Dungeon Daddy by Golden Angel

Chapter 23

Jax

Waking up beside his wife never got old, but it was particularly good today, as though a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

If anyone had told him going away for a single weekend would make a world of difference to their relationship, he would have scoffed. How much could a couple nights and only one full day away really do?

But it had.

Maybe because they’d both been dedicated to it making a difference. Maybe because they’d focused on reconnecting before the sex. Maybe because he’d found the app on his phone, and now everything was out in the open. Whatever the reason, he felt better than he had in months. Years even.

Esther was still fast asleep, snuggled into him like the happy little spoon she loved to be. Her bottom still felt hot against his groin, and he chuckled. They’d taken a very nice bath together after her punishment. She’d whined about the heat of the water on her sensitive skin, which had caused him to give her another few slaps on her wet bottom—which hurt far more than on a dry one. That had stopped the whining.

Not that she’d truly been complaining, but she’d been deep in her babygirl headspace and looking to push his limits a little. She was often that way after naughty girl sex, as if she wanted to see whether she could get away with anything since she’d already been punished.

Stroking his fingers over her hair, he hid his smile when he saw the bit of grey coming through at the roots just in case she woke up and saw him looking at them. Jax never minded the grey, her wrinkles, or any of the other changes her body had gone through over the years. To him, they told the story of how long they’d been together, all the time they’d spent loving each other.

When they married, he’d vowed to grow old with her, and that’s exactly what he intended to do. Which was why the revelation she’d thought he was cheating had hit him so hard.

It still hurt to know she’d felt that way, but the feelings were further away, muted, replaced by understanding and deep satisfaction with where he and Esther were right now. Acknowledging if they’d felt this connected during the past year, she never would have harbored that suspicion.

“Mm.” Esther wiggled her butt against his cock, which was mostly hard thanks, as it was first thing in the morning. “Good morning.”

Chuckling, Jax propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her.

“Good morning, babygirl. How are you feeling?”

Making a face, Esther wiggled around, so she was lying on her back, letting out a hiss when her butt seemed to touch a very sore spot. Jax’s cock jerked again. Knowing she was still feeling her punishment from yesterday turned him on. Pain from anything else would have had him frantically running around trying to fix it for her, but this kind of pain? Total turn-on.

And they still hadn’t had regular sex all weekend.

“Good morning. Sore. Good but sore.” She wrinkled her nose, looking adorable and rumpled. “I’m sorry about the tracker.” Despite last night, she clearly was ashamed of her actions. Her brows furrowed, eyes averted, and she bit her lower lip, dragging it through her teeth as she waited for his reaction.

“I’m sorry you felt it was necessary.”

Her gaze met his again.

“It was a massive breach of trust. I feel you should be angrier than you are.” There was a hollow note to her voice. Esther hated it when she felt guilt over doing something wrong, which was why she so often required some kind of punishment to move past it.

Someone had once asked him why she was the only one who ever got punished since he was clearly sometimes in the wrong, and that had been his simple answer—because it made her feel better. Being spanked wouldn’t make him feel absolved or relieved and wouldn’t have any pleasurable benefit for him. That was just how their brains worked and why they had their respective roles in kink.

Jax rolled on top of her, pinning her down to the bed and cupping her face between his hands, staring down at her, so she couldn’t look away.

“It was, but you’re forgiven. You’ve been properly punished, so no more feeling guilty, babygirl. Daddy loves you.”

Relief suffused her expression, and she let out a long, slow breath.

“I love you, too, Daddy.”

Esther giggled as Jax leaned down to kiss her.

“No, Daddy, I have morning breath!”

“I don’t care.” His lips met hers. Esther squeaked in protest, but it didn’t matter. Jax was on a mission.

Stretching her hands above her head, he pinned her wrists as he slid inside her, moving atop her, holding her immobile—the combination left her breathless and moaning. It was a sweet, intimate, and utterly satisfying way to end their weekend.

* * *

Esther

The ride home felt like subdrop. She was sad to be leaving the weekend behind, but it was better because Jax was there the whole way, holding her hand. They finished the audiobook, and she cued up the second book in the series, but rather than starting it, they ended up talking about the first book, which led to other conversations. The next thing she knew, they were too close to home to start a new book, so they kept talking, with only brief periods of silence. A comfortable silence. It felt good.

She sighed as they pulled onto their street.

“Everything okay?” He squeezed her fingers, glancing at her questioningly before turning his attention back to the road.

