His words rang in her ears as they prepared to go to the club. As Landry scened with Cris, she felt her body respond as she watched them together. Several times Landry's eyes caught hers as he played with Cris, pulling her in as a participant even as she sat against the wall and did nothing more lease as he spent nearly an hour going after him with canes, crops, and a singletail.

Cris didn't seem to mind, looking happy as Landry held him, giving him aftercare.

She took the keys from Cris' jeans pocket before he started getting dressed. When it came time to leave, she immediately stepped to the driver's door and waved the men into the back. "I'm driving.

It's my car anyway."

Landry didn't argue with her. She glanced in the mirror a few times and spotted Cris leaning against Landry, Landry's arm around him. When they reached the house Landry sent Cris to bed. When he started to follow her to their bedroom, she stopped him.

"Go spend some time with him," she told him.

"Love?"

She stood on her toes and kissed him. "I mean it." She smiled. "Save some energy for me, though." Without another word she walked to her bedroom and undressed. She knew what she wanted to do, but didn't know if she'd have the guts to go through with it.

Ten minutes later, naked beneath her robe, she walked down the hall and stood in Cris' bedroom doorway. Landry hadn't bothered closing the door at all tonight. Cris lay naked in bed, on his back, Landry kneeling between his legs and going down on him. After a few minutes, as she stood there with her clit throbbing and her own juices sliding down her legs, Landry straddled Cris and mounted him, both men letting out pleasured moans as he completely impaled himself.

With her heart racing, she walked over to the bed. Landry didn't appear at all surprised to see her there. He pulled her to him and kissed her, further inflaming her own need. His eyes looked a deep, jungle green in the dim light.

She didn't break eye contact with him as she climbed onto the bed and straddled Cris' face, facing Landry. This was her husband, and she wanted to make sure Cris remembered that. She lowered herself onto him, Landry's arms steadying her as Cris immediately licked her clit.

"You're beautiful, love," Landry murmured as he kissed her. "Gorgeous."

Cris wouldn't take long to make her come. His tongue plunged deep inside her, tugging her closer to release. "Don't you dare come, Landry," she said. "You're my husband. Play with him as long as you like, but your cock better be in my pussy when it explodes tonight."

Cris moaned beneath her, but not in complaint. Her words had the desired effect, triggering his climax. She hung on to Landry for support as her orgasm swept through her, making her cry out.

As she recovered, she looked into Landry's eyes and read the passion simmering there. Kissing him, she dragged herself off Cris and grabbed her bathrobe from the floor. "I'll be waiting."

She'd planned a sultry, seductive, hip-swaying flounce from the room, but she could barely walk. She no sooner made it to her bed when she heard Landry in the doorway. By the time she turned around, he was on her, scooping her up and tossing her onto the bed where he landed on top of her, his body covering hers.

"You are fucking beautiful, wife," he growled against her throat, his teeth grazing her flesh. His hard cock plunged home, fast and deep. "So damn sexy."

She met each thrust with her hips. "Show me."

He nipped, a little sting in his bite. "Show me first." He switched to French. "Come for me now!"

Tilly slammed her hips into him as her body responded. "Very good." He switched back to English. "I love you so much." Then he bit down on her shoulder as he fucked her, almost violently.

This spun out her climax, stretching it, her body shuddering beneath him as he poured his seed into her. Finally he collapsed on her. Rolling to his side, he pulled her with him. "Jesus, I love you."

She snuggled tightly in his arms. "I love you, too."

Chuckling as he stroked her back, he said, "You are diabolical, love."

"Why?"

"Bullshit, you ask me why?" He hugged her tightly. "Staking your claim on me like that.

Brilliant."

"Well, you did say I was free to use slave however I needed, right?"

"Ah, do I sense a thaw in your heart where he's concerned?"

"Nope." She closed her eyes. "Like you said, I'm staking my claim. On you."

He nuzzled the top of her head. "Consider me well-staked, love."

Chapter Nineteen.

Six months after Landry's treatment started, and all the doctors felt confident he would beat the cancer. Now all they had to do was wait for the next round of blood work results to come back to see if he'd need more than one additional round of chemo. With his birthday a week away, Tilly wanted to come up with something special for him to celebrate.

Cris had to fly out to L.A. for a meeting, which he hated because he'd miss Landry's birthday.

Landry overruled him, albeit gently. Even Tilly had to admit he handled it tactfully. He promised Cris he'd make private time for him upon his return, which mollified him a little.

Meanwhile, they'd have the house to themselves.

Skittered thoughts leading to jittery nerves took over. An idea she'd considered, briefly, off and on since this whole crazy thing started. With Cris almost constantly on hand, even though they could shut the bedroom door, she couldn't let go of her last remnants of distrust to seriously consider it.

Letting Landry top her for real. At home, of course. Not at the club.

Just the two of them. Just once, to see what he'd do.

She took the time to prepare while Landry drove Cris to the airport the day before his birthday.

It'd give Cris a little time alone with him and she wouldn't have to face dodging Landry's curiosity if he saw her getting ready.

When he returned two hours later from the Sarasota airport, she'd already stashed what she'd need in the playroom, in her toy cupboard there. Landry had no reason to go in there. She stood at the counter making them a salad for lunch when he walked in and laid his keys on the counter.

