Cardinal's Rule

Chapter Twelve

Landry knew it wouldn’t take them long to reach Tilly’s house, but he wanted to torture Cris as much as possible, in addition to being unable to keep his hands off his wife.

Now there was a word he never thought he’d use in reference to himself.

His wife.

He slid one hand up her thigh, under her dress, until his fingers brushed against her panties. He hooked one finger under them and gently tugged, his finger rubbing against her bare pussy. She was already as wet as he was hard.

“Mmm. That is a rather pleasant surprise, love.”

She squirmed against his hand as her eyes dropped closed and she rested her head against his shoulder. He slowly fucked her with two fingers, softly murmuring to her so Cris couldn’t hear. Then he withdrew his fingers and, with his eyes firmly fixed on Cris, who silently watched, he sucked her juices off his fingers before slipping his hand under her dress again.

Cris’ fingernails dug into his palms as he watched, unable to look away. She wasn’t faking it, he knew the signs far too well.

The edges of Landry’s mouth curved in a smirk as his gaze narrowed. Cris also knew that expression.

Challenge me. I dare you.

He wouldn’t—couldn’t—challenge him.

After Landry apparently knew he’d made his point, he returned his attention to Tilly, whispering to her and kissing the hollow of her throat even as she made little moans he could hear from the front of the passenger compartment.

His sweet little Redbird, now his Master’s wife.

Landry truly was a sadist. Not that there was any doubt about that fact before.

When they reached the house, Landry withdrew his hand and smoothed down her skirts before he kissed her. Her eyes looked glazed with passion. Landry hadn’t let her come yet, although Cris had an idea that was a top item on the menu for the night.

His own cock throbbed, remembering times with her and wishing it was his ring on her hand.

“You get out first,” he ordered Cris. “Open the front door for us and take her things inside.” He tossed Cris his keys.

He did as ordered while the limo driver opened the trunk for him. Once outside the limo, Landry scooped Tilly into his arms, drawing a startled squeak from her.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m carrying my wife over the threshold,” he said as he walked toward the front door. “It’s only proper.”

She draped her arms around his neck. “I think we’re anything but proper.”

Cris scurried to get the front door unlocked and opened and move out of the way while Landry swept inside with her.

“Take her things into our bedroom and wait for me there,” Landry ordered.

Cris went to do it, his mind spinning. Whatever he cooked up in his own imagination was probably worse than anything Landry would do to him.

He hoped.

After a few minutes, Landry entered the bedroom and shut the door behind him. The smile he’d worn vanished from his face. “Strip.”

Cris didn’t dare argue. He kicked off his shoes and immediately began unbuttoning his shirt.

Once naked, he neatly folded his clothes and stood holding them, waiting for instructions.

Landry reached for them. “Give them to me. Go use the bathroom.” Landry took his clothes and shoes into the large walk-in closet by the bathroom while Cris went to relieve himself in the master bath.

His heart racing, he returned to stand beside the bed where Landry waited with the coil of rope in his hand and the covers and pillows already stripped from the bed. “On the bed. Face down.”

Cris obeyed. Without any perfunctory explanations, Landry began to hog-tie him. Well, not totally, he left his hands in front of him. He recognized the pattern in Landry’s rope work, one designed

File sharing is theft and is illegal!

Cardinal’s Rule – Tymber Dalton Page 149 to securely hold him and yet not cut off his circulation so he could remain bound longer.

Landry rolled him over on his back, roughly passing the rope between Cris’ legs and binding his cock and balls as well before immobilizing his arms. Then Landry shoved the ball gag into his mouth and tightened the strap around his head.

He tried to slow his breathing, remain calm, but he had a feeling he didn’t want to be part of what was about to occur. Landry leaned in and viciously grabbed his hair, making Cris wince. “You get no safeword tonight. Unless you are in serious physical distress, you don’t tap out or do anything I don’t order you to do. Not if you want to remain my slave. If you safeword for any other reason than physical distress, you’re out on your ass. And you will not close your eyes other than to blink. You will watch every single second of tonight. I want it seared into your brain. Understood?”

Cris nodded.

Landry’s eyes narrowed even as he smiled. “Good.”

The look and his tone of voice chilled Cris. He’d never seen that expression directed at him before, although he’d seen Landry act that way in the course of business negotiations.

Landry manhandled him until he was at the head of the bed, stretched out across the width of it and laying on his side. Landry lightly slapped Cris’ bound cock and balls, hard enough to make him wince. “You won’t have use for these tonight. You’re lucky I’m letting you keep them at all, but as I told you, Tilly said I’m not allowed to geld you.” He lit all the candles and set the cable TV to a classical music channel before he left the room.

