Page 2 of The Devil's Spawn

Katherine jerked back as if he’d burned her, and only then did I realize that I’d seen her touching him for maybe two seconds.

But two seconds had been enough to make me sick. Literally sick. Before Gage or Katherine spotted me, and before anyone on this floor questioned why I was lingering outside my husband’s office, I strode toward the women’s restroom, my head held high with false confidence. Hopefully, anyone looking at me wouldn’t see the truth on my face.

That I’d caught him with heragain, and I was about to come undone over it.

A phone rang, fingers clicked over a keyboard, and I heard the distinct scratching of someone jabbing down quick and purposeful notes with a pencil. I held my shit together long enough to reach the safety of the ladies room. Thank God it was empty. I scurried to my knees in one of the stalls and lost my pride along with my breakfast.

He’d told me to meet him for lunch. Why would he do that if Katherine was going to be here? He knew how the sight of that bitch got under my skin. Gage had a sadistic streak as black as the desert at midnight, but when it came to Katherine Mitchell, he exercised care. In fact, he went out of his way to spare me her presence.

Because he was fucking her? Or because he loved me enough to shield me from her?

I hated how she was the weak spot in my armor, the single chink that made the rest of me fall apart. I didn’t want to doubt him, but the image of her four months ago in the basement, eager and on her knees, was a searing brand on my memory. It didn’t matter that he’d only threatened to follow through to make a point, to show me whatcouldbe if I dared to betray him again.

The mental damage had been done.

Tears stung my eyes. Damn, I had to get my shit together. I couldn’t go back out there and face the employees of Channing Enterprises—facehim—looking like I’d just had a breakdown in the women’s restroom. Even if that was kind of true. Turning the faucet on, I shot my reflection a stern frown then splashed cold water onto my face.

Five minutes later, I left the restroom mostly composed. As always, the curious gazes of my former coworkers burned into my back. I didn’t check to see if they were watching me, but I felt it. Maybe I was paranoid, though I didn’t think so. My marriage to CEO Gage Channing was a cesspool for gossip mongers, especially since Katherine and her son had come into our lives. The selfish, jealous wife in me wanted to keep Conner at arm’s length, but he was just a kid, and he had the best parts of Gage in him, so much so that I found it shocking his paternity hadn’t come out sooner.

Not for the first time, I wondered why Katherine had waited so long to tell Gage about Conner. Maybe marrying me had been the final push that sent her over the edge. Maybe she’d always believed Gage to be hers, so coming clean about a secret like that hadn’t seemed important. Maybe the idea of coming clean had even scared her—until another woman had taken him away and that had scared her more.

Well, the bitch couldn’t have him. And speaking of Katherine, she was thankfully nowhere in sight when I entered his office.

“You’re late,” he said, dark head bowed toward the screen of his laptop.

I shut and locked the door. “I know. I’m sorry.” I crossed to the front of his executive desk and bent over, lifting my skirt as I did so. I could explain how seeing Katherine had caught me off guard, but I didn’t want to stir that pot right now, and I definitely didn’t want to go into how I’d puked in the women’s restroom, even if telling him might spare me a punishment.

He might think it meant something else, and with a stab to the heart, I acknowledged once again that it wasn’t going to happen. Not after all of this time. We’d been married for over a year and a half now, screwing like rabbits the whole time without any form of protection, yet I continued to be…broken.

The painful reminder of that almost drowned me in despair until the texture of his suit against my outer thigh pulled me from my dark thoughts. I bit my lip as he grabbed my ass with a warm palm. He wasn’t gentle, and the rough way he handled me made my insides clench in the best way imaginable. Anticipation zinged through me as I waited for his punishment. I had no doubt he was going to spank me for arriving late, but he knew what the heat of his palm on my bare ass did to me, so calling it a form of discipline was a stretch.

“I can practically hear the wheels turning in your head. What’s on your mind?” he asked.

I gnawed on my bottom lip some more and considered what to tell him. What not to tell him. “I’m thinking of how turned on I am.”

“Are you aching for my hand? Is that why you were late?”

I groaned. “No.”

“I’m going to need a little clarification.”

“I wasn’t late on purpose.” A dark note entered my tone, and I hoped he didn’t pick up on it.

“But you’ll take a spanking for it anyway?”

I nodded.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “You’ve got me so damn hard.” He smacked my ass to punctuate just how hard he was. “Spread your legs.”

I gripped my skirt and did as told, exposing myself to the gentle caress of air on my pussy. The remnants of Katherine and her whorish fingers vanished from my mind. There was nothing but wet heat between my legs. I ached for him there. Tingled. Burned.

He’d been away at a conference for a few days and had gotten back late last night. I’d already gone to bed, and instead of waking me to claim what was his, he’d shown a rare bout of sweetness by letting me sleep. But going so long without his cock was beginning to drive me insane.

He trailed a finger between my butt cheeks, drawing a surprised gasp from me. “I need you,” I moaned.

My words gave him pause, and his touch lingered but did little more. God, he could be such a tease.

“Please.”

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