“Promise me,” she said and then yawned.
“Anything.”
“That tomorrow you’ll open your toy bag.”
His laughter warmed her even more and she didn’t think he was going to answer, but right before sleep claimed her, she heard him murmur, “I promise.”
WINNIE’S JOURNAL
I had the strangest dream last night.
I dreamed of a dark and deep forest where there was no night, only day. It was by the sea, but I couldn’t cross the ocean. (I don’t know why and I didn’t try to cross. It was just something I knew and accepted.) It was peaceful and I was happy. Looking back now, that’s funny because I’m so not the camping type.
Anyway, I was walking through the forest and in the distance, I saw Lennox and Marie. They were far away, but I knew it was them and I knew they couldn’t see or hear me. It was sort of like they were on TV, except they didn’t know they were being filmed.
They were a bit older in my dream. Odd, because I hadn’t aged. And it’s not like they were old old. I mean, they didn’t have gray hair. Well maybe now that I think about it, Lennox might have had a few strands around his temple, but honestly? It just made him hotter.
So they were walking by the sea and somehow I knew they could cross it and yet, even knowing that, I wasn’t jealous. I was content in the forest. Again, funny as hell, right? Because, me? In the forest? Dreams are strange. But that wasn’t even the strangest part. What happened next was.
Lennox and Marie were holding hands while they walked and, again, I wasn’t jealous. I actually felt happy. I could tell they were talking, but I couldn’t hear them. Lennox must have said something funny, because Marie laughed. One of those belly-deep laughs that I haven’t heard from her in ages. They stopped and Lennox smiled and touched her cheek. She turned her head and kissed his palm, bringing her hand up to hold his.
That’s when I noticed it.
Marie had a tattoo on her wrist. Totally out of place on her. Marie has never expressed any desire to get a tattoo and Marie with a tattoo makes about as much sense as me finding contentment in a forest. But there’s more.
Lennox knelt down on one knee and held something out to her. The sun bounced off of it and I could tell it was an engagement ring. Marie started to cry, but she nodded her head. Lennox stood up and put the ring on her finger and they kissed. One of those kisses. You know the type. The go-get-a-room type.
The whole time I was smiling and cheering for them and I realized I was crying, but they were tears of happiness.
Then I woke up and I felt sad because part of me wanted to be in the forest.
CHAPTER
Thirteen
That’s the last entry,” Lennox said as he closed the journal.
They were eating breakfast in his room the next morning. He’d read Winnie’s journal a little at a time while he’d been away from the academy and he’d wanted to share the last thing Winnie wrote with Marie, since it was both odd and mentioned her.
She’d been silent while he read the entry out loud, and he hadn’t thought anything about it, but looking at her now, he realized she’d gone completely pale.
“Marie?” he asked.
She blinked. “It really says that about a tattoo?”
He’d had no idea reading the entry would get such a shocked reaction from her. Not the tattoo bit anyway.
“Winnie had a dream about me proposing and you’re hung up on a nonexistent tattoo?” He cocked his head to the side. “What am I missing here?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“Marie? Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“Take a deep breath and tell me what has you upset.”
“I’m not upset so much as I’m shocked.” She took a deep breath. “The tattoo thing. I’ve never told anyone that. Not even Winnie.”
He waited while she took a sip of coffee.
“I feel as though I need something stronger than coffee.” She was trying to tease, but it didn’t carry over to her expression or tone of voice.
“Maybe later,” he said.
She closed her eyes. “I’ve always had this idea, this thought, that if I found a Dom and he offered me his collar and I wanted it, that I wouldn’t wear a literal collar. Too cumbersome while dancing.” She opened her eyes and met his gaze. “Instead, I’d ask for him to pick out a tattoo to go around my wrist.”
It was as if something sucked all the air right out of the room with her words. His chest grew tight even as a shiver ran down his spine because something in the back of his mind whispered, Yes.
“There’s more,” she said.
There couldn’t be, he wanted to say, but she spoke with a conviction that left no room for doubt. He didn’t say anything; rather he nodded for her to go on.
He sat in amazement as she told him of the dream she’d had while in the hospital. At least she’d thought it was a dream. Now, after hearing Winnie’s final journal entry, she wasn’t sure. Neither was he.
She finished and they both sat in a stunned silence for several long minutes.
“Wow,” Lennox finally said.
“Exactly.”
“I wonder.” He thought about it some more and changed his mind. “Nah, forget it.”
“You were wondering why she’s never come to you.” She didn’t ask it as a question, she stated it like the fact it was.
“Actually, yes.” He wasn’t surprised Marie knew him so well, and in a way, it was a bit comforting.
“She only appeared to me and Andie when we were in the hospital, and she had that dream days before she died.” Marie tilted her head. “So unless you’re seriously injured or near death, I don’t think she would.”
“In that case, I don’t want to see her.” He remembered his visit to her grave. “I’ve already said my final good-byes anyway.”
Silence fell back over the room and Lennox felt the air between them shift into something that bordered on melancholy. He only had himself to blame; he was the one who brought up the journal. Now it was up to him to change the dynamic of the room back.
He pushed away from the table. “Since I’ve said my final good-byes, I’m going to focus my time and energy on the future.” He held out his hand. “I would like for you to join me.”
The smile that instantly came over her face told him he’d done the right thing. And any lingering traces of gloom fell away when she asked, “Might the future involve your toy bag?”
“Definitely,” he said. “In fact, if you’d like to experience it, go kneel beside the bed. Naked.”
He’d been slightly unsure that she’d want to do anything physical after reading the journal entry together, but the way she hopped out of her chair and tore her clothes off as she scampered to the side of the bed alleviated that worry.
Moving slower, but with no less enthusiasm, he headed toward his future.
• • •
MARIELA SMILED AT the floor at the sound of him unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants.
“Before we do anything else, I want that sweet mouth on my dick. Since that last night in the cottage, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve jerked off to that memory.”
She raised her head and licked her lips. He chuckled at her