Landry emerged from the bedroom with a playful smile on his face. She’d managed to get the champagne bottle open without it fizzing everywhere. He walked into the kitchen and kissed her, hard and deep and taking her breath away.

“Ready to begin our night, love?” he asked.

She nodded. “It’s all I’ve thought about all day.”

“Me too.”

She put a staying hand on his chest. “Not because of our revenge fantasy,” she admitted. “I’ve wanted you. At this point, I could do without the other part if you wanted to.”

He pouted. “Aw, but love, I have such a prettily wrapped surprise awaiting you.”

Laughing, she asked, “What did you do?”

“Let me show you.” He handed her the bottle and two empty glasses and took her by the hand, leading her to the bedroom door. He stepped behind her and covered her eyes with one hand. “No peeking,” he warned. He reached around her with his free hand and opened the door, pushing it so it swung all the way open.

He guided her into the bedroom and kissed the back of her neck. “All right love, I present your bridal suite.”

When he removed his hand from her eyes, she gasped before she ever spotted Cris. “Oh, the flowers are beautiful! And candles, too.” She leaned into him as he slipped one arm around her waist.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you wrapped him, were you?”

He nipped her earlobe. “Love, would I tease you about something like that?” He took the bottle and glasses and poured their champagne. Then he handed hers to her and they linked arms. “To my beautiful bride,” he said, his eyes holding hers.

Her heart raced. “To my handsome husband,” she breathlessly replied. They both sipped, then he took her glass from her and set it on the bedside table with his.

“Come here.” When he opened his arms to her, she kicked off her shoes and walked to him. His kiss felt gentle at first, then more persistent as he slanted his lips across hers and took control.

For tonight, she was more than willing to let him have it.

It was easy to ignore Cris lying there trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Landry consumed her soul as his lips explored hers. He reached around her back and found the zipper of her dress.

Slowly, as he held her firmly cocooned in his arms, he lowered it. Cool air brushed against her flesh as the fabric parted.

He lifted his head and smiled. “I suppose I should take this jacket off.” He shrugged it off and tossed it onto the chair in the corner. Then he caught her hands and backed over to the bed, leading her along. He sat and pulled her onto his lap. “This is where I want you. Now, I believe I was somewhere about…here in the limo.” He slipped his free hand up her skirt again, under her panties.

Eagerly nodding, she draped her arms around his neck again. “Yeah. Right there.”

She moaned as he easily slid two fingers inside her. Her muscles grabbed at him as he slowly fucked her with his hand.

“Do you like that, baby?” he teased.

She closed her eyes and fought the urge to whimper. “Uh huh.”

Landry fought the urge to rip her dress all the way off her, throw her legs in the air, and fuck her brainless right there. His cock throbbed almost painfully as he felt her slick pussy. “I want to make love to you all night,” he said. “I want to show you how special you are.”

She rocked her hips against his hand, wanting more. She whined with disappointment when he withdrew his hand.

“Shh, it’s all right. I’ll give you what you want.” He grabbed the elastic of her panties and worked them down her hips under her dress. She helped him, and a moment later they’d been discarded to the floor beside the bed.

She reached up and loosened his tie as his fingers returned to her pussy. He kissed her, loving the way she responded to him. Cris’ body was hard and angular, while she felt soft and pliable in his arms. His tie ended up on the floor, soon followed by his shirt. Her hands roamed across his chest, over his nipples, making his cock throb even harder. He worked her dress off her shoulders and down around her waist, then bent his head to her right breast. She rocked her hips even harder against him as he flicked her nipple with his tongue while still fingering her.

He lifted his head and met her gaze. “Do not come yet, love. I want you to feel it like you’ve never felt before.”

Tilly moaned as her fingers tangled in his hair, urging his mouth back to her breast.

Every flick of his tongue against her nipple earned him a responding clench of her muscles around his fingers, until she’d truly slipped into that passionate realm where she didn’t care what happened next as long as he didn’t stop.

He pulled her to her feet again and led her around the end of the bed. There, he reached over to the dresser for the remote and changed the channel to jazz music. She kept her arms around his neck as she tried to lick at his nipples. He helped her step out of her dress and left it on the floor.

“Dance with me, love,” he hoarsely commanded. How much control would he have when he finally reached that point with her?

