With shaking hands she pushed at the straps of her gown. “I love you, Stef.”

“You have an odd way of showing it, Jennifer.” He wasn’t giving an inch, and she couldn’t tell a thing from his eyes except that he was angry.

“You didn’t leave me a choice. If I didn’t make a stand now, how long would it take? It could be another three or four weeks before I have this baby. Sometimes first babies are late. And then it’s six weeks after that before I can have sex. I don’t want to wait another two or three months to be with my husband.”

“And rather than asking me to make love to you, you chose to take away control.”

God, how did he know how to put things in the worst possible light. Her gown slipped down, her breasts on display now, but Stef kept his eyes on her face. She felt her skin flush with embarrassment, but she wasn’t giving up yet. She couldn’t.

She reached out and touched his leg, running her hand up the powerful muscles there. “I wanted to play. We haven’t played in so very long. I don’t know how much time we’ll have once the baby is born. I don’t want to lose this part of our lives.”

His face was like granite. “You lost it the moment you chose to put me in this position. What is in our contract, wife?”

“This is about more than a contract.” Her voice was shaky because she was losing him.

His words came out clipped and sharp. “You said you wanted to play. Our play is defined by that contract, or are we just going to throw everything away because you’ve decided you want something? Is that how this works now? Our contract is meaningless because Jennifer Talbot isn’t getting what she thinks she deserves? That gives you the right to humiliate your Dom?”

“You tied me up before. I didn’t feel humiliated.”

“I asked you. Everything was consensual. Putting me in this position is not consensual. Having my friends go after me was not consensual.”

Tears blurred her eyes. She hadn’t meant to humiliate him. She’d meant to show him just how much she wanted him. She’d meant to show him that she would fight for them.

But he didn’t want her. She pulled the straps of her gown up and reached for her robe. She would cover herself properly. He didn’t like her body now. She knew she should be angry, but the dull ache that filled her crowded out everything else.

“I’ll have you out in a second.” She pulled on the ties Rye had made, tugging until his feet were free. She moved to his hands, and he was out of the bonds in moments.

She wouldn’t look at him, couldn’t. She simply got up and found his robe. She laid it out on the bed. “I’m going to get dressed. Rachel and Callie have been handling the party for me. I think I’m just going to go to my room. I’m very tired.”

She would wait until she made it to her room and then she would cry. She would wail. She would mourn because he didn’t want her anymore and he might not again. She could try to get her body back, but it couldn’t be the same again. In a few weeks, she would be a mom and nothing could change that. She wouldn’t be Stef’s hot little sub ever again.

And maybe then it would just be a matter of time before he started looking around, before he started wondering what he’d given up to marry her. He was rich and gorgeous and could have any woman he wanted.

How long would she be able to keep him? How long would she even want to keep a man who didn’t want her?

She took a deep breath. All that mattered now was getting out of this with as much dignity as she could muster. “I apologize, Stef. I thought I was being cute and spontaneous. I won’t do anything like this again. I’m going to the bathroom to get dressed. Please don’t blame Max and Rye. I asked them to help me.”

“Oh, I have plans for all of them, pet.” He was on his feet now, but he didn’t bother with the robe. “It might take years, but I’ll have my revenge. I’ll be creative, and this town will never forget what I do to those four men. I’m thinking of running Max up the town flagpole suspended only by his boxers. I won’t let him down until he cries a little. And Caleb Burke is going to get a dose of his own fucking medicine. I’m going to roofie the bastard and maybe get a tramp stamp of a butterfly tattooed above his ass. Yeah, we’ll see how he fucking likes that.”

“Stef, you can’t do that.”

“I don’t see why not.” His eyes rolled slightly. “It’s not like it would be permanent. Not that I would tell Caleb that. I have to figure out what to do to the big guy. I bet Alexei’s really nasty with the revenge thing. I’ll think about it. Why are you dressed?”

She was really confused. And her heart was still aching. “Stef, this was a stupid idea. I told you I’m sorry. You can’t run around plotting revenge.”

