Gideon's Redemption by Maddie Taylor

his nose. It was a parting shot. It was all I could do to keep from beating the hell out of him while he wrote out that confession.”
    Shannon giggled. She wished she could have been there to see it. “How did you stand him all those years? He’s worse than a pig.”
    “Yeah, calling him one insults the pig.” He smiled then, the first one she had seen in almost ten years. “As for the rest of my plan, after you and Eli move in and we get settled, you and I are getting married.”
    “What? But how can you want to after what I did.”
    He pinched her chin softly and angled her face up to his. “I’ll admit that I’m hurt you didn’t trust me, Shannon. But anger and placing blame won’t change what happened or make up for the time we’ve lost. I never stopped loving you and have wanted you back in my life every day.”
    His lips, which had been hovering inches above hers as he spoke, lowered and captured hers in a sweet kiss. It ended too soon as he continued speaking of his grand plan. He had their future mapped out; it filled Shannon with a mix of emotions, ranging from joy to trepidation. There was doubt that he could still love her. He’d thought she’d abandoned him heartlessly for a decade. What if he were doing this out of a need to have Eli in his life? But he’d said he still loved her. Trust him, Shannon, she warned herself. Not doing so was what had put them in this situation to start with.
    “We’ve wasted enough time, don’t you think? We also have Eli to consider. He deserves to know his dad and to have a family, Shannon. I’m sorry if you don’t feel ready for this quite yet. All I can say is if you don’t love me anymore, that’s tough. You’ll have to suck it up and learn to all over again. I’m not spending another day away from my family.”
    “I don’t need to suck it up or learn over again, Gid. I love you too—never stopped.”
    He exhaled, relief evident in his expression. Although he’d spoken with conviction, Shannon realized he hadn’t been as certain of the outcome as he’d seemed. He gathered her into his arms and she melted willingly into his embrace. She had missed those arms so badly.
    “You can’t imagine how happy I am to hear that.” He kissed her deeply then, robbing her of breath and the ability to think of all the changes that were about to happen in her and Eli’s lives.
    As perceptive as ever, Gideon seemed to read her thoughts. As he pulled his mouth away to look meaningfully in her eyes, he murmured, “We’ll iron out the details once I get you two home. There’s just one more important thing to discuss.”
    “Anything.”
    “Be careful what you agree to, babe. This one may come as a bit of a surprise.”
    “What is it?”
    “You remember how we used to play with bondage and spankings?”
    She nodded, a flush heating her cheeks, not entirely sure where he was going with this.
    “Well… I want that for real this time around.”
    “I don’t understand. You want to spank me for real?” The thought of being over Gid’s lap—bottom bared, thighs quivering with anticipation—awakened her long since dormant libido. She felt her panties dampen as her sex was inundated with arousal.
    “Yes, but that’s not exactly what I meant. All of our play was about D/s, me in control and you submitting. I want that for real this time, Shannon. I need to be in control of this relationship so I can make damn well sure nothing like this misunderstanding ever happens again.”
    “You want to dominate me outside of sex, you mean? Like a slave?”
    “No, I don’t want a slave or a wife that doesn’t think or do for herself. I don’t want to dictate your every move, but I do want to be in charge of us, of our life together, both in and out of the bedroom.”
    “You mean like Justin and Roxie?”
    “You know about them?”
    Shannon’s lips quirked, giving a hint of a smile at his startled expression. She wasn’t as inexperienced back then as he’d thought.