Her body melded against his as they swayed in time with the music. He captured her mouth, a slow burn of kisses down her throat, across her shoulder, and back again. He let his hands roam her back, the heat of her bare body reaching him through his slacks and comfortably warm against his bare chest. So smooth and beautiful. For a few moments, as they danced and he lost himself in her eyes, he almost forgot about Cris watching them from the bed.

He slowly maneuvered her around so Cris could get a full view of her naked back. Landry took great pains to stroke his fingers down her spine and splay his fingers across the rounded curves of her ass.

This had to be killing him.

To add insult to injury, he winked at Cris over her shoulder and held his gaze for several long moments before turning to the side again so he could watch them in profile.

She tried to reach down and unfasten his slacks, but he laughed and caught her hands. Bringing them up to his lips, he kissed her wrists. “Slowly, love. We have all night long and even then some.”

He backed to the end of the bed and sat, making her stand between his legs. After placing her hands on his shoulders, he bent in and laved his tongue across her tummy, working lower, teasing.

Her fingers tightened on his shoulders as she softly moaned.

“Do you like that, baby?”

“Yes!”

He felt Cris’ eyes on his back and knew the bound man had a great view of her bare body.

Landry spent several minutes tormenting her, until her inner thighs were slick from her passion. She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him as he laughed.

“What do you plan to do with me like this?” he asked.

She grabbed his hands and pinned his arms over his head as she kissed him. Her hips ground against his, drawing a moan from both. “You fucking tease,” she said, “you’re killing me.”

“I thought it was the man who’s supposed to lose control?” He flipped her over, reversing their positions, her hands now pinned over her head. When he sat up and released her hands, she didn’t move her arms, left them over her head.

“Please,” she begged.

He switched to French and knew that would slice right through Cris’ very core. “Do you want me love?”

“Oui! ”

He smiled. She was so close to subspace like this that it wouldn’t take much to tip her into it, but he’d promised never to take advantage of her like that.

Leaning in, he nuzzled her throat, grazing her skin with his teeth. He would leave at least one really good love bite somewhere on her neck where Cris couldn’t miss seeing it over the next few days.

“Are you ready for me?”

“Oui! ” She squirmed under him, but never moved her hands.

He stood and slowly unfastened his trousers, never taking his eyes off her. Still in French, he asked, “Are you only mine, love?”

“Oui, monsieur! ”

He hesitated. She was dangerously close to subspace. The temptation was too great to let her get any closer. His eyes flicked to Cris’, whose expression had darkened. Yes, he’d noticed it too. How could he not? This was as close to the woman he once knew as he’d probably ever get again. She’d changed too much over the years.

He leaned over, his hands planted on the bed on either side of her, one knee between her legs.

He bent his head to her neck again. He switched back to English. “My beautiful wife,” he said as he nuzzled her flesh, “you don’t need to call me that.”

Her arms wrapped around him as she started rubbing her mound against his thigh, her body writhing beneath him as her hands roamed his flesh. One of her legs hooked around his. “Please make me yours!” she begged in English.

“That I will do, love.” He nipped and sucked at her neck, below her ear. Her gyrations below him increased in urgency as her nails raked down his back. When he finally lifted his head, he knew the red mark would be just enough to last a few days at least, but not be horribly obvious. “Mine,” he whispered in her ear. “My sweet, beautiful wife.” He hooked his arms under her knees and shoved her farther back on the bed before he stood again and finished removing his trousers.

One more glance at Cris. Their eyes met and Landry read the mix of anger and agony there.

Good.

She watched Landry’s body, the candlelight flickering off his solid, trim form as he pushed his pants down and stood there watching her. His cock looked even larger in the dim light, his sac heavy below it, framed by dark hair. Her body ached for him, wanted to feel that cock take her, wanted it not just because it’d been a difficult five years, but because she longed to connect with a real body again, needed the warm strength of a trustworthy man to release her from her mind even if only for a few minutes.

She needed him.

God, how she wished she didn’t.

He came to her, his body covering her as his lips roamed hers. She tried to rock her hips to find his cock and take him in, but he teased her, keeping himself just far enough out of her reach she couldn’t capture him.

He lifted his head again and spoke in French. “Are you ready for me?”

She nodded.

Slowly, torturously slow, he pressed forward just so his thick knob teased her desperate sex.

“Do you want me to fuck you?” he asked, still in French.

She nodded. “Please!”

As if holding back, his body trembled while he took his time sinking his entire shaft inside her, spreading her slick muscles apart as he took possession of her.

Damn, it felt good, that hard cock touching places that hadn’t been touched in so, so long, her muscles straining, stretching her.

Once buried inside her, he rested his head against her shoulder. His breath rasped in her ear.

