“Does that mean I should look forward to a future without my husband having the incessant need to spank me?” I taunt, feeling relaxed and filled with utter contentment.
“Hmm. I wouldn’t say that, acushla. I think you’d quite enjoy a little light spanking from time to time. If I recall, you ruined a perfectly good pair of pants cumming on my lap with my hand slapping your ass,” he jokes, giving my ass cheek another love tap. “Give me five minutes and I’ll show you just how much you enjoy it.”
My heart flips over of its own accord, my pussy clenching its approval.
“I’ll take your word for it.” I giggle, placing a gentle kiss on his chest.
He chuckles under his breath, running his hand up and down my spine.
But it’s in this tranquil moment, that my two other loves come into the forefront of my mind.
“Tiernan?” I whisper, running circles with the tip of my finger over his chest.
“Yes, love?”
“What happens now? I mean, how will this work with Shay and Colin?”
“It doesn’t. Their services will no longer be needed, obviously.” He shrugs.
“What do you mean?” I ask, baffled, perching my chin on his chest so I can look at him.
He runs the pad of his finger along the seam of my bottom lip, his gaze fixed on the movement.
“It means that I’m your husband and you’re my wife. I shouldn’t have gotten them involved in the first place. I take full responsibility in regards to my actions, but now I want us to start fresh. Start building the family you always envisioned.”
“But they are my family.”
“Acushla—”
“No, Tiernan. They are my family. I refuse to build anything with you without them.”
“You don’t mean that,” he retorts, his forehead wrinkled.
“But I do. Tiernan, I love you with all my heart. I promise you that I do. But I love them just as much.”
“Stop, Rosa. If you still feel the need to hurt me after all I have done to you, then do it. I deserve it for what I’ve put you through. I’ll take every jab and punch that you want. But don’t lie and tell me you love someone else that isn’t me. That’s too cruel. Even for me.”
I lift off the bed and kneel beside him, staring him in the eye.
“It’s not a lie, nor is it a way to take vengeance on you. I’m not that heartless. But what did you expect to happen, Tiernan? That I would spend time with Shay and Colin, get to know them intimately, both physically and mentally, and that it wouldn’t spark up feelings of love for the both of them? If you thought that was possible, then you were fooling yourself. I love them, Tiernan. And my life will have no meaning if they aren’t in it.”
“Enough,” he growls, getting up from the bed to run away from the truth he’s unwilling to face.
“No! You don’t get to tell me when it’s enough. Not when you refuse to listen to me.”
He fists his hands at his sides while I jump off the bed and breach the distance between us.
“If you love me like you say you do, bury your pride and ego, and let me live the life I want—with you and them. If you force me to do otherwise, you’ll only have a sliver of my heart. I’ll never be fully yours if you keep them from me.”
He turns around and grips my chin with a familiar brutish force.
“You’re wrong, acushla. I’m all that you need,” he spits out, making my shoulders slump in disappointment.
“That might have been true in the beginning. Not anymore. Actions have consequences, husband. It’s time you faced yours.”
I snap my chin out of his grip and then turn around to lie back in bed, turning my back towards him. I can feel the waves of uncertainty flow from him. Unsure if this is just another one of our games, or if I truly mean my threat.
I mean every word.
After a few minutes, he slides in next to me, his hands gripping my waist, his breath in my ear.
“You’re mine, acushla. You’re just confused. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
I slant my neck just enough to face him.
“No, Tiernan. You’re the one who’s confused. If you fight me on this, you’ll lose me. Is that what you want?”
“I won’t,” he seethes with gritted teeth. “I meant what I said when I told you that I will make you happy and give you all that your heart desires.”
“My heart desires Shay and Colin. Until you give them to me, then there is no happiness to be had. For either of us.”
“You’re wrong. And I’ll prove it to you,” he threatens, biting on my earlobe and then sinking his teeth into my bare shoulder.
He lifts my leg just a tad, enough to sink his cock inside me. One hand snakes around my throat, choking me, while his other hand begins to play with my clit. His hands are showing me no mercy while his cock fucks me ever so slowly, building up a crescendo my body is powerless to fight off. He knows every secret it’s ever had and forces it to dance to the tune of his own making. When he wrings another orgasm from me, he cums inside me once more, thinking he’s proven his point.
I press my palm to his cheek and stare at him, sweat covering his brow.
“All you’ll get is this, husband. You can have my body, but as long as you deprive me of what I want, you’ll never have my heart. The choice is yours.”
Chapter 23
Tiernan
I’ve become my wife’s warden yet again.
For the past month I have kept her hidden away in our apartment, unwilling to let her step one foot outside it. Fear of losing her has driven me mad, but as each day passes, I feel my obsession is slowly driving her out of my reach.