A careless mistake convinced Jason that for his wife’s sake, he had to abandon the Dominant/submissive aspect of their marriage. Now, he realizes that giving up Lila’s submission was an even bigger mistake. After months of believing he rejected her, she won’t even talk about it. He’s determined to reclaim her, but he’ll have to break down her resistance before he can regain her trust.
~~~~~ Excerpt ~~~~~
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Lila’s hand froze on the knob for a fraction of a second before she regained her composure.
“You know perfectly well where I’m going,” she snapped at her husband.
“You didn’t say anything to me about it.”
She whirled toward the sound of Jason’s voice, startled by how quickly and quietly he had crossed the room. Another few steps and he was beside her, leaning casually against the door she was about to open. Despite his relaxed posture, there was a keen watchfulness in his gray-green eyes that reminded her of a cat waiting for the movement that would trigger it to pounce. She turned the knob and pulled, but he held the door closed.
“Knock it off, Jason. I’m meeting the same friends I’ve been meeting every Friday. Now let me open the door.”
Without taking his hand off the door, he angled his body behind hers. She spun to keep facing him as he pivoted toward the wall. She didn’t realize she had been backing up until she felt the wall against her backside. He moved closer until she was backed completely against the wall. He waited for her to make eye contact. When she didn’t, he reached for her chin and tilted her face up toward his. She tossed her head, but he caught her chin.
“Look at me, kitten.”
Her eyes locked on his automatically. She was too busy sorting out how she felt about being called “kitten” to balk at his order. “Kitten” was a name Jason hadn’t used in nearly a year—not since the day he decided their relationship would change forever.
She tried again to jerk her chin away, but he tightened his grip. Unwilling to acknowledge the heat in his gaze, she let her eyes wander to the lock of dark hair that had fallen forward to rest rakishly over his eyebrow.
“Kitten,” Jason warned when she broke eye contact.
His voice was low and serious. She thought of it as his “I mean business” Dom's voice, and it made her shiver. She ignored the fluttery feeling in her stomach.
“Don’t call me that!”
He searched her face without responding to her demand. He expected her anger, but he was looking for something else. The arch of her eyebrows and the set of her mouth conveyed her indignation, but he knew it was her eyes that would tell him the whole story. They were large and expressive, fringed by sable lashes that shielded her gaze when her eyes were averted. Anger smoldered in their dark brown depths as she glared up at him.
She narrowed her eyes and tried to pull away, but she had nowhere to go. Undeterred, Jason shifted to insinuate his leg between her thighs. Her eyes widened in shock, and for a moment she dropped her guard. Beneath the anger, he could see pain and longing. He took his hand from the door and brushed her honey-brown hair back from her face.
“You’re staying home with me tonight, kitten.”
“You have no right to call me that!”
She pushed at his chest, but he caught her wrist and pinned it back against the wall. When she tried to pull his hand away from her chin, he caught her other hand. He gathered her wrists in one hand and held them crossed against the wall over her head, leaving his other hand free to roam.
“No right? That’s what we’re going to find out.” He ran his hand slowly down her side. “We have all night to see whether or not I still have the right.”