“Kaye, I own you,” he insisted, and my eyes narrowed as I glared at him.
God, I loved this man, but he drove me insane sometimes. What game was he playing here? I could swear I had been right before and he was trying to push me into Brent’s arms. It would all make sense—how cold he was to me and how he kept wanting me to share myself with Brent.
Maybe it was my imagination, but whatever the case was, I had had enough. He was acting insane, and until he could be more reasonable, there was really only one thing for me to do.
“Get out,” I whispered, and my eyes prickled with sudden tears. I blinked them back. I was crying far, far too much these days and enough was enough. I was no victim.
“Kaye, what …?” His voice was stunned, and I was glad. Let him know what it felt like, for once, to feel uncertain and off balance. He’d been doing it to me since our wedding day. Time for him to taste some of his own medicine.
“You heard me. Get out! You don’t own me. I love you, but that doesn’t give you any excuse to speak to me the way you are right now. I choose what happens to my body, David, not you. So you can leave until you can behave like a reasonable human being.”
David blinked, and I knew my fury had surprised him. Good. Maybe he’d think twice before trying to pull this crap again.
“Where am I supposed to sleep?” he asked, and I just shook my head. I wasn’t going to let his unspoken plea move me.
“I don’t care,” I told him. “Somewhere else. You need to think about what you want, David, and until you do, I want you out of my sight.”
He left, then, and I watched him go—watched him slam the door shut behind him. Only then did I collapse onto the bed, sobbing softly.
The anger left me and only sadness remained—a deep sadness that still couldn’t quite numb me to the horror of the conversation I’d just had with my boneheaded husband.
If only I could stop loving him.
If only I could stop caring about the bleak sadness I’d seen in his eyes when I’d ordered him out.
There was so much in his past. Maybe I had been expecting too much, to think he would have no issues. His mother had left him. He probably thought I was going to do the same.
The things he’d said to me weren’t okay. I was no pushover and I would not be forced into something I didn’t want to do. I’d done the right thing in letting him know I wouldn’t stand for it, and sending him away so he could think about it was only logical.
Hopefully, he would think quickly.
The truth was, I missed him already. It was ridiculous—he’d only been gone about thirty seconds—but I did. I missed how it was when it was good between us. I missed how warm and comfortable and amazing it could be.
Crying, I fell into a thin sleep, but even as I dozed, I knew I wouldn’t really be able to sleep unless I had David in bed with me. It wasn’t going to be quite right until this, our first major fight, was patched up.
Until then, I just had to comfort myself with my own words to Brent. Every relationship, every marriage, had issues sometimes. It didn’t mean we were over—far from it.
It was a comfort, but only in a very thin, unsatisfying way.
Chapter 18
David
I loved her.
The emotion was right there, right in my heart and mind, as if it had been there the whole time. Perhaps it had. Maybe the fight I’d just had with Kaye had pulled a concealing cloth free to let me look at what I was actually feeling.
It was highly disturbing.
For thirty years, I’d lived without love. Oh, I’d loved my father, and even my grandfather. But I’d never loved a woman—not in any way—until Kaye had strolled into my life and messed everything up.
Well, to be fair, I strolled into her life, and I was the one who had set about getting to know her and plotting to marry her.
Always the saint, that woman. Never the sinner.
I couldn’t stop moving. My whole body felt like it was burning, smothered in embers that would give me no rest. I loved her. I loved my wife—the one thing I had thought impossible when I came into this had happened.
So why was I doing this? Why didn’t I just let the whole plan go?
Brent would mock me mercilessly, but I almost didn’t care. Almost.
God, what was I going to do?
My mind turned first one way, then another. I could give up the plan. I loved Kaye. But love wasn’t enough. Love wasn’t worth billions of dollars.
I couldn’t decide.
The sheets tangled around my legs, and I smoothed them out only to get them all messy again. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t lay still. The guestroom bed was soft and comfortable, but it might as well have been made out of rusty nails and hornets for all the rest I got from it.
I’d been so sure of myself. Pushing Kaye had seemed the logical thing to do, and now here I was, sent to sleep in the guest room. I had pushed too hard, and for the first time, I let myself consider something terrible.
What if I didn’t get either?
I had been expecting to lose her the whole time, but what if I lost her and the money? She obviously wasn’t impressed with me, and when I thought of all the things I’d said to her, I couldn’t even blame her.
Maybe I should go talk to her.
Not because I was going to give in. Nothing of that sort. Just to try to repair things. To take her back off of the defensive. It only made sense, right?
I sat up. This was ridiculous. The whole thing. Yes, I’d pushed a bit too hard, but there was no reason I needed to be fighting with my wife. I would go to her, maybe even apologize, and tell her I was under a lot of stress.
Kaye would understand. She always did. That was just one of many reasons I had fallen in love with her against my will.
Just as I was swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, intending to stand, the door opened. Kaye walked in, her eyes red and slightly puffy, like she’d been crying. As much as I tried to harden my heart against her, the sight touched me.
“Kaye,” I whispered, but she shook her head. She walked over to me, her face strange and dreamy, and for a moment I was absolutely certain she was going to hit me again.