"There's my baby girl." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. She didn't mind the way her heart fluttered over the endearment. He ground his hips into her backside. "Are you in the mood to fool around a little after lunch, perhaps?"

"When am I ever not in the mood to fool around with you, mister?"

He nipped her neck before continuing to kiss it. "I'm so lucky." He let her go so she could finish preparing their lunch. She was uncomfortably aware of how wet he'd made her just from that little bit of affection.

He helped her clean up the dishes later. Then he pulled her into his arms. "Still in the mood?"

She slid her hands into the back pockets of his jeans and pulled his hips against hers. "Duh."

Landry grinned. "That response would have earned Cris a spanking."

"That response would have been designed to earn one." She quickly kissed him, laughing over his arched eyebrow, and turned to walk to the bedroom.

A light swat landed across the seat of her jeans, making her jump. When she turned, he wore a devilish smile and an innocent look. How he managed to successfully combine the two beat the hell out of her.

"Well, you did say so, love."

She had originally planned to do it tomorrow night, on his birthday, but during their lunch he'd mentioned going out to eat at Ruth's Chris steakhouse.

Why not now?

She returned to him."Do me a favor, sit on the couch and wait for me, please?"

Up went the eyebrow again. "Why?"

"Please? It's an early birthday surprise for you."

He considered her for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Will I enjoy this?"

It'd been a few weeks since he'd scened with Cris. She had to trust he wouldn't take that frustration out on her. "Pretty sure. I'll call you when I'm ready." When he'd sat on the couch, his back turned to the hall and unable to see where she went, she walked to Cris' bathroom and used it before quietly heading to the playroom.

Could she do this? She'd felt full of nervous bravado and more than a little pleasant anticipation until faced with the reality.

Quickly stripping, she stashed her clothes in the closet and donned a garter belt, fishnets, stilettos she hadn't worn in months, and a corset. She put on the smallest leather wrist cuffs she had, which were still big on her because her customers had all been men larger than her.

No locks. She couldn't go that far today.

Her fingers hesitated as she reached for the collar, the one Ross had given her. Soft, supple cowhide with a hand-tooled floral design. Regular buckle, not lockable.

She put it on but left it a notch looser than she normally would have worn it.

She left the ankle cuffs on the floor where he could quickly grab them if he wanted to use them, panic snaps attached to them already. She laid out the crops, a cane, a couple of floggers-and her four-foot singletail. Not that she didn't trust him, but she knew the fall and popper on hers wouldn't cut even in his skilled hands. She put out two bottles of water and her mp3 player hooked to the small stereo, set to her favorite play list.

A set of music she hadn't been able to listen to in years, but knew she'd need today.

Finally, the blindfold and the bow. She peeled the adhesive backing from the bow and slapped it in the middle of her ass.

Her heart thundering, she laid face-down over the kneeling bench and slid the blindfold over her eyes. Working by feel, she clipped her wrist cuffs to the eyehooks on the bench.

She had to swallow before she could speak. "Okay," she called out.

At first she wasn't sure he'd heard her. But then she heard the door open and his sharp intake of breath.

"Mon dieu!"

Warm shivers engulfed her. Anticipation. Need. She felt herself tipping toward subspace and he hadn't laid a hand on her yet.

After a long moment he still hadn't touched her and she didn't sense him step close. Then he spoke, sounding like he stood near the gear she'd laid out for him.

"Love?" he softly asked.

She'd rehearsed the lines a thousand times in her head, but still her voice trembled as she spoke them. "This is your birthday present, from me to you. I trust you. I wanted it to only be you. Needed it to be only you and me. Not him."

More silence. She heard a noise and suspected it was the sound of him kicking his shoes off.

When he spoke again, his lips almost beside her right ear, she startled. "I don't need this from you, love, although I appreciate it. I can love you without this."

"I know." She had to force air into her lungs. "I want to give it to you. At least once. My birthday present to you."

One hand gently caressed her hair. "I don't know what to say, baby."

"You don't have to say anything."

She felt her pussy clench in a familiar way as his fingers tightened in her hair, fisting it, possessing her, until he pulled her head up. His voice changed tone, deep, commanding. "You're giving yourself to me today, girl?"

She'd thought long and hard about this, what she wanted to call him.

"Yes, Master."

Another sharp intake of breath from him. He released her hair and stepped around her. She had a sense of where he was and after a moment she heard the gentle swish of fabric as he dropped his shirt to the floor. He now stood there in nothing but his jeans. In her mind she imagined his muscular chest and arms, still handsome despite the ravages of his cancer treatment.

One finger traced light, lazy patterns across her left ass cheek, then her right. He chuckled.

"Wrapped with a bow?"

"Yes, Master."

"You know I don't play with a safeword."

She swallowed hard. "I know. I trust you."

His hand disappeared again. She felt him pull the bow off. He unhooked her garter belt and removed it and her shoes and stockings.

She felt him buckle the leather cuffs around her ankles and hook them to the bench. With her ass spread and open, she was a prime target in more ways than one.

"Hmm." One hand returned, his fingers stroking her flesh. "I honestly can say that for the first time in a long time, I have no idea where to start." He chuckled again. "This is a wonderful dilemma."

She tried to slow her breathing, relaxing into his touch as he dipped his fingers between her legs and slowly pushed two inside her.

"Oh, love, you are eager to give yourself to me today, aren't you?"

"Yes, Master."