I’m not going to lie, I was delighted with the move. “Very smooth, Mr. Montgomery.”
He winked. “Only for you, Mrs. Montgomery.”
It made my heartbeat speed up hearing him call me that again after so long.
Did we really need to have that talk? Couldn’t I just lift a rug and sweep it under it?
“I need to hurry this up, baby, so I’m not late for work,” Mark said, sounding disappointed, as he washed my hair with shampoo and put the conditioner on it. “One day soon, once our talk’s out of the way, we’ll do this again, and it’ll be different.”
Tilting my chin up, he held my eyes with his own as he added, “But if you want to shower like this every day, you won’t get any argument from me.”
I sank into him, wrapping my arms around his waist, and listened to his heart beating. We were naked so there was obviously an element of sex to our situation, but mostly, it felt like I was reconnecting with him and lowering my guard that little bit more.
And that got me thinking as he washed the rest of my body—over the last couple of weeks, he’d done so much to prove he cared about me. What had I done back? I hadn’t made any little or grand gestures. Sure, he was staying in my house, but he’d bought the home of my dreams, for frick’s sake.
Just thinking about it made me feel guilty and like I was being self-centered. I needed to get off my ass and start showing him I cared, too. Our relationship had never been one-sided, we’d always contributed equally, and doing this would help us move forward.
Tipping my head back once the conditioner was washed out and I was squeaky clean, I pressed a kiss to his chin, something I’d done all the time when we were younger.
When his head dipped down, I could tell just that one small action had resonated with him.
Yeah, I was going to enjoy planning my gestures for Mark. I had some time on my hands, what with still feeling like shit, but at least I had the energy now to do some shopping online and some research.
With a devious smile, I waved him off to work and then curled up on the couch with my phone and Zeus. Discovering the little guy was all mine and that Mark had gotten him for me for my birthday as he was leaving for work had been amazing. Not that I’d have let Zeus go if he wasn’t.
“You going to help me plan big surprises for him, baby?”
My dog wagged his tail and braced himself with his front paws against my bicep and his back legs on the couch.
“Okay. Wait until you see the new home. Once it’s done it’ll look spectacular, and you’ll have so much space to run around in. There’s lots of grass and plenty of space for you to run outside, too.”
At that, he looked bored and laid down. That was until I decided it was treat time.
Wait, what would a ‘treat’ for an adult male like Mark look like?
Three days later…
The rearranged celebrations for my birthday were tomorrow night, and today was the first day I had the energy to get ready and go out somewhere.
I’d gotten to thinking the other day when I’d seen how enthusiastic and excited Zeus had been over getting a treat and how happy it’d made him about how I could evoke a reaction like that in Mark. The idea I’d had would still count as a gesture from me to him, there was no way it couldn’t, but how would I go about making it happen?
On a whim, I’d texted Cyn, and here we were, with her taking me to where she figured I could do that. I hadn’t wanted to go to Scarlett’s because she was married to Mark’s brother, and I was worried she’d let the surprise slip, so Cyn was taking me to a shop she knew of instead.
She squealed as we pulled out of the road leading to the main street in Palmerstown. “So, we’re going to get a human treat for Mark that’ll make him wag his tail excitedly.”
“That makes it sound like we’re going somewhere they sell animal costumes, and people meet up dressed in them and have an orgy.”
Her lip curled. “I don’t touch shit like that. Hey, maybe that’s what they did in the house Mark bought. I’d imagine if you… ‘discharged’ over one of those furry costumes, it’d smear around—” she gagged before I could. “Forget I mentioned it.”
She took a turning and pulled up in front of a place called Lexie’s. There were mannequins in the window wearing lingerie, and behind them I could see rails and shelves with items on them in a variety of colors.
It looked naughtier and a bit more risqué than Scarlett’s store.
“Are you sure this is the right place?”
Cyn grinned at me. “Absolutely, it’s the bollocks. I came in here when I was bored one day, and now I’m addicted.”
As we got out of the car, we heard our names being called.