His aim had improved, although he didn’t trust himself with a live target yet, even one wearing protective clothing. He was still too erratic in his throwing style and worried about hurting someone. But he had worked up to forty-five minutes at a time with the thing.

They quietly ate dinner on the couch in front of the TV. Seth felt Leah’s tension grow as the night wore on. Kaden called around nine, which helped her for a little while. Seth played guitar for her, sticking with more upbeat tunes he hoped would keep her out of her funk.

While he’d made her come several times as part of their sessions, an admittedly irrational mental justification allowed him to see that as part of something necessary for her. But to make love to her in a romantic, give-and-take way still lay beyond his mental and emotional ability to cope with no matter how okay his body apparently was with it. Hell, he was still trying cope with the fact that Kaden was dying when he looked so healthy.

They were just going to have to give him the time he needed to wrap his freaking head around it or he’d lose his mind.

Close to bedtime he sensed her disquiet. He pulled an ace out of his sleeve.

“Love”—it still felt strange to call her that—“I want you to sleep with me tonight. I’m very tired and just want to cuddle.” He leaned close and dropped his voice to a firm growl. “But only sleep. If you don’t behave, I’ll have to tell Master you were not a good girl.”

She smiled. “I’ll behave.”

He kissed her forehead. “Very good. I think I’d be more comfortable if you slept in my bed tonight. Go get ready.”

“What should I wear to sleep in?”

While he’d let her run around naked more often, there was no way he could share a bed with her naked. “Long T-shirt.” She started to look pouty, and he growled again. “Listen, I’m going to be sleeping with you. Remember, you’re letting me ease into this. It’s one step closer.”

That lifted her spirits. She went to get ready, and he returned to his bedroom and left the door open.

He usually slept naked, but tonight he put on a pair of sleeping shorts. No way in hell would he risk it.

When they finally curled up together he spooned against her back and enjoyed the way his arm perfectly fit around her waist. Did she fit Kaden’s body this well?

Oh, cut that shit out right now. That was not a healthy line of thought. Not a place he even wanted to think about going.

Surprisingly, even though he thought his cock might want to stiffen, he fell asleep. And he awoke from that sound sleep around two a.m., when he felt her shift in his arms and sit up.

“What’s wrong?” he mumbled.

She didn’t answer. His heart hammered in his chest, and he sat up, pulling her to him. “What’s wrong?”

She still didn’t answer but let him pull her closer. “I miss him,” she finally whispered.

“I know, babe.” He tried to relax. “It’s okay.”

He coaxed her into lying down next to him, but she wasn’t settled by any stretch of the imagination. In a fit of inspiration, he told her to roll onto her stomach. She did.

He gently stroked her back and enjoyed the soft, pleasant sounds she made at his touch.

Now his cock tried to stiffen.

“Do you need to feel the bite?” he whispered.

“A little,” she admitted.

He swatted her, bare-handed, across her ass. She jumped. He swatted her again, and he knew he didn’t imagine it when she wiggled her hips against his hand and buried her face deeper into her pillow.

He spanked her as hard as he could, a total of twenty swats, leaving his hand stinging. When he finished she was breathing heavily, her body practically vibrating on the mattress next to him.

“Where are we, love?”

“Green, Sir,” she said with a sigh.

He slid one hand between her legs and found her clit. She squirmed against the mattress, and in a few minutes she moaned into the pillow when she came.

It was almost like she melted into the bed from the sudden relaxation that swept over her.

He curled around her again, hoping she was too out of it to feel his stiff erection pressing against her backside.

After another hour, he finally fell asleep.

* * *

When he awoke the next morning, he almost panicked when he realized she wasn’t in bed with him. “Leah?”

“I’m getting coffee,” she called from the kitchen.

Deep sigh of relief. If he fucked up and she did something while Kaden was gone, he’d never forgive himself. He got out of bed and used the bathroom. By the time he finished she was walking through the bedroom door with a beautiful smile on her face and his cup of morning goodness in her hands.

“Thank you, sweetie.”

She paused, as if waiting for something else. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. He wanted to plant a deep one on her lips and knew that would lead to spending all day in bed with her.