“Yeah.” Except it wasn’t, not entirely. Talk to him, dummy. “Sad the weekend is over. Back to real life.” Would it be back to their old routines? That’s what she was really worried about. So tell him! Why is this so hard? She didn’t know why it was so hard, but she was going to push through and try. “Maybe a little worried being back means going back to being in a rut.”

Pulling into the driveway, Jax squeezed her hand again before letting go to park. Then he turned in his seat, giving her his undivided attention. Esther looked down at her hands in her lap, worried she’d hurt his feelings and not wanting to see the evidence if she had.

Not that Jax let her hide. He reached out and took her hand, drawing it back to him and pulling her gaze back as well. His dark eyes were calm, gaze steady, and she relaxed. The connection they’d made over the weekend was still there, and she could feel it, feel his confidence, feel his reassurance with a simple touch.

“We’re not going to let ourselves,” he said firmly. “This weekend was wonderful, but it wasn’t a ‘fix.’ We need to keep working at it, keep making time for each other, keep checking in with each other because neither of us wants to go back to how things were.” She relaxed even more as he spoke, knowing he’d understood everything she’d said and everything she hadn’t. “Maybe we should discuss going to see Gavin and Leah’s therapist. It can’t hurt.”

“It can’t hurt.” Echoing the sentiment, she felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of opening up fully to a stranger, but Jax was right. It couldn’t hurt. It had definitely helped Gavin and Leah. They were doing better than ever.

“Ready to go inside and face the kids?” Jax’s smile was lopsided, and Esther had to giggle. Poor Jax. They’d been presenting a united front to the kids, but since his confession of how he’d messed up by not being honest with Esther, they’d made it clear they thought he needed to make things up to her… and them.

Speaking of… her heart clenched.

“Do you think I need to tell them I tracked your phone?” She couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice. Jax dealt with their judgment easily enough, but she wasn’t sure she could handle it as well. Fair was fair, though, and he had confessed what he’d done wrong to them. To her surprise, he shook his head.

“No, that’s between you and me, and it didn’t affect them. The reason I came clean with them about why you were mad at me was it affected them. A lot. I wasn’t just missing out on time with you, I was missing out on time with them, too. They noticed my absences, and I was hurting them. They deserved to know why and receive an apology.”

“Oh.” That made sense and made her feel a little better. Jax grinned at her.

“I am all for us setting a good example of how to make a relationship work, especially now that they’re old enough to understand, but we don’t have to share every little detail with them.” He winked.

“Definitely not.” Esther remembered when Jennifer had wanted an e-reader and to be put on Esther’s account. She’d nearly fallen over at the idea of her daughter being able to see what she was reading, so they got Jennifer her own account so she could connect her e-reader.

If Jennifer was going to read kinky romances, she would have to find them all on her own, just as Esther had.

Grabbing their bags, they made their way inside.

Jennifer and Daniel were sitting on the couch, watching TV. Both of them had been dropped off earlier. While Esther remembered the days when her kids would come running as soon as she entered the house, she didn’t expect that anymore—thankfully.

Both of them looked up, but neither moved.

“Hello, you two,” Esther said, putting down her bag. Seeing them again made her heart so full.

“Hey, how was your weekend?” Jennifer asked, hitting pause on whatever they were watching.

“Good. Great.” Esther grinned as Jax took her hand, threading his fingers through hers. She turned her grin to him, knowing she had a slightly sappy expression, before refocusing on the kids. “How was yours?”

“Good.” Jennifer shrugged.

“Yeah, good,” Daniel echoed.

“Glad to hear it. Your mom and I are going to go unpack,” Jax said cheerfully, giving her hand a squeeze. “Dinner will be in two hours.”

“Thanks, Dad,” the kids chorused.

Well, some things were the same.

Any worries she’d had that everything would suddenly revert and change once she and Jax stepped back into the house fell away. He was right beside her, hand in hers, a warm, reassuring, and present presence. The kids were the same as ever, but they weren’t. Yes, they’d have to work to keep it up, but they were both committed to that now.

It wasn’t like before when she’d decided to fix things and hadn’t included him in her plans. Or when he hadn’t been aware how badly she felt things between them had gotten.

Headed up the stairs, bags in hand, Esther could hear the kids whispering to each other, apparently not realizing they were doing so pretty loudly.

“Do you think they’re going to have sex?”

“Ew, no, shut up, that’s probably what they spent all weekend doing.”

“Oh my God, ew, why would you say that?”

“You asked first!”

“Whatever. Shut up.”

“You shut up.”

Clapping her hand over her mouth, she and Jax exchanged glances. She couldn’t stop the snort that escaped as her amusement grew, and he coughed to cover his own laugh, both of them moving a little faster. Ah, kids. One day, they’d learn.