“I can’t believe you did this! I told you I was taking the clothes back.” Lily stood with her hands on her hips.
“And I told you that you weren’t,” Shade replied coldly.
She bent down, opening one of the boxes and staring in shock at what he had done. Going down on her knees, she opened each of the boxes, finding each one contained only a single shoe.
She rose to her feet, holding one tennis shoe in her hand. “Where are the other shoes?”
“I’ve put them away. When you want to wear a particular pair, I’ll get you the match.”
“I’m not keeping the shoes.”
“Doesn’t look like you have much choice, does it?” he said, satisfied that he had outmaneuvered her.
“You think you have it all figured out? Fine, I’ll keep them and the clothes, too. In fact, I’ll share them with all the women in the house. They all share clothes. They’ll love the shoes.”
Shade laughed, refusing to feel bad for what he was about to say.
“They wouldn’t be seen dead in those clothes.”
Unless the clothes showed off ass, tits, or both, the women wouldn’t wear them.
“That’s fine, then.” Lily did an about-face. “I’ll give you the money for everything. I don’t want to share anything with them, either. Not their clothes, not their shampoo, and certainly not you.” With that, she threw a tennis shoe at him.
Shade couldn’t believe she had actually thrown it until it almost smacked him in the face. He had barely managed to dodge it.
Lily crossed her arms over her chest, obviously proud of herself.
“Do you mind getting me the match?” Lily unwisely mocked him. His little pacifist had snapped.
Shade got up from the chair, his face impassive. “That robe belongs to Bliss. She didn’t need it because she doesn’t wear it.”
Lily shrieked in anger, jerking the robe off before she threw it at him. He grabbed it, tossing it to the chair.
“The nightgown belongs to Raci. She sleeps in the nude, so she lent it to you.”
Lily wasn’t so far gone that she was about to tear the gown off. Instead, she went back to the closet, getting one of the new pajama sets.
She was jerking it off the hanger as he came up behind her so when she turned back around, she ran into his chest.
“I thought you didn’t want them?” he mocked her.
“I don’t, jerk-face, but I have to wear something.”
“I don’t see why.” His hands went to her hips, clenching the material of the gown in his hands, bunching it until it came up to her calves.
Lily’s eyes snapped violet fire at him. Losing her temper, she used one of her favorite moves, raising her knee.
Not fucking going to happen. Shade wasn’t about to let her bust his balls twice in his lifetime; he didn’t care how cute she looked mad.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Shade moved his thigh, blocking her knee and throwing her off-balance so her body fell against his.
Lily was a creature of habit, so Shade already knew the move she was going to make next.
Determinedly, she reached out with her hand to grab his nuts. The feisty woman had lost her fucking mind. If she had her way, he would never be able to give her all those kids she wanted in the future. He was going to have to talk to Rachel to see if she could fix Lily’s psychological need to rip his dick off when she became angry.
“Nuh-uh, you little wildcat.” He used his leg to swipe her foot out from under her, making her begin to fall to the floor. However, he twisted so he fell first, and she landed on top of him.
“You’re a mean, mean person. I don’t even know why I like you.” Lily beat on his chest with her fists. “The only women you haven’t been with in Treepoint are the ones who are either happily married or dead.”
He laughed up at her, rolling her onto her back then wedging himself between her thighs as he took her wrists in one of his, locking them above her head and holding her in place beneath him.
“You don’t hate me; you’re jealous,” he said smugly.
“I’m not jealous of you. You’re a … a—”
“Exactly what am I?” Shade look down at her in amusement at the extent she was letting her jealousy show.
“A man-whore,” Lily spat angrily. “I do not think you being promiscuous is funny. I don’t care who you have sex with as long as you leave me alone.”
“But you’re the one I’m the most interested in, Lily. I wouldn’t want to leave you out in the cold,” he murmured seductively.
“Leave me in the cold! Better yet, why don’t you forget all about me?”
“Forget about you? That’s not going to happen, especially since I’ve thought of nothing but fucking you since the moment I saw you. Don’t you get tired of sitting on that moral throne of yours? Don’t you want to come out and play?”
Lily stiffened underneath him when he slid a hand under her nightgown, moving determinedly toward her panties. Her eyes widened, and Shade could tell she expected him to stop. Not fucking likely. She was the one who had taken the argument to a physical level. If she wanted to get physical with him, he was going to show her the right way to do it. One which didn’t involve pain—at least, not his.
His hands slid under the wispy pink underwear she was wearing, his finger sliding through the dry skin of her pussy.
Lily arched against his palm. She wasn’t aroused yet, but he was going to fix that problem.
“I’m going to play. Feel free to join in anytime.” He lowered his voice to a more intimate level.
She opened her mouth, but he closed his over hers before she could gather her stunned thoughts. His tongue thrust into her mouth as his fingers began playing with her clit, stroking the little nub with an experienced touch which had been perfected over many years. A rush of wetness moistened his finger, enabling him to glide slickly against her sensitized flesh.