“Jesus, you feel so fucking good,” he said in English. “I knew I should have used a cock ring.” She tried to thrust against him, but he dropped his weight on top of her, forcing her to remain still. “No, don’t move. I’ll explode.”

She wrapped arms and legs around him and nibbled at places she could reach on his shoulder.

“Please fuck me!”

“Easy, baby. Give me a minute. I don’t want to cheat you out of this. You are so fucking tight, you have no idea how close I am.” He kissed her again, taking her mind off the fact that he wasn’t moving yet. When he slowly withdrew, his thick head just at her entrance, she whined when he ordered her still again. “Next time, I will fuck you as hard and fast as you want,” he promised, “but let me savor this, please.”

It wasn’t nearly fast enough for her tastes, his body slowly sliding across her clit but not fast enough to get her off. After a few minutes he picked up the pace and reverted to French. “Are you my good girl?”

She moaned, feeling her senses spinning as her body opened even more to him. “Yes!”

“Do you want to come for me?”

“Yes!”

He lifted his head. “Open your eyes and look at me.”

She forced her eyes open. In the dim room, his green eyes looked as dark as emeralds, his face hard and strong. “I’m close, love. If you’re my good girl, come for me…now!”

The sensation ripped through her, amplified by him suddenly thrusting hard and fast. Fighting to keep her eyes open proved a losing battle. Her back arched as her muscles clenched around his solid cock. He drove himself into her harder, faster, deeper. Their bodies, slick with sweat, moved in perfectly synced undulations as she released herself to him.

“One more!” he ordered. “Be my good girl and come now!”

She sobbed as the climax washed through her. He swelled and throbbed inside her as he pushed deep one last time. His body tensed and he let out a moan of his own before he lowered his body onto hers and tenderly kissed her.

Eyes closed, she felt her tears and let them flow. She couldn’t have stopped them if she tried. It didn’t matter why, she didn’t care to take a time out to analyze herself. Armchair quarterbacking could happen later.

Much later.

After he finished thoroughly fucking her.

After she quit making comparisons between him and Cris in her mind.

He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them onto their sides without withdrawing. “Are you okay, baby?” he asked in English.

She nodded against him, gladly letting him hold her close. He didn’t ask why she cried, didn’t speak, just lay there with her in his arms and his lips pressed against the top of her head.

After a few minutes she rubbed her face against his chest, his hair softly scratchy against her lips. When she felt the subtle, firm bump of a nipple, she flicked it with her tongue and enjoyed his soft kiss of pleasure.

“You’re risking another fucking if you keep that up,” he teased.

She nipped him.

Laughter mixed with his startled protest. When he rolled her onto her back, his cock was already stiffening inside her. She raised her arms over her head again in a gesture of submission she knew he wouldn’t miss. “I’m your very good girl,” she said, in English that time.

His brief look of pleasant surprise was worth it.

She hoped they were ripping Cris’ heart out.

He slid his hands up her arms and laced his fingers through hers. When he pulled her arms down, she pushed them back up and met his gaze with determination. She wanted him to fuck the pain and hurt and loneliness out of her. She wanted every thrust of his cock to drive the memories that much farther away from the woman she was today. This woman wanted this man—her husband—to fuck her so hard and fast that she wouldn’t ever think of herself as anything but his wife, because that’s all she would remember. It would form the sum of her existence and she could forget her past.

The good as well as the bad.

“I need you,” she said. “Please. Take me.”

He untangled his hands from hers and withdrew from her. Before she could protest, he sat up, flipped her over, and pulled her to her knees. His hands stroked her back and ass before he aligned his cock with her pussy. The coarse hair of his thighs rubbed against the backs of hers as he used his legs to nudge hers farther apart.

“Are you my good girl?”

Shivers of anticipation flowed through her. Her eyes briefly locked with Cris’ and she felt another shiver. “Yes!” She wiggled her hips, trying to get him to fuck her.

Landry’s voice turned amused, playful. “Does my good girl want another hard fucking?”

“Please!” She tried to rock back and impale herself, but his strong hands held her hips still.

Cris’ eyes never left hers.

Landry’s hands massaged her ass. “How did you enjoy the first time I fucked you, baby?”

“I loved having your cock inside me!”

Cris blinked, but his eyes never wavered.

“Well, I loved fucking you. You have such a sweet, tight pussy. Any man would love to fuck you, and yet I’m the lucky bastard married to you.” His hands tightened on her. “I’m the only man who gets to do this to you.” He thrust, hard and fast, sinking all the way into her.

