Tied

Chapter 25

Before getting into the shower, Mia packed her suitcase leaving only what she would wear tomorrow out along with her sleeping attire. She left the clothes that Grant had purchased, packing only things she brought from her apartment. She then jumped into the shower and took a nice long hot shower, dried her hair and then climbed into bed. She thought it would take her a while to fall asleep, but she was out within a couple of minutes and did not even know when Grant joined her.

Monday morning started with a quick shower shared by Grant and Mia and then they headed to the kitchen. Grace was already in the kitchen and asked, "Do y'all want breakfast?" Both shook their head no and Grant said, "Coffee only for us." Everyone chatted for a few minutes and then Grant said, "Lock the door when you leave and call me once you get home safe." Then he kissed his mom, hugged his dad and headed for the garage. Mia did the same and followed behind him.

Work was busy, Mia's team was assigned two new projects and spent most of the day in meetings, setting up who was going to do what on each project and getting a timeline in place. When lunchtime came around Rebecca asked Mia to have lunch with her and Mia agreed. Rebecca suggested a small soup and salad place that was close to the office and since Mia loved the place, she was happy with the choice. Once they were seated and placed their orders Rebecca said, "You don't have to answer me because it is a personal question, but I have been curious since you started wearing it. Is that a necklace or a collar?"

Luckily Mia was not eating or drinking when asked the question because she would have probably spit it out in shock. Mia replied, "First do you know what a collar is and represents?" Rebecca nodded yes, so Mia said, "I would prefer this not become office gossip, but I feel like I can trust you so I will answer honestly. It is a collar." Rebecca smiled and said, "I thought so, I saw something similar at one of my favorite BDSM jewelry sites." Mia smiled and asked, "So are you in the lifestyle?" Rebecca nodded and said, "Well I was but I have not been with anyone since my last relationship disintegrated, I hate liars and cheaters." Mia smiled and nodded and said, "I agree, mine was married with kids and just forgot to mention it to me."

Laughing Rebecca said, "Mine was married, no kids, but his wife was pregnant. I have struggled to even look for a sub since then." Mia smiled and asked, "Do you go to any of the local clubs?" Rebecca frowned and said, "I hate the club scene, I found my last sub through another friend, but he did not know about his wife either." Mia nodded and said, "Well I know of a good club if you decide you want to try that. I currently don't know of any subs looking, but if I hear of someone, I will let you know." Rebecca smiled and said, "It is OK, I realize that it is hard to find someone if you don't look, but right now I am still recovering/adjusting or whatever you want to call it." Mia nodded saying, "I understand, it took me a while to look, then even longer when what I found was crap at the beginning. However, I am very happy with what I have found." Rebecca smiled and said, "I am truly glad for you, and maybe in the future I will look again."

The women finished their lunch and then headed back to the office. After an afternoon of meetings, Mia was happy to leave the office, but as she drove to Grant's house, she got a little sad. She had enjoyed their time together and she knew she was going to miss living with Grant, but she had to move back home and now was as good as any time. When she pulled into the garage, Grant's car was already in the garage, so she went into the house and was immediately greeted by Gunner. After giving him some loving, she headed to the kitchen where Grant was fixing dinner, and she asked what she could do to help.

Once dinner was ready and they were eating Mia said, "I packed last night, and I am going back to my apartment tonight." Grant looked at her and said, "I would prefer that you stay here." Mia smiled and said, "I have loved being here, honestly. But I think so much has happened that we need to reset and make sure we are not moving too fast." Grant nodded and said, "I understand what you are saying, but I don't think we need a reset." Mia smiled and said, "How about this, my apartment lease is up in three months, I need to give 30 days' notice, so we go back to before and we have two months to decide what we want to do long term. I am not stopping; I am just moving us back onto the track we were on before all this craziness happened."

Grant did not like it, but he understood, and he liked that they had a timeline. Now all he had to do was to convince her she wanted to be in his life permanently. He agreed but he had one stipulation and that was that she had to plan on staying over at least a couple of nights a week, so they could work through any living together issues. Mia agreed and said, "I will even bring some clothes here, so I don't have to constantly pack a bag for overnight." Grant agreed and said, "Or you could just go around the house naked, I would not mind at all." They laughed together.

When dinner was finished, they cleaned the kitchen and then Mia said, "I am going to head out, I need get home and unpack." Grant asked when she was coming over next, and she responded, "We have dinner at Paul and Jason's house on Wednesday, do you want to ride together, and I sleep over that night? I will most likely work late tomorrow, but the rest of the week is open." Grant nodded and said, "Let's do Wednesday night and then plan on you be here Friday through Sunday." Mia nodded and then went and got her bag, she stopped to kiss him goodbye, and that took some time, because Grant wanted to make her miss him.

Driving home Mia was a little sad, but she knew it was for the best. Once in her apartment, she unpacked, dusted and vacuumed and then headed for bed. Just as she sat down on her bed Jade called and asked, "What is this I heard that you left Grant?" Mia laughed and said, "The grapevine is hot tonight, who told you?" Jade grumbled and said, "Not my best friend." Mia laughed and said, "I was going to call you tomorrow." Jade wanted to know if they broke up and Mia explained that she had just moved back to her apartment so that they could reset back to what they were before everything happened. They were not breaking up, and hopefully they would figure out what they wanted to do before her lease was done.

Jade did not like it any more than Grant did, but she knew that Mia had to process things in a way that made sense to her. And that moving in with Grant had been sudden, so she cut her some slack. Mia told her she would see her on Wednesday night at Paul and Jason's house and then said goodnight.

The next day was swamped, Mia had client meetings with both new projects. One was more of an introduction and did not last overly long, but the second was with a client they worked with yearly, so the first meeting was a working meeting that lasted for several hours. Once it was done, she headed back to the office where she worked until almost eight o'clock.

She picked up a burger on the way home, because she knew she did not have anything in her fridge, and once inside her apartment she kicked off her shoes and sat on her couch and ate the burger. She then made a grocery list, deciding to get several things that she could throw together easily but did not require a lot of fresh vegetables, that might go bad. She had just finished her list when her phone rang and the caller's id said Thad, so she answered it.

Thad was just checking on her, he told her his mom had been crazy that day and they had to restrain her because she kept throwing things at anyone in the room. Mia asked how he was doing, and he laughed sadly and said, "I think you are the first person to ask me how I am doing. Everyone asks how mom is, but no one asks about me." They continued to talk for a bit longer and Mia said, "Let me know if I can be of any help."

After hanging up with Thad she called Grant and when he answered he asked, "Missing me so much you want to come back tonight? I am OK with that." Mia smiled and said, "I just wanted to talk to you, is that OK?" Grant responded of course and Mia continued, "Can we talk every night, that I don't stay at your place?" Grant laughed and said, "I was going to ask the same question. I think it is a great idea." The two then talked about their days, and then said goodnight to each other.

Mia packed for the next night, she included what she would wear to the office on Thursday, and a couple of sets of casual clothes, one to wear tomorrow night and one to have at his house. She did not want to take too much over, but she did want to make sure she was prepared if they decided she should stay over one night. Then she went to bed and slept hard after her long day. The next morning, she grabbed her bags, coffee and was out the door, a few minutes early. She wanted to get started early so she could get out of work on time.