She spun on her heel, knew the connection, the friendship between me and Tyler was more than fucking the same woman. I didn’t have many friends, but what he’d done to have me released would put me forever in his debt. Perhaps, that even included marrying when I shouldn’t have, when I knew I wasn’t good for any woman. But now, even only a day into it, he’d been right. A woman—Emily—was good for me, for us. I just had to keep from fucking it up.
“So, sweetheart, you’ve married a fucked-up bastard.”
Turning her head, she looked up at me and pursed her lips. “Definitely one who likes to swear.”
I couldn’t deny that. “I don’t trust easily,” I admitted. “I don’t like liars and I like control. If you want a gentle husband, you go see Tyler.”
She glanced down at my words, wrung her hands. Tyler remaine
d silent. I remained silent, too, waiting to see what she’d say. That stupid ticking clock only reminded me that she was taking an awfully long time to think.
“Maybe… one gentle husband is enough.”
My heart flipped at her words. Yeah, Tyler would be good to her. I nodded my head and turned toward the door, resigned to know she would be well taken care of. Without me.
Her small hand on my arm stopped me.
“I… um, actually, like rough, too.”
Slowly, I turned to face her, to stare at her, to look into her dark eyes and search for the truth.
“What are you saying, Emily?”
“I’m saying I… I liked it when you were rough.”
Her admission made her cheeks turn a bright pink.
The corner of my mouth tipped up. “You like it when I take control, sweetheart?”
She nodded, then bit her lip.
“You like it when I push you up against a door and lick your pussy until you come?”
I saw heat flare in her eyes, her flush creep down her neck. “Yes.”
“I can’t be gentle, sweetheart, but I’ll never hurt you.”
“I know.”
Just like that, my cock hardened, my body relaxed and settled into the mindset of a man who had a woman who needed to be controlled. Who liked it. Who came because of it. Who needed it.
I flicked my gaze to Tyler and he just gave me a small nod. Emily wasn’t leaving me. She wanted me just the way I was.
“You’ve been such a good girl, I think you deserve a treat.”
I grinned when I saw her mouth fall open and her nipples tighten beneath her dress.
CHAPTER EIGHT
EMILY
“Treat?” I asked.
Xander had made my emotions so topsy-turvy that my brain was muddled. When Ralph had been dragged inside I thought my heart had stopped. He was insane to come to the Bridgewater Ranch and push me for money. He could have been shot and buried where no one would ever find the body. Xander and Tyler had protected me, paid the man and gotten rid of him all within a matter of a few short minutes.
I’d wanted them to protect me from Ralph but hadn’t expected them to pay him off. Panic was replaced by relief when I knew he wouldn’t be coming after me anymore. I was free of him once and for all.
But then Xander had accused me of awful things. I’d even thought he had wanted repayment in the form of… of fucking. I’d assumed then that he was no better than Ralph or Frank. So I’d dutifully bent over the desk as I’d assumed he’d want to take me. The look on his face when I’d done so was a mixture of anger and horror.