Saved by Venom 3 (Grabbed)(49)
But the yards and yards of gray and black uniforms were less than inspiring. Back in The City, Dizzy wouldn’t have thought twice of taking a dress that had fallen out of favor, tearing it apart and making it into something cute and new. She didn’t dare do that here.
Until she could secure fabric and notions, she was too afraid to risk the fashion-forward clothing she had brought with her. What she had seen of women’s fashions aboard the Valiant terrified her. Everything was so damn boxy and drab. Some of the wives had been doing their own alterations and jazzing up their outfits—but the garments they started with lacked proper form.
Her gaze drifted to the uniform pants Venom had been complaining about the other day while she had been whip-stitching those rope ends for him. She took them down from their hanger and inspected the pocket that had him so riled up. What had he called it? Oh, right. Janky.
The description brought a smile to her face. He was right, of course. The pocket sat in a strange position along the thigh. After seeing Venom decked out in his SRU gear she understood better how these pants needed to function. This pocket was too big and it puffed out too far. No doubt Venom and other men wearing them snagged that pocket in tight spots.
An idea formed. She eyed her sewing kit. What would Venom say if she removed the pocket and made some alterations to this pair of pants?
Her bottom tingled with the memory of that swat she had earned after cutting up the throw pillow without asking permission. Instead of diminishing her enthusiasm, Dizzy found herself oddly excited by the idea of Venom giving her a real spanking. Knowing her big, sexy sky warrior, he would find a way to make the experience incredibly erotic, arousing and addictive.
Her mind settled, Dizzy picked up her sewing kit and carried the pants to the kitchen table. She examined the seams and the construction of the garment before sketching out her idea on the back of one of the pamphlets she had been given at the wives’ club meeting. Scratch paper was impossible to come by up here. She was just lucky she had a pencil in her kit.
As Dizzy carefully ripped the seam of the pouch pocket, she wondered if she would ever get used to the paperless society Venom inhabited. She had always been a tactile person. Even though she could design on her tablet it simply felt different. She was so used to putting together a design board with swatches of fabric and samples of ribbons and laces. To virtually pin a photograph to a virtual board? It wasn’t ever going to be the same.
But she had to adapt. There was no going back to The City or her old life.
Sometime later, Dizzy heard the front door open. She had only basted the first redesigned pocket into place when Venom rounded the corner of the kitchen. He scanned the scene before him and his brow furrowed. “You cut up my pants?”
“Are you angry?” Her stomach clenched as she waited for his answer.
He shot her a bewildered look. “Over a pair of pants? No. I would appreciate it if you would ask the next time.” His gaze narrowed. “Unless of course you were hoping for a repeat of that swat I gave you last night for tearing up the pillow?”
Ears hot, she dropped her gaze to the pants. “Of course not. What kind of a weirdo do you think I am?”
Venom slipped his fingers under her chin and tipped her head back. His icy-blue eyes bored into her. “The truth, Dizzy.”
She swallowed. “So…maybe I sort of thought about you spanking me again.”
His thumb brushed her lower lip. A playful smile curved his mouth. “You didn’t have to cut up my favorite pants. All you had to do was ask.”
She gasped. “Oh no! Were these really your favorite pants?”
He chuckled. “No. I was teasing.” He picked up the pants and looked them over. “I like this.”
“When I was at the SRU headquarters with you I noticed that you were carrying a lot of weight in that pocket. It looked as if everything had settled down into the bottom. I can’t imagine how hard it is to dig things out of there when you need them.”
“It’s a real pain in the ass.”
“I thought it would be more useful to have two or three shallower pockets. I think a modified welt-style with some hook-and-loop closure maybe…”
“Yeah. I don’t understand any of that.” He slid into the seat across from her. “In the middle of all that chaos you noticed my pants?”
“It’s what I do,” she said with a shrug. “I also noticed that the tailor you guys use doesn’t hem your pants uniformly. Yours have a quarter break. Raze wears his with a full break. Just about everyone else had no break at all.”
