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“Done. Now close those pretty eyes for me and rest.” I promised baby steps, and for her, I would do my best to stay true to my word.

“Will you stay for a minute? Maybe until I fall asleep?”

I didn’t answer, just slipped in beside her, pulling her close. It didn’t take long for her breathing to even out and for her to fall asleep. Only when her grip on me had loosened did I carefully ease out of the bed. I stood there for a second, watching her—making sure she was steady.

Then I stepped out, closing the door behind me. After ordering a drink, I pulled up my phone. It was midnight in London, but Marcel’s earlier text said to call no matter the time. He picked up on the second ring and didn’t even greet me.

I smiled.

“Brother, how is she?” he asked.

“Sleeping peacefully. I need to level with you. Come clean. As my therapist this stays between us, okay?”

“Alright,” he said. “Is everything okay with her though?”

“Yes, she’s opened up to me in ways I didn’t think possible. But…Marcel, I love her.” I breathed the words I had been wanting to say to someone.

The relief that washed over me made me more conscious of the reality. Silence greeted me, accompanied by a weary sigh.

“I’m honestly not completely surprised. Tori mentioned she noticed a few things here and there between you. I’m going to ask you this question once and only once. Are you sure?”

“More than I am about anything else in this world. I can’t imagine not holding her, talking to her and sharing in everything she does. It’s like she’s consumed me from the start, and I just didn’t see it. I’ve been fucking blind, but all I can see now is her and I want to be her everything. How stupid does that sound and no, I’m not drunk.”

“Not stupid at all. Have you thought about what this means for you in regards to your own journey? How you operate now as a Dom? Bella is not fond of this lifestyle. You do realize that, right?”

Ever the counselor, I appreciated him being honest and calling it out. Now how to explain it without oversharing. Isabella was still coming to terms with it, and we hadn’t had time to even put anything down officially.

“I know there are aspects of it she would never be into. But most of those I’m not into either.”

“Brother, you do realize Pandora’s box, once opened, doesn’t quite fit back into the packaging the same. Have you forgotten all our discussions regarding it being a huge downfall in your relationship with Hannah?”

That mix of brother love and professionalism filtered through, and I loved him even more for it.

“I haven’t. But if you take your brotherly connection to her off the table and view her as the woman she is, you have to admit she is submissive. She’s not against Dom/sub dynamics. She loves all of you back home. She understands the difference between good and bad.”

“And this is where I’ll push back and caution you to ask yourself is this true or projection on your part?”

I chuckled thinking about our trip thus far. “I’m speaking from experience.”

“Excuse me?”

I heard the shock there. Navigating my response was trickier because I wanted to hold true to Isabella’s request to share slowly and on her terms, but I also wanted to reassure him. It was important to me. All of their opinions of me held weight.

“Marcel, I know better than to dominate her without earning it. I know it’s a slow process as well. I was taught by the best.”

“Okay, this changes things. Significantly. Complicates it too.”

I understood what he meant by that. Each of the men back home saw Isabella as a little sister. But I wasn’t walking into this blindly, thinking that I had all the answers. I knew better than that.

“And not that it is a surprise by any stretch of the imagination, Isabella is a brat through and through. She even gives off-switch energy, if you catch my drift.”

Another round of silence greeted me, and then a soft chuckle. “I could see that,” Marcel mused. “She’s always been a little bossy. She’s got that quiet strength, but a need to control her environment was how she learned to cope. You okay with that type of arrangement.”

“Uh, yeah, sign me up,” I replied, a smile playing at the corners of my lips as I recalled her taking advantage of me while I was sleeping. What would he think if he knew?

“One thing I can promise you, right now—is that I’m in this for the long haul. Whatever that may bring.”

“Let’s hope Sebastian doesn’t actually want to kill you when he finds out. Have the two of you discussed this at all?”