Page 29 of Used

“Good?” He asks hesitantly.

“Yeah. You took the list, and you kind of ran with it.” I say with a light laugh. “You even cleaned out the fridge of everything expired and anything I’m not supposed to eat, just in case.”

“I’m not letting you get poisoned by expired food if I have anything to say about it.” He says, his voice growing serious.

“I’m just saying I appreciate you making the adjustments I requested.”

He whips around. “Are you saying... thank you?”

“Well...”

“You are!” He drops the tortillas in his hand and rounds the island to take my face in his hands. “Say it. Say, ‘Thank you, Marshall.’”

“Thank you, Marshall,” I grumble.

“Oh, hell yes. Mark the day. March 23. Elsie Snow said thank you to me!” He laughs, giving me a kiss on the cheek before returning to making our breakfast. “So, what’s my reward?”

The moment is so candid it catches me off guard, and my hand goes to the place where he kissed me, marveling at the warm feeling it left in my chest.

“Reward?” I ask after a moment.

“Yeah. I get a reward, right?” He chuckles. “Bribery will get you everywhere, princess.”

I roll my eyes at the endearment.

Which, unfortunately, is becoming less and less irritating each time he uses it.

“Fine. I was thinking we could go to the club this weekend.” I say, confidence coming back into my voice and posture as I remember myself. “Today marks twelve weeks, and I am almost in the second trimester.”

“I know.” He says, nodding to the pregnancy calendar he marks off each day. “La bebe tiene el tamaño de una ciruela ahora.” The baby is the size of a plum now.

“Yeah, well… I thought we could celebrate a bit and go to the club.” I suggest.

“I did notice that the nausea and whatnot seems to have gone away. It seems like la pequeña ciruela azucarada is giving you less of a hard time now.” The little sugar plum. He shrugs and tries to hide his goofy grin before returning to making breakfast, but I catch it just before he turns. “I’m game for a weekend at The Playground, though.”

“Good,” I say with finality.

Reluctant as it may be, I’ve realized Oliver and Selene are right about the horniness which showed up around the time my morning sickness stopped earlier this week.

He has been an excellent trophy… something, the perfect boy toy. So, I fully plan on playing with him this weekend while we’re at the club to curb some of this need that appears every time I see him in his gray sweats or coming back from a run without his shirt on.

Those are my favorite mornings, seeing him shirtless and glistening with sweat. The man is absolutely gorgeous with his tanned skin and ocean-themed tattoos on his right arm.

He said I have to ask for what I need, especially when I need to be fucked. And, while I’ve been tempted several times to jump him this week, I could never bring myself to do it.

The Playground Club is neutral ground, though, and it’s intended to be used for meaningless sex at that.

The Playground Club and Resort is a swingers resort and BDSM club an hour outside of Houston that caters to patrons with particular lifestyle interests. People come from around the country to stay at the resort for several days, or even weeks, and attend the club in the evenings. Those who are primarily local chose to only come for a night or two and enjoy the club atmosphere.

It is a getaway from the mundane of daily life and a retreat from the expectations of society for many who come to visit, including myself.

Though my friend group adopted me only a year ago, I found the club long before then, visiting for a long time just to watch others navigate the lifestyle club.

“You said you had to do some work?” Marshall asks, putting my breakfast tacos down before me.

“Yeah,” I say, shaking myself from my thoughts.

“Why don’t you spend the morning doing that, and I’ll pack our bags for the weekend.” He suggests.

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