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Chapter Twenty
Phoebe
“Good morning, Mrs. Bale.”
Rolling over, I grunted at his oh-dark thirty obnoxious cheerfulness. “I’d say good morning to you too, Mr. Bale, but, somehow, it doesn’t quite pack the same punch.”
“True. Probably because you haven’t been going fucking gray waiting for it to happen.” Furrowing his brow, a deep line embedded between his eyes. “In fact, I’m not sure I’ll ever call you by your first name again.”
I grinned, resting my cheek against his heart. I loved feeling the beat of it against my skin. “That could get awkward in public, don’t you think?” I twisted my lips into a wicked smirk. “But then again, you are older than me. Isn’t formality a sign of respect for your generation?”
He smacked his free arm across my bare ass. “I’m only three years older than you. Don’t be a smart-ass.”
“Yes, sir,” I mumbled against his chest. “Sir—isn’t that what the elderly like to be called?”
Throwing his hands on either side of my face, he pushed himself up and leaned over me. “You’re treading on very dangerous ground here, princess.”
I couldn’t resist running my fingers through his hair. “Maybe I just liketo live dangerously.”
With a salacious shake of his head, he exhaled slowly, the blanket sliding off his hip, revealing the deep cut V in his abs. “You’re a brave woman, Mrs. Bale.” His eyes darkened to a hooded midnight shade.
“I think you might be the brave one, Mr. Bale,” I taunted him. “What with your precarious position and all.”
An underlying darkness fueled a quick curl of his lips as he grabbed each of my wrists and pinned my hands by my head. Lowering his lips to my ear, he whispered with a husky warning, “I think that’d be you.”
“What are you going to do about it?” The deep dimpled ghost smile emerged as he nuzzled my neck. “Princess, the question isn’t what am I going do about it, it’s what aren’t I going to do.”
“You talk a big game, Bale. Think you’re up for it?”
He released one hand and secured it with the other in his large palm. Sweeping the blanket off both of us, he exposed our bare flesh, and stared at me with an expectant expression. “I don’t know…you tell me.”
I held his gaze as his hand held my arms firmly above my head. “I would, but I don’t have use of my hands at the moment.”
“It seems you’re at a disadvantage.”
“Depends on whose perspective you’re speaking from.”
“Hmmm, put a ring on the woman’s finger and she talks back.”
“But I’m so good at it.” The sly smirk I gave him made his grip on my wrists tighten in response.
“I don’t know, Mrs. Bale, I’m kind of enjoying your submissiveness right now.”
“Julian, I may be a lot of things, but submissive is not one of them.” I dropped the playful act and my tone reflected it. We were husband and wife, but I’d never be someone’s submissive. Not his, not anyone’s.
Mom submitted. Not me.
Glancing at the hand holding my wrists, his devious grin faded to a smile. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. You’ve never been submissive to me. I’d never want you to be. But you are pretty much at my mercy, which is exactly what I want you to be.”
I relaxed, knowing he understood me. “Sounds intriguing. So, tell me, Mr. Rock Star, what are you going to do with this newfound power?”
Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, he shook his head. “Always with the questions.”
“Translation, you have no plan.” I boldly bantered with him, knowing in the end I’d give in to whatever he wanted. Without responding, he straddled me, and roamed his gaze across my face, slowly trailing them down my neck.
“Oh, I have a plan. I’m trying to decide which part of you I’m going to take advantage of first.” The fierce determination on his face made me ramble.
“Julian, you need to define a course of action and—”