She didn’t.
Instead, she climbed into my lap, straddling my hips and wrapping her slender arms around me. Her body settled, warm and feminine and fragrant, in my lap, and her lips found mine.
The kiss started off soft, both of us trying it out to see if it fit after the huge fight we’d had. It quickly grew and changed as we both figured out it did. If anything, we fit better than ever.
She was so eager and pliant in my arms, her kisses sweet, but with definite heat to them. It was like we were both trying to make up for the fight, forget it, and move on.
Maybe I hadn’t messed up too badly after all. Maybe there was still hope. Though for what, I wasn’t entirely sure.
It was enough to lose myself in her, at least for the moment. So I cupped the sweet, round curve of her ass and pulled her body toward me. She yielded to me, and it seemed impossible to think we had been fighting only a short time ago.
“David. David, I love you,” Kaye murmured into the kiss, her breath hot on my lips. She rubbed against me, and I could feel her slick wetness as she moved. She hadn’t bothered putting on any underwear before coming here, and I was glad for it.
“I love you too, Kaye,” I whispered back, and it was the first time I’d said the words and allowed myself to acknowledge how much I meant them.
Maybe she heard the sincerity in my voice because she smiled at me and pushed me back onto the bed. She went with me, staying on top of me, and kissing me as though we could somehow become one person instead of two.
I wasn’t used to having a woman on top of me. I wasn’t used to giving a woman any sort of control over me. In this one situation, though, it felt okay. No, not okay. It felt amazingly perfect. It felt like the best thing that could happen right then.
For awhile, at least, it was he
aven. Letting her grind her slick clit down against my cock—letting her use me—it was incredible. But soon, it wasn’t enough.
I had to taste her.
She was so small and it was so easy for me to flip her onto her back, even with the leverage she had being on top of me. I held her there and once more she yielded to me, giving me back control.
She had shown me, though, that she wouldn’t just do whatever I said. Yes, she had submissive tendencies, but she also had a mind of her own. Trying to force her to take Brent to bed wasn’t going to work.
Right then, I was nothing but glad about that fact.
I slid down her body, caressing it with my fingers, my lips, and my tongue, working my way over her luscious curves and worshiping them all. My tongue flicked over her navel, and she moaned, only encouraging me to continue.
“David,” she whispered, and I smiled. I loved the way she said my name when she was really, truly aroused. “David, more, please. Don’t stop.”
I had no intention of stopping.
Without hesitation, I shifted between her legs, inhaling the heavenly scent of her. I gazed up at her, met her eyes, saw her looking right back at me, and lowered my head so my lips brushed over her clit.
The taste of her—sweet and feminine—filled my mouth, and I moaned softly as I worked on her. For a few moments, she let me, moaning and writhing up against my mouth, then she reached down and gripped my head.
“I can’t take it,” she whispered. “David, I need you inside me. Right now.”
How was I supposed to resist that, especially when it was what I needed more than anything else in the world right then? I needed the connection to her and only being buried inside of her and having her come over and over again on my cock was going to be able to give me what I really wanted.
I’d scared myself. When she had kicked me out, I had thought maybe I had lost her completely. It was a terror that had nothing to do with my grandfather’s money either.
“God, Kaye,” I murmured, then gripped her by the hips and turned us both over so I was on my back and she was perched on top of me. “I love you. Fuck yourself on me.”
With a glad little cry, she sank down on me. Slipping inside of her was so easy. She felt like satin around me, so tight and hot, and I gripped her hips, pushing up into her as much as I could.
“Kaye,” I moaned, rocking slowly, but she had the control. Maybe she needed it, after the things I’d said to her.
Maybe, on some level, we both needed it.
She rode me, and luckily, she seemed to be as worked up as I was. She clenched tightly around me, her body starting to writhe, impaled on my cock, and I gazed up at her in wonder.
Part of me couldn’t believe this glorious, beautiful, sexy woman was mine. This loyal, sweet, competent, wonderful woman.
“David, I’m so close,” she moaned, and I gripped her hips more tightly and started to thrust up more demandingly into her. I was right on the edge as well, and I wanted us to come together.
It was always better that way.
The first wave of pleasure gripped my body, and I tensed up as I spilled inside of her. Not even a second later, she stiffened and cried out, and it was like her tight channel was milking me for my fluids, drawing out my release.
It was always so much better with her. I was no virgin. I’d been with quite a few women, but most of them had wanted to use me for my money. I’d had no issue with using them in return. The sex with them was almost a business arrangement.
With Kaye, it was so different. She put me so effortlessly into this blissful state. When I was this optimistic, it seemed like things might just work out somehow.
“David, I love you. I love you so much,” Kaye whispered, and she cuddled up beside me, her head on my chest. I knew she could hear my heart, which was beating so fast it had to almost sound like thunder.
“I love you too.” I spoke only the truth on this subject. I did love her. It was terrifying and part of me wanted to run for the hills, but more of me wanted to stay and bask in her comforting presence.
I had never taken comfort from a woman before, not since I was a baby. And it had been a long time since I had allowed anyone at all to comfort me. I took care of myself and I looked out for myself first, just like everyone did.