“Oh, I’ll have it. You see, I realized something in those moments just before the tranquilizer took effect. I’ve been going about this all wrong. I’ve been thinking I needed to figure out how to be a proper father to the boy. I’ve been thinking I needed to change everything about myself so I can teach our son. But our son is going to live here. So the first lesson he’s going to need to learn is how to beat the shit out of Max Harper’s kid because that rat bastard is going to have a son one of these days and I’ll be damned if Logan doesn’t know how to handle him. They’ll be best friends. It’s very important they understand how to fight. Now, I am only going to ask one more time, why is my submissive wearing clothing in our playroom?”

She sniffled a little and stood her ground. “You made yourself plain, Stef. I said I was sorry.”

“And now you’ll accept your punishment.” He looked down. “Oh, thank god. I thought for a minute the damn drugs were going to make this difficult. That’s a plan. I’ll sneak some Viagra into Doc and Alexei’s coffee right after I’ve made sure Holly is totally unavailable to them.”

His cock was working again, thrusting up from his nest of perfectly trimmed dark hair. “Stef?”

“I’m going to be gentle because of our child, but you should understand that you’ll take the spanking I’m about to give you. And you’ll take the fucking that’s going to come afterward, and as soon as Doc clears you for sex after the baby is born, I’m going to strap you to the St. Andrew’s Cross and you won’t come off of it until I’m satisfied. You will never, never wrest control from your Dom again. Are we understood, Jennifer?”

She couldn’t help it. Tears were still right there, leaking from her eyes. “I don’t understand, Stef.”

He softened, making his way across the room toward her. He stopped in front of her, his hand coming up to cup her cheek. “You’ve been heard, love. I’m sorry, too.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

His eyes hardened. “No, but you obviously want the flat of my hand on your ass. We’re going to talk this out, but we’re going to do it my way.”

He could be deeply unfair. “I’ve tried to talk to you.”

“And it didn’t work. So we’ll do it my way. Off with the clothes. Find a comfortable position, but I want your ass in the air. You wanted your Dom back, you have him. But you know what happens when you wake sleeping bears, love.”

She shuddered a little. People who woke sleeping bears tended to get eaten.

And it had been so long since he’d made a meal of her.

She pushed the robe off her shoulders.

“Show me what you’re offering. Show me how beautiful you are.” He stared down at her, a hungry look in his eyes.

And for the first time in forever, she felt beautiful again.

* * *

When his wife decided to get his attention, she went all out. It made a man puff up a little.

Thank god he was hard. He’d woken up, seen his wife sitting there in that gossamer gown that barely contained her breasts, and he’d gotten nothing, very likely because he was still processing whatever the fuck Caleb had dosed him with.

The minute he’d seen Jennifer’s face, he’d known what a coward he’d been and that he had to get his marriage back on the proper footing. And that included his dick.

Which was working just fine again. Not that he wouldn’t get his revenge on his asshole friends anyway. It was going to be a long-term labor of love.

Jennifer blushed slightly as she began to move the straps off her shoulders.

“I’m not getting any younger, love.” Now that he was here, he had to wonder why he’d been so stubborn. He craved her, and he’d been away for far too long.

“They’re just so big.”

“Because they’re getting ready to feed our child.” He’d been an ass. She’d needed him and he’d retreated because of fear. She’d needed to know how beautiful she was and all he’d told her was that she was fragile. “Let me see them. I love your breasts. I love them when they’re small and fit perfectly into my hands and I’m going to love them now that they’re ripe and overflowing.”

Her breath caught a little. “Will you like them when I take my bra off and milk shoots across the room? Because Rachel told me that can happen.”

Oh, she made him smile. “Yes, love. I will adore them.”

She pulled the gown down and those round and firm breasts were suddenly in his line of sight.

Yes, his cock was working just fine. It was twitching now. How much discipline did she need? Because all he could think about was the fact that he was letting himself off the leash and he couldn’t wait to get inside her.

He was impatient. God, it felt good to be impatient. It felt good to want something and know he could take it.

He reached out and let his fingers glide from her cheek to her neck to the round globes of her breasts. They were so much bigger, the ivory of her skin marked with blue veins. He traced them, reveling in the changes of her body.