Impact (Suncoast Society #32)(6)

He wasn’t going anywhere. Truly, he wasn’t. Especially not with Landry as her husband.

Because Landry had already told her he planned on staying married to her for life. It didn’t hurt that Landry was happy to watch Cris and Tilly play together at home, getting every bit as turned on by it as Landry did by topping Cris.

Sadistic man.

Boy, did she love him. Both of them.

Several years into her marriage to Landry, Tilly had finally released the last vestiges of her anger at Cris. She got it. She didn’t agree with his f*cked-up logic about leaving her without so much as an explanation when he returned to California to help Landry heal from his first bout with cancer, which was discovered after the car accident that almost killed the man, but she understood it now.

Especially since Landry had tried to kill himself in the car accident.

That was in the past. Done, and moving on. It was more important for them to enjoy the life ahead of them. The very lucky life they had together, with Landry and Cris’ successful software business, and Tilly’s job as Lucas and Leigh’s assistant at their production company.

Leigh had begged Tilly to come to work for them, needing someone they could trust, someone they knew could hold her own against pushy entertainment bigwigs, and someone who absolutely would keep their confidence about their poly BDSM relationship.

The gang didn’t have to watch what they said or did around Tilly. They knew she had their backs.

And, truth be told, Tilly had been in a rut. Landry was clear from his second bout of cancer, the one that had driven him to locate Tilly and reunite her and Cris. A nurse by training, she’d welcomed the chance to give up being a pro-Domme to oversee Landry’s treatment and recovery.

The work with Lucas, Leigh, and Nick was a challenge. She’d felt completely adrift and lost at first, until she’d started learning the basics of the company, what they did, and got to know more people.

Now, Tilly had started getting job offers from others. Ones she politely rejected, even though some of them were offering far more money and the chance to work with some of Hollywood’s major A-list names.

It wasn’t about the money or the fame to her. It was about helping her friends and enjoying what she was doing, learning new things, the challenge of it all.

She didn’t need the money. What Landry and Cris made alone had them set for life, even if they sold their business tomorrow.

It was the fun of it.

In the private garage under their condo, Cris got behind the wheel for the first leg of the morning trip.

“How about I rent the car for you?” he suggested. “Or you can drive mine and I’ll drive a rental?”

“No,” she said. “This is fine. We’re flying back to Florida Friday night. My car won’t be done until late next week at the earliest. That’s three days to rent a car and turn it in again. That’s just stupid and a pain in the ass.”

“Suit yourself, sweetheart. I’ll be in meetings all day tomorrow anyway with a client. John Ebhrams is going, too, so I can catch a ride there with him from the office.”

“See? Why waste the money?”

“It’s not a waste. It’s a tax-deductible expense, since it’s a work vehicle. Besides, technically it’s Lucas and Leigh’s car, since the production company pays for it.”

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Fine. Be stubborn.”

“Thank you. I will. Seriously, I’d rather not spend the money. And I’m the one who wrecked it, so I should pay for it.”

“You do understand that, even if we didn’t have good insurance, we can easily afford to rent something, right?”

“That’s not the point,” she said. “Just because we can afford it doesn’t mean we should spend the money. I’m not blowing our money when we don’t need to.”

He reached across the seat and laced fingers with her. “You always were a thrifty woman,” he said. “One of the countless things I love about you.” He gently squeezed her hand.

A thrilled shiver ran through her nervous system. Lately, yes, those familiar old feelings for Cris had renewed. A return to the easy rapport she’d had with him as her Master.

Maybe in public she wouldn’t ever be able to fully return to that old dynamic, she didn’t know. But it felt damn good to no longer have that boulder of resentment and pain weighing her down like it had for so long.

It felt good to be them again. Even better, Landry didn’t mind it. Had, in fact, encouraged them to try to rebond in that way. Yes, sneakily and in secret, at first, but then openly admitting he was fine with it and welcomed it.

They were a family again. It sucked that she’d finally had to bow to her body’s limitations and get a hysterectomy to end her monthly misery. Knowing she would never have kids and still having that little outside chance dangling overhead was different than the finality of not having any kids being forced on her by medical necessity.

It took away every possible fantasy scenario, every last, desperate wish.

Ironic, now that she had not just one but two men she’d kill and die for, men who she knew were just as madly and deeply in love with her.

But them’s the breaks.

At least she could be an “aunt” to her friends’ kids, including Lucas, Leigh, and Nick’s baby, Lily Grace. Tilly took every chance she could to babysit the adorable little girl.