Her hands fisted the sheet as she cried out.

It felt so.

Fucking.

Good.

Cris watched them, the look of satisfaction on Landry’s face, the look of passionate pleasure on hers. He had the dubious distinction of knowing neither was faking it.

The bed shook as Landry fucked her hard and fast. Her spine rounded as she threw her head back and moaned, “Don’t stop!”

“I’m not going to stop. I’m going to make love to you all night long.”

Cris wished he could fall through the floor, that it would open and swallow him. He’d been painfully wrong earlier. His imagination and wondering what Landry had in store paled in comparison to the reality.

Landry sat back, holding her tightly to him, and made her sit up. She threw her head onto his shoulder as she rode his cock. His hands roamed her body, then settled over her breasts where he cupped them in his palms and rubbed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples. She reached back, stretching her body, and hooked an arm around his neck as she rocked against him.

Their lips connected and Cris was once again relegated to silent witness instead of forced voyeuristic participant. He tried to tune out, to imagine himself in Tilly’s place, impaled on Landry’s cock and lost in the moment, and he couldn’t.

All he could think about was the last time he made love to Tilly, not knowing at the time it was the last time he’d ever make love to her.

The night before he flew out to L.A. for the job where, almost three weeks later, he read an email only two hours old from an old friend of his. On an email account he rarely checked anymore, and hadn’t checked in nearly six months. While he sat in a hotel room less than five miles from the hospital.

A perfect storm of coincidences.

Landry fucked Tilly as Cris thought about walking into the ICU and finding Jaimie and Gentry sitting in the waiting area, remembered seeing the shocked surprise on the men’s faces.

Gentry had stood and warmly embraced him. “Fuck! I didn’t know you lived here.”

He’d kept his face schooled to an expression of dispassionate concern. “I don’t. What happened?”

Gentry and Jaimie, who’d taken the condo next door to Landry’s, had received a knock on their door from the CHP officer doing a next of kin search early that morning.

He listened to Gentry run down Landry’s injuries. “Is he going to make it?” he’d hoarsely asked his old friend.

Gentry hesitated, wetting his lips before answering. “They don’t know.”

“Who else is here for him?” He looked around.

Jaimie shook his head. “We’re it, bro. He’s got nobody unless he’s still got family in France.”

Gentry and Jaimie lied for Cris and told the nursing staff Cris was Landry’s partner. They left out the little factoid that Cris hadn’t had any contact with Landry in over six years, since the day he moved out.

The nursing staff paged one of the on call physicians, who explained to Cris about the seriousness of Landry’s condition. Not the accident injuries, for while serious, he would heal from those. But the cancer they’d discovered during the surgery.

“What has to be done?” Cris felt numb, hadn’t yet been able to bring himself to touch his former lover, the man he still loved.

His Master.

“He must have immediate treatment. I need a signature on the forms though.”

Cris felt himself nod. “Whatever you need.”

When the doctor left to get the forms, Cris barely noticed him leave. All he could see were

Landry’s closed eyes, both blackened and swollen, his broken nose, the ventilator tube taped in place, the IVs in his arms, and the bandage around his head.

Wake up, he thought. Look at me you son of a bitch.

The man who had haunted his dreams all these years, even while he loved Tilly, didn’t move, a machine breathing for him, monitors logging every heartbeat.

The man he once thought had a heart of stone.

The man he hated because he couldn’t stop loving him no matter how hard he’d tried to forget him.

The doctor returned, handed Cris a clipboard, and indicated where he should sign.

Cris didn’t read the paperwork, but he didn’t sign at first, pretended he was looking it over.

Considering.

“Is he going to make it?” Cris asked, hating how choked his voice sounded.

The doctor looked grave. “I can’t make any promises, Mr. Guerrero. His condition is very serious. If we start cancer treatments immediately, we have a chance of saving his life. We can do more surgery tomorrow. He’ll need radiation and chemotherapy in addition to surgery. I won’t lie and say it’ll be easy, but the oncologist said he’s seen people survive who are in much worse shape.”

He’d signed the paperwork and walked to the waiting room to talk to his old friends again.

Tilly’s moan brought Cris fully back to the present as Landry slowly fucked her. He’d dropped one hand between her legs and spread his own farther apart, forcing her to open wider.

Cris watched Landry’s cock as it repeatedly disappeared inside her, his balls bouncing at the bottom of every stroke. Landry extended his middle finger, flipping Cris an upside-down bird before he used two fingers to rub her clit. That drew more happy moans from her.

