Page 139 of Wife Number One

She pulled her arm out of mine. “I’ve changed my mind. I want to watch the movie.”

“Okay…” I had to jog a few steps to catch her.

She didn’t say anything.

Doubt crept in. Fuck. I’d pushed her too far. I’d been nudging at her limits, knowing she had no experience. I’d gotten off on breaking apart the walls she’d put up and unveiling the woman she hid inside. One whose body came alight when I touched her.

Telling her to go come in a public bathroom had clearly been a step over the line.

I followed her into the auditorium and sat beside her in the darkness, shooting glances at her for the next two hours while she steadfastly stared at the screen, her hands firmly on her lap.

If the movie hadn’t been so full of people, I would have been tempted to try to coax her into letting me apologize. With my tongue buried between the lips of her pussy.

But considering that was basically what had got us to this point, it was probably better that the auditorium was full and there was no chance for me to get on my knees.

My dick was hard for her again, but I forced myself to watch the movie.

When it finished, we walked out into the light, and I slipped my arm around her shoulders. “So, what did you think?”

She cringed away from my touch. “Take me home, please.”

There was a distinct chill in her voice I’d never heard before.

I’d heard her scared. Tired. Happy. Turned on.

Never angry the way she was right now.

I followed her to the car, running over the entire night in my head. I had no experience with dates, but I thought it had been going pretty well. We’d talked. I’d said more to Kara tonight than I had ever spoken to Amber or Kiki in the years I’d known them. I’d told her things only my best friends knew. She’d been insecure about being with me in public, but I thought I’d done a good job of reassuring her that the things I wanted from her were more than just a quick fuck at the clubhouse. I thought I’d shown her how much her body did it for me, even if I’d never been with anyone like her before.

But I’d done something wrong.

I opened the passenger-side door for her and cursed beneath my breath as I closed it after her.

This wasn’t just her getting a little overwhelmed and needing a minute to calm down. This was her shrinking away from me like she couldn’t stand my touch. Like it was me she was scared of.

I’d clearly fucked up. Royally. This was more than me just wanting her to come in a public place. She’d been into that. I knew it.

I jogged around to the driver’s side and got in, starting the van.

Kara refused to look at me. She twisted to one side, staring out the window. I got us out of the parking lot and along the bluff road that would lead us back to the compound. It wasn’t a long drive, but the minutes felt like hours, each one so painfully silent that by the time we pulled into the Slayers’ driveway, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“What did I do, Kara?” I asked quietly.

She didn’t answer.

Her silence was deafening.

I strangled the steering wheel, fighting the urge to demand she talk.

If I demanded it, she probably would. Fuck, I’d told her to drop her arms so I could see her hard, greedy nipples through her shirt that first night she’d walked into my room and caught me fucking my hand. She’d stood there, watching me come, just because I’d told her to.

But while I liked bossing her around in the bedroom, this felt different.

This felt fragile.

Like if I made demands of it, I could break into so many pieces it could never be repaired.

So I pressed my lips together and forced my concentration to the road.

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