She tried to wiggle away from him but Shade kept his fingers firmly on her clit, stroking harder. Lily quit moving, her hands gripping his shoulders as he continued to rub her clit. She wiggled her hips timidly, her eyes going from angry to curious, and then he felt another rush of moisture against his fingers.
Shade’s mouth left hers, going to her neck and sucking a tiny amount of the sensitive flesh into his mouth as Lily’s hips rose off the floor, grinding her pussy against his palm.
His finger slid wetly along her flesh as she began twisting beneath him. He sucked harder on her neck then pressed between the folds of her clit.
Lily shuddered, her thighs clenching his hand tightly against her pussy as she stiffened then trembled underneath him. When she lay still, Shade raised his head from her throat, removing his hand from between her clenched thighs. He brought his fingers to his mouth and sucked the nectar of her from them, staring down into her embarrassed face.
Lily pushed him off her, going toward the bathroom.
“Lily, now I’ve had every pussy in town that’s not happily married or dead.”
Lily slammed the door on his mocking words.
Shade rolled onto his back, his arm covering his eyes. That went well, he thought sarcastically to himself. It was not how he had imagined her first orgasm with him.
Sighing, he rose to his feet then turned back the covers and lay down. Nothing was ever easy with Lily. She wanted to be treated like a child, but Shade wasn’t going to go along with that shit. She was a grown woman and that was how he was going to treat her. If any other woman had thrown a shoe at him, she would have been dealt a punishment which would have left her crying. She certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to climax a few minutes later.
To Lily, however, that was a punishment. He had shown her she was a woman with a woman’s needs. And Shade would bet the property the houses were sitting on that she wasn’t happy with the discovery.
He turned the bedside light out, relaxing against the mattress as he waited for the next storm to hit.
The bathroom door opened, and Li
ly walked barefoot to stand by his side of the bed.
“I want you to leave. I’m not sleeping with you anymore. There’s nothing wrong with your bedroom, so go sleep down there.”
“Lily, get in the bed and go to sleep. You’re mad because you lost our first fight, but it’s over.” Hell would freeze over before he let her throw him out of her bed.
She tugged at his arm. “I am not sleeping with you.”
“That did it, Lily. You’re going to learn your next lesson in how to behave with me.” Shade rolled to his side, almost gaping at her expectant look that he would give in to her demand. My woman is too used to getting her own way.
He sat up on the side of the bed and before she could get away, he flipped her over his knees. Lily screamed in surprise, but he knew damn well she wasn’t frightened when she threw him an angry look over her shoulder.
His hand smacked down on her butt, her thin gown and underwear no protection against the pain of the swat.
“Don’t you dare!”
Shade smacked her bottom again. He didn’t like being dared not to do anything, especially if it showed her who had the dick in their relationship, despite her best attempts to rip it off.
Another and another rained down on what he hoped was her burning bottom.
“Stop it!” she yelled back at him.
Another hard smack.
“Blueberries!”
“Don’t you dare use your safe word to get out of a punishment,” Shade snapped.
He was hurting her pride more than her ass; he wasn’t spanking her hard enough to hurt a fly. Bliss would have laughed in his face if he had spanked her with the swats he was giving Lily. Her ass might be pink when he was finished, but it wouldn’t be the bright red Bliss had often left his room happily satisfied with.
After another hard smack, she quit struggling and lay quietly across his lap.
Thwack.
“I’m sorry!” Lily wailed.
He stopped the spanking immediately then flipped her up and set her down hard on her stinging bottom on his lap.
He grasped her face, making her look up at him. “Don’t think you can order me out of your bed when you get mad at me.” Shade’s voice was coldly furious.
“Okay!” Lily yelled.
Lily found herself flipped back over his thighs, receiving two more punishing smacks.
“I’m sorry.” That time, her voice was tearfully remorseful.
He again sat her upright on her stinging bottom, keeping his expression cold and remote.
“Apologize to me correctly.”
Lily was confused. “I’m sorry?”
“I’m sorry, Sir.”
Lily’s face turned mutinous. Shade was more than willing to spoil Lily rotten within reason and give in to her when it was important, but his woman would give him respect.
He started to flip her over his lap again, and Lily hastily changed her attitude. “I’m sorry, Sir.”
“I give you a lot of leeway, Lily—more than I have ever given any woman—but I’m also not going to let you twist me around your finger like you did Charles.”
Lily opened her mouth.
“I advise you to go to bed before you say something else which makes me angry. You’ll learn what I’ll allow you to do and what I won’t. It’ll just take a little time.”
Shade released her, and Lily crawled into the bed without looking at him. He ignored the expression of anger she tried unsuccessfully to hide. At least she had made the attempt, and he could appreciate that.
Shade lay back down, pulling the covers over both of them.
He felt the bed shake from the force she was punching the pillow. She had a habit of doing that when she was angry at him. It took her several minutes to lie still, and then he realized she had buried her face in the same pillow she had taken out her frustration with him on and was sniffling.
“Are you crying?” Shade asked, rolling closer. He rubbed the flesh of her ass which he could have sworn wouldn’t be hurting, his thoughts turning to those of guilt.
“No.”
“All right, why aren’t you crying?”
