Free Tied to the Tycoon by Chloe Cox Page B

and he rubbed her legs up and down to keep them from cramping, he didn’t want to be thinking about anything else. He wanted to be there, with her, only.
    Too bad .
    He had to think about things he’d rather not, or risk hurting her. Risk becoming the person he’d fought so hard not to be.
    Fine.
    His original plan—if it could be called that—was still a good one. He knew he knew Ava better than he’d known anyone—really, better than he supposed he had a right to, after ten years. He just did. Couldn’t explain it. Knew enough to know that he had to tread carefully, that there was something deep inside her that she had to learn to let go of slowly, and he knew that for an over-thinker like Ava, the way to do that was through the physical. Just side step the rational altogether, let her body show her the way forward, and her mind might choose to follow. Otherwise, she’d fight. He could see it happening a little already. He’d seen her do it over a million little things back in school.
    Ava was a fighter in every possible way. He figured she had reasons to be.
    She was starting to come to, her heart slowing, her breathing returning to normal. She curled into his chest more, and he squeezed her tight. He wouldn’t let her go until he had to.
    He let his face fall, his lips brushing her head. He’d been careful, hadn’t he? All that work he’d done, all that introspection, all those years learning about how to be a loving dominant. Hell, he’d read books. That had worked, hadn’t it? He hadn’t ended up that way. He’d never wanted to hurt anybody; he’d only been thinking about her welfare, how she felt, what she needed.
    And yet, still, he’d pushed her too far. Pushed her past a boundary that mattered to her.
    If he had hurt her—again—he’d never forgive himself.
    “Hey,” she said, and looked up at him with those sleepy blue eyes.
    “There you are,” he said, and kissed her forehead. “How’re you doing?”
    She seemed to know what he was asking. It was in the pause, in her slow blink, in her thoughtful expression. Like she was taking the time to compose herself, make a decision. She must have been coming to in his arms for a while. That, or he was so crazed that he was imagining things.
    Finally, she gave a lazy, playful shrug. “I guess I’ve been worse.”
    He laughed out loud with relief. She might still be coming out of subspace, but he knew Ava. And she wouldn’t have forgotten the questions he’d asked. Maybe she wasn’t answering them, but at least she wasn’t holding it against him.
    “Oh, really?”
    She squealed as he went in to tickle the bottoms of her feet and rolled off of his lap with surprising agility, considering. She hopped away, robe wrapped snugly around her, shaking her finger at him before he could get up.
    Jackson stared after her. With just her expression, just that gesture, it was like she’d sent them back in time. Just like it had been when they’d last stayed up all night, talking and laughing, as though he hadn’t lost ten years with her. Like they were still young and stupid, and free to joke around without worrying about what unseen landmines lay beneath the surface, what emotional baggage lay around, just waiting to trip them up. He knew it couldn’t last like that, that the past would have to be dealt with. But at that moment, he chose to believe it would last at least a little bit longer.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked as she sauntered towards the kitchen counter.
    “For some inexplicable reason, I’m feeling kind of hungry,” she said over her shoulder. “And I distinctly remember cupcakes.”
    She flipped open the box, then paused as something else caught her attention. She held up the red envelope he’d brought back with him and shot him a questioning look.
    “What’s this?”
    “You’ll find out.”
    She smiled sweetly, bringing her cupcake back into the living room where she sat on his toy chest—he assumed so