Wait, why was he fighting?

Because she’s still my best friend’s wife, that’s why.

“You’re welcome, Sir.”

Oh crap, formal.

“Are you okay, hon?”

She nodded and only a little cloud flitted through her eyes. “Is it okay if I’m formal?”

“Sure.”

She relaxed. If it helped her, he’d do it. “Thank you, Sir.”

“What’s on the agenda for today?”

“Master said for me to work with You on the ropes and the singletail.”

Seth also knew he needed to mow. It’d been nearly a week. In the wet Florida climate, the lawn was growing at a jungle-inducing rate. “I need to do some chores first.”

“Will you go grocery shopping with me, Sir?”

Of course he would. He’d go to hell and back for her. Publix was easy. “Let me get my chores done first, and then we’ll go.”

She fixed his breakfast. Later, he noticed that she sat either on the front porch or back lanai and watched him mow. She reminded him of a lost child.

He was in the shower when Leah knocked on the bathroom door. “Sir?”

He’d grown comfortable with her coming into the bathroom when he was in the shower as long as she didn’t try to open the shower door.

“Yeah, hon?”

“Master’s on the phone. He said He has to talk to you right now.”

“It can’t wait until after I’m out of the shower?”

“No, Sir. I asked. He said it can’t.”

Argh. “Hold on.” She only had her arm stuck through the bathroom door, anticipating he’d be naked.

At least she wasn’t trying to push him too hard.

He stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his hips, and then took the phone. She pulled the door closed.

“Dude, shower time. What is so fucking important it can’t wait five minutes?”

“Is she all right? She doesn’t sound right.”

Seth shivered when he felt the AC kick on. “Yeah, she seems okay. Can’t this wait?”

“No, it can’t. She sounded out of it.”

Seth dropped his voice, unsure if she stood on the other side of the door or not. “She had a little episode last night. Nothing major. I took care of it, didn’t even have to take her to the playroom.” It felt weird talking to Kaden about Leah like this.

“Why is she being formal?”

“She asked to.”

“That’s a warning sign right there.”

Seth’s gut curled in an unpleasant way. “Well, fuck, you could have told me that shit before you left! Is there anything else I need to know, genius?”

“Just keep a very close eye on her. Don’t give her any more time by herself than you have to. Spend the whole day with her. Keep her busy.”

“I’m going to the store with her in a little while.”

“Good. You might want to get her to the playroom before you go to bed.”

His stomach curled again. “Why do it if it’s not necessary?”

“Blow off some pressure before it builds up. Use training as an excuse. It’ll help.”

He hated using the harder implements on her even though he knew it was relatively safe. Swatting her on the ass with his hand, he could dig that. Frankly, it was kind of hot the way she squirmed and enjoyed it, and he knew he couldn’t hurt her. “Can I just play it by ear?”

“Don’t leave her alone today. Seriously.”

“All right. Fine. Let me get back in the shower. I’m fucking freezing.”

He hung up and peeked out the bathroom door. Leah was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully she hadn’t listened in. “Leah?” he called.

She appeared in the bedroom doorway a moment later. “Yes, Sir?”

He held out the phone. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Sir.”

He climbed back into the shower, turning the water hotter to get rid of his chills. While he had been planning on blowing off a little of his own tension, the worry now pulsing through his mind killed his boner.

* * *

With Kaden’s words echoing through his brain, Seth kept close tabs on Leah. If she was slipping into a deeper sadness, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it from him. He drove Kaden’s truck and talked Leah into taking a few side trips before hitting the grocery store, getting parts he really didn’t need for the mower and items he did need to add some external electrical circuits to accommodate Kaden’s amped-up plans for his biggest light display ever.

It apparently worked. By the time they returned home late that afternoon and he helped her unload the groceries from the back of the Ridgeline, Leah seemed fine.

He was out in the garage when the sound of shattering glass and Leah’s strangled cry scared the living crap out of him. He ran inside and found her clutching her arm, red splattered all over the kitchen floor. He slid to a stop at the edge of the kitchen, only marginally relieved to see the red covering the tile floor was red glass from a shattered pitcher.