His cock felt damn good inside her. She felt the restrained strength in his hands, enjoyed knowing he could be so gentle and tender with her while the dark master within could beat Cris to a pulp. Hands that could torture and inflict pain, yet for her alone brought so much pleasure.

Safety.

“I want another one from you,” he said. “I want to feel you squeeze my cock again.”

The sound of his voice stripped every ounce of will from her soul. All she wanted was to be part of him, to let him take her however he wanted.

“Please make me come.” She kept one arm hooked around his neck as her fingers burrowed into his hair. Along her back she felt the fine hair on his chest rubbing her flesh, his skin warm against hers.

Her husband.

“I’ll make you come all night long if you want, sweetheart. Anything to make you happy.”

Her heart fluttered.

Sweetheart.

He was the first man to call her that in a romantic way since…

Resisting the urge to open her eyes, she ground her hips against him even as his fingers skillfully strummed her clit and drew her closer to climax.

The part of her that didn’t ever want to want or need another human being in her life tried to resist despite how good it felt. That part of her knew she grew dangerously close to loving this almost-stranger.

Right now, for the first time in years, she let the notion of spending the rest of her life with someone take root in her heart.

“Baby, please, give it to me,” Landry coaxed.

The tone of his voice more than his actual words set her off. Her grip on him tightened as she held on, riding her orgasm out as he slammed his cock into her. His hands moved to her hips and she felt his fingers clamp down, holding on as he fucked her to his own completion.

Instead of lowering her to the bed, he leaned back on his heels, holding her, cradling her body against him, his breath rasping in her ear.

“Jesus, I can’t get enough of you,” he said.

Her heart surged again. If it was part of his revenge act, he was a damn good actor. He sure sounded sincere.

“You’ll be sick of me in three years,” she assured him.

His arms tightened around her. “Now you stop talking like that.” He bit her shoulder, not painfully, just enough nip to make her pleasantly squirm and send pulses of need back to her clit.

He chuckled. “Ooh, you like being bitten. Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?” He repeated it across her shoulders for several long minutes, back and forth until she writhed on his cock, which had grown hard again. “Had I known you enjoyed it so much I would have done more of it sooner.”

“You never asked me if I liked it. You only warned me that you do it.”

“So, do you like it?”

“Like that, yes.”

He licked the mark he’d left on her neck earlier. It was already in the process of turning a slightly darker shade. “How about that? Did you like that?”

“Just don’t leave me looking like I lost a fight with an octopus.”

He grazed his teeth across the nape of her neck before biting her there. Not even close to hard enough to break the skin. Her heart raced as her body responded to him.

“What else do you enjoy?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t that be spoiling the fun of trying to figure it out for yourself?”

His lips brushed against her ear. He whispered so quietly she knew Cris couldn’t hear. “Can I make a new rule?” he asked.

“Okay.” She could barely think, much less speak.

He kissed the back of her neck again. “I’d like to keep my wife as happy as possible. If you don’t mind us making love, I damn sure don’t mind. I just don’t know how up to it I’ll feel over the next few months.”

She laid her hands over his. “I don’t mind. I want to. I kind of worried you’d cut me off after tonight.”

“Not on your life.” Another nip. He changed position, laying with her on their sides across the bed, their backs to Cris. “I told you, I want to keep you happy.”

“I’ve got a rule, too.”

He laughed, his breath warm against her neck. “Yes, love?”

“No bugging me about if I’ve made up my mind to stay yet or not, okay?”

She heard the hesitation in his voice. “All right.”

She craned her head around to look at him. This time, she dropped her voice. “You can work on the assumption, unless I say otherwise, that I’ll be here for a long, long time. As long as you can put up with me. Okay?”

He smiled widely and stroked her cheek. “Thank you.” When he kissed her she wanted to forget about the rest of the world.

After a few minutes he carefully untangled his body from hers and leaned in for another kiss.

“Ready for some more slave torture?”

She was actually ready for another round of fucking, but wasn’t sure he was. “If you are.”

He stood and walked over to Cris. She rolled over to watch, propped on one elbow.

Landry grabbed Cris’ hair and yanked his head back so he could look down into his face. “Did. you enjoy watching that, slave?” He leaned in closer. “I can truthfully tell you I loved every second of it. I hope you did too, because you’ll be seeing a lot of it. Not just tonight, either. I’d forgotten how sweet it feels to make love to a beautiful woman.”

He reached around the back of Cris’ head and unfastened the ball gag harness. Then he ripped it off Cris and stepped closer. “In fact, I want to make love to her again. Open your mouth and suck me.

Get me nice and hard for my wife.”