“A what?”
She reached down and gave the cuff of his pants a little shake. “A break? It describes the way the pants sit on top of your shoes. See how yours touch the laces on your boot and there is just the tiniest bit of extra fabric that sort of kinks up right here? That’s a quarter break.”
“Huh.” He lifted his leg to study his pants. “I guess you learn something new every day.”
She smiled at him. “Your tailor needs to learn how to fit pants better. Raze’s pants are too slim.”
“How can you tell?”
“The seat is too tight and it makes the pockets flare.”
Venom frowned at her. “I don’t think I like you looking at Raze’s ass.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes dear.”
He laughed. “Now that? I could get used to that.”
She snorted. “Fat chance, Venom.”
As Dizzy measured and marked the spot where the next two pockets would go, she asked, “How was your workout?”
“Fine.” He picked up a scrap of fabric and worked it between his fingers. “You get enough rest?”
She didn’t meet his intense stare. “Yes—after you left.”
“I think that might be the way we start our mornings from now on. What do you think?”
She squirmed in her seat. “If that’s what you want…”
“I’m asking what you want.”
She finally worked up the courage to look at him. His smoldering gaze made her insides quiver. “I want you.”
“Just me?”
“What more could I possibly want?”
He shrugged. “You grew up extremely wealthy. Maybe you dreamed of marrying a rich man and having servants and a mansion and—”
“Venom,” Dizzy sighed and stabbed her needle into the pincushion. “Let’s get something straight once and for all. Yes, I was born into a rich family. I lived a luxurious life until the bombing and the recession. After that? Well—as the people on my planet like to say—I was so poor I didn’t have a pot to piss in.”
“Why would you want to piss in a pot?”
She rolled her eyes again. “It’s just a saying. It means—look, never mind, okay? Basically I was hand-to-mouth poor. Eventually I got back on my feet and made a nice life for myself. You know what all of that taught me?”
“No.”
“It taught me that money doesn’t give you happiness. It just gives you money and better stuff.” She reached for his hand and gripped the long, rough fingers that had caressed her so lovingly that morning. “Venom, I just want a good man in my corner. I want a man I can love and support who loves and supports me right back.”
He mulled over her statement before exhaling loudly. “My father was never good enough for my mother. She constantly harangued him for not advancing high enough or fast enough. Every time I was home on a school break, I had to listen to her berating him. It was—”
“Painful,” Dizzy guessed softly.
“Yes.”
She leaned forward and kissed his knuckles. “Venom, I’m not your mom.”
“I know that now.”
She traced one of the gnarly scars on his hand. “Is this why you flipped your lid when I brought up the possibility of selling my designs in Naya’s shop? You thought I doubted your ability to provide for me?”
“It was my parents all over again with my mother threatening to shame my father by taking a job in one of the munitions factories.” Venom grimaced. “It was awful of me to hurt you like that. I shouldn’t have let my insecurities kill your happiness.”
She could tell he was upset about his behavior by the deep set of the lines around his mouth. “You didn’t kill my happiness. You pissed me off,” she said with a little laugh that he matched with a snort. “You said we would figure it out—and this is us figuring it out.”
“I’m trying to get my hands on a garment printer for you.”
“A what?”
“It’s like the sewing machines down on your planet only better. Cipher is working on sourcing one right now.”
“Venom, you don’t have to do something so extravagant.”
“It’s hardly extravagant to give you something that will make you happy.”
Although his sweet words made her heart flutter wildly, she didn’t want him going into debt. “The expense—”
“Cipher has a connection that can get me printer at a very affordable price. Besides,” Venom sat forward and cupped her face with his big hand, “like most men in the corps, I’ve been throwing my salary into a savings account since my first payday.” He nuzzled their noses together but didn’t try to kiss her yet. “There wasn’t anything worth spending it on until now.”