Lily shrugged in the darkness.
His loud sigh of frustration filled the room. “Lily…”
“It was the first time I…” She wasn’t bringing herself to finish her sentence, and only one thing shut Lily up—talking about sex.
He couldn’t help laughing, relieved he hadn’t spanked her too hard.
Insulted, she started to climb out of bed but his arm circled her waist, preventing her from getting up.
“Go to sleep, Lily. I promise it won’t be the last.” For the spanking or the orgasm, but he kept that thought to himself.
Chapter 59
Orders were coming in at so fast a rate many of the members were working overtime, trying to get them out. Lily didn’t want to take off that Wednesday to work at the church store, but Shade told her to go. He drove her into town, telling her to call when she was finished and he would pick her up.
“Do not leave, even to go to the diner to pick up a drink.” He stared at her seriously, not wanting to frighten her; however, he wanted her to understand her safety was at risk.
“I won’t,” Lily promised, going inside.
As soon as the door closed behind her, he left to go back to the factory. He did the paperwork then pitched in to fill the orders backing up. All the members were there working; plus, the staff was working overtime.
Shade took a quick break to call Lucky, asking if he would bring Lily home for him. When he agreed, Shade went back to work so he would be able to spend some time with Lily that night. The last two, she had already been asleep before he had finished work.
He was taping a box closed when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, showing an alarm was going off. He dropped the tape and went to his office, shutting the door. Going to his computer, he pulled up the camera feed.
His breath stopped when he saw Lily enter her house alone.
His cell phone rang then.
“You seeing what I’m seeing?” Knox asked.
“If you mean do I see my woman doing what I told her not to, then yes, I’m watching.”
“What do you want me to do?” Knox asked.
Shade watched as Lily went through the house, his heart in his throat. He was about to tell Knox to go get her out when Lily went to the door and left.
“She’s out. I’ll deal with her when she gets home,” Shade said grimly.
“She’s yours to deal with, brother.” Shade heard his muttered “Thank God” before he disconnected the call.
His lips tightened as he punched a button on his cell phone while walking out of the factory toward his bike.
“What the fuck!” Shade yelled when Lucky answered.
“What’s up your ass?” Lucky snarled back.
“I thought you were smarter than to let Lily go into her house alone! I’m going to smash that pretty face of yours when I see you—” Shade broke off when he saw a car pull into the parking lot he recognized.
“Later.” Shade hung up on a cussing Lucky, not giving a flying fuck. He would deal with him later, after he dealt with Lily.
He strode angrily toward Rachel’s car, opening the door as soon as the vehicle stopped, taking the bag out of Lily’s hand.
“Thanks, Rachel,” Shade said.
Before the stunned woman could say anything, Shade shut the car door, ushering Lily up the steps to the house and straight to the bedroom they were sharing, shutting and locking the door behind them.
“What’s the matter with you?” Lily asked.
“Didn’t Dean tell you I asked him to give you a ride home?”
“Yes, but—”
“But what? Someone almost killed you the other day! I asked Dean to bring you home because I knew he would be able to handle anything that could happen. If I had wanted you to ride with Rachel, I would have called Rachel.
“Not only did you not come straight here, you went b
y your house and Rachel sat in the car. Someone could have been waiting and killed you inside the house, and Rachel wouldn’t even have known.”
“I didn’t think,” Lily confessed.
“You sure as fuck didn’t. What was so important? Beth and Razer could have picked it up for you.”
“I wanted to get a few of my things,” Lily told him.
“I asked you days ago if there was anything you wanted. What was it?”
“Shampoo.”
“Shampoo?! You got to be fucking kidding me!” His raised voice was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“What?” Shade snapped, opening the door to see Beth’s white face.
“Is there a problem? Maybe I—” Beth was cut off.
“No, Beth, I don’t need your help. Lily and I are having a discussion. You can see her at dinner.”
“But—” Beth began to argue.
Shade opened the door wider to take a step out into the hall.
“Razer!” he shouted. The two sisters were determined to make him lose his cool, and they were succeeding.
Shade wasn’t pacified when he heard footsteps running up the steps and saw Razer coming down the hallway. He stepped back into the bedroom.
“What’s going on?” Razer asked, seeing his wife’s pale face and Lily standing in the middle of the bedroom.
“Your wife is interrupting a discussion I’m having with Lily. Out of respect, I’m letting you handle your woman, but she needs to understand that, when Lily and I are arguing, she needs to back the fuck off.”
“Razer, he was yelling at her,” Beth defended herself.
“I’m not that crazy-as-fuck father of yours. I am not going to hurt her, but I am going to spank her because she took an unnecessary risk.”
Beth gasped. “Are you listening to him, Razer? He is not going to spank my sister. She’s a grown woman.”
“Yes, she is, and it’s time you realized that. Razer and I are brothers, and you and Lily are going to be sharing this house and our lives together for a long time, so we need to set some boundaries. One is that, when our door is closed and we’re arguing, you mind your own business. She can cry on your shoulder later, but you do not interrupt me again. I keep my nose out of your shit; you need to keep your nose out of mine.”