She realized she’d been holding her breath. She breathlessly watched as Cris obediently opened his mouth and sucked Landry’s cock between his lips.

“Just think, slave,” Landry continued. “This is the closest you’ll ever get to fucking her, sucking her sweet juices off my cock.” Then he looked at her and winked. “Unless, of course, I let you eat my come out of her pussy.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

She realized he wasn’t serious but played along. “I like how you think.”

His intense eyes never left hers. “Do you, now?”

“Oh, I certainly do.” She crawled across the bed and watched Cris working Landry’s cock. “I don’t mind letting him fluff you for me. It means I’ll have an even harder cock fucking me, a real man’s cock.”

Landry sucked in a sharp breath. “My sweet, vicious little wife, I absolutely love your evil mind. I think that’s rather ironic, having slave fluff me before I fuck your pussy. Why would I ever want to fuck his ass again when I can be with such a beautiful woman?”

She flicked Cris’ bound cock with her fingers. “Look at that. He likes it. He likes knowing one of his jobs now is getting you ready to fuck me.” The head of Cris’ cock, engorged and purple, peaked out beyond his bindings. She knew damn well he was hard because of how Landry tied him up, because of his training, and because he hadn’t been allowed to come in weeks, not so much because of what they were doing to him.

“You’re right, love. Guess what, slave? I think one of your new jobs is just that. To make sure that when I want to fuck my wife, my cock is nice and hard. Then after I get done, lucky you, I’ll let you suck me clean.”

He pulled out and she realized he’d grown fully hard again, whether from Cris’ actions, genuine desire, or perhaps prescription medication in the form of little blue pills.

Honestly, she didn’t care why. She rolled onto her back and spread her legs. “Whenever you want me.”

She’d quickly come to recognize the evil gleam in Landry’s eye. “Scoot closer, love,” he said.

She did.

He slipped two fingers inside her well-fucked pussy and gently stroked. “Look how wet you are. Did I get you that wet?”

“You fucked me damn good.”

“So I see.” He withdrew his fingers and shoved them in Cris’ mouth. “See what a real man does, slave? A real Master? He takes proper care of his lover.” He repeated the motion, slipping his fingers into her, liberally coating them with their mixed juices, then pushing them into Cris’ mouth again. “See how well I fucked her? It’ll be a long damn time before I think about fucking you again when I have such a beautiful woman wanting me to fuck her.”

He knelt between her legs and pushed into her. “Ah, love, you feel magnificent.” He fell still and reached over to Cris’ cock. Wrapping his fingers around the rope harness binding it, he squeezed, hard, drawing a low, pained moan from Cris.

“What do you think, love? Should I let him come?”

“That’s up to you. I say if being a cuck gets him hard, let him enjoy it.”

He pumped Cris’ cock. Tilly suspected Cris was close to subspace, if not already tipped into it.

If so, Landry might not have much trouble getting him off. “All right, cuck. If watching me fuck my wife and cleaning my cock are what get you hard, then come for me.” He switched to French. “If you don’t come, I’ll take a fucking cane to your balls.”

Cris groaned as he stared at Landry, his hips working in time with his Master’s hand.

“Come now, slave!”

He let out another groan and she watched him climax all over Landry’s hand.

Landry laughed and wiped his hand on Cris’ stomach. “Look at that. What a pitiful man you are. Needing to watch your Master fucking his wife—your ex-girlfriend—to get off. You are a natural cuck, aren’t you?”

Tilly felt her stomach turn a little. She knew damn well it wasn’t the situation that got Cris off, but Landry’s careful training and conditioning. While at first this seemed like a grand idea, maybe they’d gone a little too far.

Landry turned to her and kissed her. “Can I coax one more out of you, baby?”

“No, I think I’ve had about as much fun as I can stand for one night.” Plus she knew Cris had been bound like that for over an hour and she worried he might lose circulation in his feet and legs. The Domme in her couldn’t turn that worry off once it’d clicked on. Sliding her hands down Landry’s back to his tight ass, she wiggled her hips. “Time for you to have some fun again.”

She loved his playful smirk as he slowly stroked. “He’s good for at least another hour tied up like that.”

“That’s fucking spooky.”

He nipped her neck. “You glanced at the clock.”

She dug her nails into his ass and squeezed. “You don’t miss much, do you?”

“Not anymore.” He rested his forehead against hers as he thrust. This time when he came his soft gasp as his body tensed was the only warning she had before his movements stilled. He pressed a gentle kiss to her brow. “I promise to be the best husband I can be, Tilly,” he whispered. “I’ll never leave you wanting for anything within my power to give you. I swear it.”

