I glance around, suddenly super aware of my office and grateful I didn’t schedule any meetings for today.
This is the problem with Ivy. She distracts me. Pulls me away from everything else that matters.
Because she’s all I can think about.
She undoes me.
I can’t stand the way she changes me into something different. Something I’ve worked so hard to avoid becoming.
Soft.
Forgetful.
Useless.
One-hundred percent hers.
IVY
Later, in the living room, Soren pulls me to him.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he says. “I didn’t want to have to do that, but you gave me no choice.” His gaze locks on me. “I want to be here for you, but I can only do that if you’re one hundred percent honest. Do you understand?”
I nod, sniffling slightly. I grimace at the ongoing sting.
“Are you okay? Does it hurt?”
I shift uncomfortably. “Just a bit.”
“Let me take care of you,” he says, standing up and heading toward the kitchen.
I hear him rummaging around, and he returns with a bowl and something wrapped in a small towel.
He lays me across his lap again, and my stomach flips, my body flinching until I realize it’s not going to be a repeat of earlier.
Instead, icy cold presses against my cheeks, easing what he caused, and I suck in a sharp breath.
“This will make you feel better,” he says, as if he didn’t cause it in the first place. “I just want you to remember how important it is to tell me everything.”
I don’t know what to say, so I just stay silent as he continues his ministrations.
The ice soothes the sting.
I feel vulnerable, laying across him this way again, my cheeks bared.
But I also feel cared for this time.
“I’m going to look after you now, okay? I always will.” He caresses my lower back, and traces the ice over the curve of my ass. “And that situation? With the messages? I’m working on it. You don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
CHAPTER 32
IVY
Now that I’m officially living in Ravelle, I sign up for a Pilates class.
That still feels weird to say—living in Ravelle.
My recent life has been a series of unstable stops.