Shade(249)

“Eyes to me, Lily,” Shade said firmly. He was tempted to give her one of those patterns she was jealous over when they went home. If she wasn’t so far along, he would have left no doubt in her mind that she was his submissive.

She turned her gaze back to him. “I told you I’ve had sex with the women in the clubhouse, so why are you bringing it up now?”#p#分页标题#e#

“Because you don’t treat me like you’re my Master like you did the other women! Am I doing it wrong? Is it because I’m pregnant?” Lily’s lips trembled. “I’m not special to you at all, am I?”

“Lily, I married you, so of course you’re special to me.” He lowered his voice. “Are you upset because I don’t treat you like your idea of what a sub should be treated like?”

“Yes! You don’t treat me like one at all.”

If he lived to be a hundred, he would never understand his shy wife. Her convoluted thinking would stump a rocket scientist.

“Why do you have my dinner on the table when I come home?”

Lily frowned, believing he was changing the subject. “Because you frown and go to eat at the clubhouse if I don’t.”

“You hang my clothes in the closet the way I like, why?”

“Because you go behind me and do it the way you like. The last time I messed up, you washed your own clothes for two weeks before you let me do it again…” Her voice trailed off.

“And when I want to fuck my way, do you turn me down, or are you looking forward to it?”

She didn’t answer, her face turning angrily red.

“Now you’re getting angry because you realize I have been treating you like my sub,” Shade mocked. “There are several different kinds of Masters, Lily. I don’t need contracts or whips unless I feel it’s what the sub needs. I guide you into finding your own personal fulfillment while I also find mine. That’s what makes a good Dom/sub relationship.”

“Lily.” Both of them looked up to see King standing next to their table. Her father bent down to kiss her on the check. “How was lunch?” King asked, his eyes going to Lily’s still full plate.

“It was good, but I’m not very hungry. I need to get back to work.” Lily started to rise from the table.

“Just a minute. King, will you ask the waitress to bring the check? Tell her to add a piece of Willa’s cake to go. Lily can’t have her cake and eat it right now, so I’ll save it for her for later.”

Lily’s eyes sparkled at his play of words.

He paid the bill and took the cake when King handed it to him before escorting Lily outside to the truck. Lily climbed in, sitting with her arms crossed in front of her breasts.

Shade sat down behind the wheel, his wife’s stubborn silence amusing him. She had been jealous when she had believed he had differentiated his relationship with the women at the clubhouse and her. However, now that she knew he had been treating her the same, merely with a different method, she wasn’t any happier.

When he pulled up in front of the church store, Lily climbed out, ignoring the hand held out to her. He placed it on the truck door, blocking her from moving away.

“Enjoy the rest of the day at work. Tonight, you can tell me which pattern you want me to put on that pretty little ass of yours.” He dropped his hand, moving away, and Lily slammed the truck door.

“I won’t be home until late. Beth and Razer are going out, and I offered to babysit,” Lily said smugly before rushing into the church store.

Shade stared at the store, debating going after her. Eventually, he got back inside the truck, not wanting to give Brooke the satisfaction of hearing an argument between him and Lily. Lily also needed time away from him to think.

Driving back to the clubhouse, he didn’t regret responding to Lily’s questions the way he had. When she had said she wasn’t special to him, it had cut through him like a knife. She was challenging his feelings for her, feeling as though he was holding a part of himself back, and he couldn’t fault her instincts when she was right.#p#分页标题#e#

* * *

“This is ridiculous. Rachel is going to know this is a set-up,” Beth snapped from the backseat.

“Not if you two are there, she won’t,” Shade replied, looking at his quiet wife in the rearview mirror.

The wives were all furious at their husbands for going along with Cash’s plan. He had asked them to come to show Rachel she could fit in. When the women didn’t feel it was right to trick Rachel and had denied Cash’s request, he had gone to Viper. Then Viper had reined the women in, making it part of their punishment for not telling Cash where Rachel had been when she had disappeared.