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his warm, strong body wrapped around hers. “I’ll hold you to it.”

Cris silently watched them together, couldn’t hear their intimate whispers over the music.

Just a few weeks ago, that was him where Tilly lay, feeling safe and cherished. It felt like light years since then. If he’d simply let go of the past, let go of her, of all ties to her, they wouldn’t be here now. He had rarely gone more than a few days before he logged in to stare at the pictures of her, the only thing he had to remember her by other than his memories. How could he let go of her when he still loved her?

If it wasn’t for that selfish indulgence, Landry never would have known about her.

Finally, Landry stood and turned to him. He prepared for the next inevitable humiliation, but Landry untied him while Tilly pulled a sheet over herself and turned away, not watching.

Landry didn’t help him sit up after he freed him. He stared at Cris. “Did you enjoy that, slave?”

Cris didn’t reply despite knowing his silence might earn him another punishment.

Landry surprised him with a laugh. “Get your ass out of my bed, slave. You can go to bed in your room, but keep the door open. I want you to be able to hear anything else we might do.”

Cris nodded and carefully climbed out of bed, mindful of the pins and needles sensation in his feet. He heard Landry softly talking to her as he left the bedroom. The walk to his room felt more like a death march.

He hesitated inside the doorway. Before this weekend, even if not in Landry’s bed, at least they’d been in the same room. How long before he’d ever feel the warm comfort of his Master’s body again?

Or would he?

The empty bed mocked him. Yes, he could finally curl up on a mattress. Use covers to keep the chill away. Soft, comfortable pillows.

If given the chance, he’d take the hard floor next to his Master’s bed.

Slowly, he made his way to what to him amounted to solitary confinement and crawled under the covers.

Tilly couldn’t help but watch Cris when he left the bedroom. Landry slid back into bed with her and slipped his arms around her. His lips feathered along the back of her neck.

“What troubles you, love?”

“What’s his tat mean?”

“Hmm?”

“The Kanji character on his ass. What does it signify?”

Landry chuckled. “Why? Do you wish for one of your own?”

She knew her voice sounded sharper than she meant. “Quit kidding around.”

He sighed. “It means ‘slave’.”

“How long’s he had it?”

“Tilly, this is old—”

“Answer my fucking question.”

His lips hesitated on the nape of her neck. “Six months after he moved in with me, he saw another slave at one of the clubs we frequented get marked by their Master during a formal collaring ceremony, and he begged me to mark him as well. By that time we were living full time as Master and slave. I had already formally collared him.”

“Mark him?”

“Well, that slave was branded. I’m sorry, while I admit I am a sadist, I do draw the limit somewhere. I told him if he truly wanted to be marked, he could accept a tattoo or nothing at all. I was also realistic that if for whatever reason in the future we were no longer together, I wanted it to be something that would not be so instantly recognizable as to cause him grief, and in a discreet location.”

He snuggled her tightly. “May I ask why it is so important?”

“Because the other night at the club, when you first approached me, I saw it and it triggered a flashback. I didn’t realize it was him, just thought it was a very similar tat. He never told me what it meant. He always said he was drunk and couldn’t remember.”

“Hmm.” He chuckled. “I don’t know if I should punish him for that lie or not.”

“Please don’t. That’s not why I asked. I just wanted to know.”

He lay there quietly for a moment. “Are you all right?”

She took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

“You don’t sound like a woman pleased with herself.”

She rolled in his arms and buried her face against his chest. “I’m not,” she softly admitted.

He nuzzled the top of her head. She loved it when he did that. “Regretting this?”

“Give me a day or two to get back to you on that.” She felt his body tense and lifted her face to meet his gaze. “I meant the revenge, not marrying you. I absolutely do not regret marrying you.” She might have many regrets in her life, but marrying Landry wouldn’t ever be one of them.

She hoped.

She felt him relax as a smile creased his face. “You scared me, Mrs. LaCroux.”

A pleasant shiver raced through her body. “I definitely don’t regret being called that,” she whispered. She ran her fingers over the wedding band that coexisted with her engagement ring. Both so new, and yet it felt right. The sight of the matching band on his finger sent another pleasant chill through her.

He belonged to her, and she belonged to him.

At least for the next three years, she wouldn’t have to face being alone, waking up to an empty bed.

She had someone to love.

He kissed her, and while her body had hit its limit for the evening, her heart and soul filled and swelled with emotions she hadn’t been able to feel in too damn long.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “Because I absolutely do not regret marrying you, either.”