Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
“We don’t need marriage rehabilitation! We worked everything out, remember? We talked, we started a new dynamic, and now everything is fine. What I really could have used was an actual vacation. You have no idea how exhausted—” Her voice got louder with every word.
He looked around, seeing a lot of people looking their way. He hadn’t minded the attention earlier, but a woman shouting at a man sparked a different kind of awareness. He cut her off, keeping his voice low. “Allegra Cassidy Dalton, slow your roll.” He waited until her mouth snapped shut. “Now, take a deep breath, okay?”
She did, and then she took a few more, but they came quicker than he would have liked and he had a feeling she was gearing up to start again. “Let me talk,” he said in a firm tone that was not quite an order.
Her brow furrowed, eyes narrowing, but she kept her mouth closed.
“Our problems aren’t magically fixed because we’re trying a different kind of dynamic. I promise you that it’s not so easy. We’ve made a start, yes. A good one, I think, but just a start. Problems in a marriage are never caused by just one thing, and dropping the D/s part of our relationship was probably a symptom of issues we were already having.” He stopped, giving her a chance to speak.
She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but then closed it with a snap. There was a faraway look in her eyes as she looked to the side. The silence drew out until he decided she wasn’t going to respond at all. Then, finally, she nodded once.
It wasn’t much but he’d take it.
“I don’t know much about therapy, to be honest. And, really, the idea of spilling our issues in front of a stranger makes my skin crawl.” It wasn’t just a phrase, even saying it made his back itch, and he rolled his shoulders and sighed. “I’d do it, if we had no other option, but this ain’t that, and I thought it was worth trying. Plus, I had other reasons for wanting to do this with you.”
She fidgeted. Her hands twisted the bottom of her shirt into knots, until she saw him watching, and then she shoved them into her pockets out of sight. “So, what is it then? If it’s not marriage counseling.”
“It’s a place to grow closer and learn how to listen to each other. It’s hard to explain it better than that. Ma and Pa both have degrees in psychology, but—”
“Wait… Ma and Pa? I thought your parents were dead,” she blurted. And then she seemed to understand how it sounded and winced.
“They aren’t my parents. That’s just what everyone calls them, and you’ll get it when you meet them.” He hesitated; this wasn’t the best time or place for a long story. “Remember when I told you about how I worked on a ranch for a few years after my parents died?”
She nodded. “Yeah, you said it helped you get better, but you’ve never given me a lot of details.”
“Well, this was the ranch.” He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. Even briefly mentioning his past tended to make him tense. “I’ve wanted to bring you here for a while, but life got away from us. Never seemed to be the time, but now I think we need this. And I’ve seen firsthand how much they can help people.”
Allegra took a minute to think it over. “I guess I can give it a try.” The tone was flat, and her expression showed nothing of what she was feeling.
“It’s not all work. There’s a lot of fun to be had on a ranch. This might not be the vacation you expected, but I think if you let yourself, you could enjoy it.” He made his tone light. “Will you try? For Daddy?” he asked, coaxing her as he reached out to stroke the back of his hand across her cheek.
Her expression shifted from blank to pouty immediately with the Daddy word in play. “Fine, but you owe me, Daddy. I get to pick our next vacation, and you don’t get a vote.”
That was going to cost him. He’d had to veto a lot of her vacation ideas in the past, and for good reasons. He sighed. “It’s a deal. But—”
“Yes!” burst from her, as if she hadn’t thought she’d win that concession.
“But,” he repeated. “You have to really try.”
It got another eyeroll, but she agreed. Promising her the world was apparently all it took to put her in a good mood, because she was all smiles and bright chatter when the van from the ranch pulled up. The name was emblazoned on the side, and he was glad he’d taken the time to warn her.