through them?”
“Yes. Buck was a different man, courting me, than he turned out to be as a husband. I never would have married him if I’d known that side of him, and I’ve been thinking—only very recently in fact—that that was likely the point of the whole courtship period, as regimented as it was. I’ve come to believe that Dad chose Buck for me.”
“He very likely did,” Trace said.
“The thing is I grew up believing myself to be compliant. I considered myself a dutiful daughter. I never had a rebellious phase, and I never rocked the boat. And then I became a dutiful wife. I’d taken vows before God and man, and those vows meant something to me.
“I never understood until I moved here, made friends, and began to learn what being a submissive meant—and what being a good husband and father looked like. Despite how my marriage turned out, I don’t regret being the way I was. How could I? I am who I am. I can hardly regret marrying Buck, either, because he gave me Libby.
“By the same token, I have no problem with the concept of entering a Dominant/submissive relationship. I am a submissive. I know that. There’s only one thing I have a problem with—and it’s a huge problem.”
She didn’t know what he saw or heard or felt that caused Brandon to act. But he did. He reached over and lifted her off the chair she was sitting on and then settled her in his lap.
In the next moment, she did understand. She’d been so focused on getting her words out, on being as clear and honest as she could be, that she hadn’t noticed the way her vision had blurred. Trace handed her a piece of paper towel. The incongruity of using that as a tissue made her chuckle. She took a moment to blot her tears.
“Tell us what the one thing is you have a huge problem with, Rachel. Though, honestly, I think we could both guess what it is.”
“I’ll gladly tell you. But will you please tell me your guess, first?” It was suddenly vitally important to her that these two men get her. She needed that more than she needed anything, and she didn’t even care if her question sounded like a test. If they got her, even a little, and this early on, it would be a sign to her that this, whatever this was going to turn out to be, might just work.
For a moment the men looked at each other. Then Trace nodded. He reached for her left hand and held it between both