Or so I had assumed before I met Kaye, who took care of everyone.
Should I just let myself fall and trust her to catch me? If I could trust anyone in the world, I knew it would be her.
It would be so easy. Terrifyingly easy.
Kaye dropped off to sleep, but I couldn’t rest. I just watched her, listening to the sound of her light, exhausted breathing. How such a woman had gotten to me so thoroughly, I had no idea, but she was deep into my very skin.
Maybe I should just give the whole plan up and let myself have this amazing woman who, for some unknown reason, loved me. I could let myself love her back and see where this crazy ride of a marriage took us.
One thing I knew for certain—I would never find a woman I could love more than I loved her. I knew that now. I would never find anyone I could trust as much as I could trust her.
It was tempting to drop the whole plan. To just live and love the woman in my arms—my wife. Maybe nothing bad would happen to us. Maybe we would be the exception to the rule I had in my head about marriages: that they never ended well.
One day she would see me for the man I really was—that was my biggest fear. If Brent got pissed at me for cutting him out of the deal we had made, he might tell Kaye what I had done.
She would leave me if he did that. I was sure she would.
Kaye could never find out what I had done—how I had wooed her and fooled her into thinking I loved her.
But now I did love her for real. Maybe I always had. Maybe I had only been lying to myself and not her at all.
Her breathing changed as she moved a bit, snuggling in closer to me. Her voice was but a murmur, “David, I love you so much. I hate fighting with you. Let’s not do that anymore.”
Kissing the top of her head, I said, “I love you too. Let’s never fight again. Night, baby.”
How I wished that we could actually never fight again. All couples fight. That’s just a fact. But, damn it, she and I sure knew how to make up, didn’t we?
Chapter 19
Kaye
I had been humming to myself from almost the moment I rose in the morning and stepped out of bed. Even the confusion of finding myself passed out in the guest room hadn’t been able to take the spring out of my step.
Even as I looked around the room that was so strange to me, I knew that everything was okay, as David was there with me. His chest was rising and falling as he continued to sleep, a slight smile on his handsome face. We’d made up, and we’d done it in grand fashion. Never had I felt so much love radiating out of the man.
We would work things out. David wasn’t perfect, but he was the man I loved, and I thought the things we’d said and done the previous night were actually quite hopeful.
Any marriage would have bumpy patches, but I was just as determined as ever to stick it out.
The way David had reacted to me, I couldn’t help but feel like he was feeling the same way. It was like we’d recommitted to each other. Or it felt like it, anyway.
A little while later David was in the shower and I was making us breakfast. I had the day off work, and spending it with my husband seemed like the absolute best use of my time. With my hands on my hips, I glanced around at the pancakes, bacon, and eggs I had going all at once.
Maybe I’d gone a little overboard, but I liked cooking. I liked cooking for my husband even more.
A light knock came at the door and my good mood instantly retreated a little bit. It didn’t completely go away, but I was definitely wary.
There was only one person I could imagine coming to our house this early and he wasn’t a person I was sure I wanted to speak to right at that moment.
Still, I went to the door and slowly op
ened it. What was the worst that could happen, really? Brent had never forced anything on me. His only crime was being perhaps a bit too interested in me, and hopefully, I’d nipped that right in the bud.
“Kaye, good.” Brent gave me one of his charming smiles, but there seemed to be a hint of anxiety in his eyes. “I’m glad you’re alone. I wanted to talk to you.”
I looked at him thoughtfully, then nodded. He didn’t seem to be looking at me inappropriately, and if we could have this all out, it would be better.
Brent was a part of David’s life, and I honestly didn’t want to get in the way of their friendship. I had seen how hard it was for David to really connect with people, and Brent was one of the few he actually called his friend.
“Please come in,” I finally decided, hoping I didn’t regret the decision. I stepped aside to let him enter and walked back to the kitchen. “Can I get you some coffee?”
He agreed, and soon enough we sat at the table, facing each other. Brent looked more serious than I was used to seeing him, and I sipped at my coffee and waited. He had, after all, come to see me. He could tell me what this was all about.
“I wanted to apologize,” he admitted, and my eyebrows rose. I hadn’t expected anything of the sort. It was a real apology, as opposed to his ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’ that he’d tossed my way casually before. This one seemed much sincerer.
When I opened my mouth to speak, he raised his hand, and I subsided. There was some sort of dominant energy about this man—something that pretty much demanded I do as he said. David had it, too, and I found it fascinating. But not intimidating. I could hold my own and had proven that.
I also admired that in the men. At least when it wasn’t being used to try to force me to do things I didn’t want to do.
“Just let me get this out. I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” He looked at me earnestly across the table, and for some reason, I found I believed him. He seemed awfully sincere. “If I made you feel that way, I am deeply sorry. I’ll be more careful.”
I let out a soft sigh of relief. Maybe things would be okay after all. I had liked Brent before, and pushing away a potential new friend hadn’t been easy. I just wasn’t willing to give him the wrong impression. I wanted him to know, without a doubt, that I was in love with my husband and I would never be with another man in any way, shape, or form.
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