"Is it very sensitive right now?"

"Yes."  She shivered.

"Does the chain hurt?"

She shot me a look that left me breathless.

God, this woman could undo me.  Destroy me.  Utterly.

My smile was direct, eyes tender.  "Let me rephrase.  Does it hurt in a way you don't enjoy?"

Her silence was her answer.  The chain stayed on.

I finished dressing her quickly.  "Dinner time," I said shortly.

She made noises about it, but I didn't let her shower.

I could hear several of our security personnel in the kitchen as we passed.  This wasn't unusual.  They worked here twenty-four seven, but only Clark and Blake had a house on the property.  The rest worked in shifts, came and went, and ate at the house.

I took her arm, and led her in there, to dine at the less formal breakfast nook, as opposed to one of the formal dining rooms.

The staff, who'd been joking and having a general good time, went silent as we walked in, the three security guys moving to file out of the room.

"No need to leave," I said, eyes on Joseph, who was leaning against the counter and watching me warily.  "Join us, why don't you, for dinner?"

This wasn't so unusual.  We sometimes dined informally, sometimes invited the staff, who we tended to treat more like friends and family, especially since Bianca had come into my life.

But I could tell as I studied him that Joseph knew why I did this now.

I maneuvered it so that Bianca was at my right, Joseph on the other side of her.

I watched him.  Watched him sneak looks at her.  They were side by side.  So close, with me right f**king there and still he couldn't stop himself.

God, he could probably smell it, the sex on her.  It probably made him want her more, even knowing it was another man who'd put the sex on her to smell.

I reached under the table with my right hand, sliding it up her leg, into her shorts, teasing my fingers through her wet folds.

She met my cold eyes, and I saw the moment when she realized that I was upset.

I stared into her eyes as I found the chain just above her sex and tugged.

Her eyes glazed over, jaw going slack.

I glanced over at Joseph.  He was watching us, his face flushed in temper.

He knew I was touching her under the table.  I saw it in his tight-lipped anger, saw the disapproval in his eyes, the jealousy.

Good.  This lesson was primitive, but it needed to be taught, uncouth as it was.

I was feeling far from civilized.

I had an overwhelming need to stake my claim.  Mark my territory.

All of these animalistic impulses overpowered so many of my normal inclinations.  Normally I sheltered her.  But for him, this f**ker that questioned my ownership, I wanted to put my possession of her on stark display.

I drew the meal out.  I'd had the cook make burgers and fries, an unusual request for me, but perfectly suited to the occasion.

I pulled my hand away when it was time to eat, catching her eye so she saw me lick my fingers clean.

She shuddered, her breath panting out of her harshly.

I devoured my burger with gusto, slowly savoring each bite, watching them the entire time—her reaction to me, his fixation on her.

One by one, each of the staff finished eating and excused themselves to go back to work.

All but Joseph.

I shot him a cold glare, and reached a hand over, gripping a hand into Bianca's hair.  I leaned close and pulled her the rest of the way, and gave her a long, hot, bruising kiss.

I pulled slightly back and brought her ear to my mouth.  I took a few deep breaths, inhaling her before I spoke.

"You smell like me.  Like you belong to me.  Because you're mine.  Go strip down, get in bed, the other bed, and wait for me.  I'm going to tie you up and make you suck me off.  And that's only the start, love.  I'll come inside of every part of you before this night is through."

She pulled back, studied my face for a few pregnant moments, and then left.

I didn't watch her leave.  I was too busy watching him watch her leave.

I gave him a cold smile when he finally realized I was staring at him.

I waited until I was sure she was out of earshot to speak.  I leaned in.  "That's my wife you're casting those lovesick stares at," I growled at him.

He glared back, looking outraged.  "I'm well aware.  I'm also well aware of the way you treat her.  Like an object.  To abuse.  I see the marks you leave on her.  I see it all."

That had me barking out a laugh, at his expense.  "Oh that is rich," I told him, cold disdain in every syllable.  "A prude, working for me.  How about this?  You keep your prudish mind out of my bedroom, and off my wife, you bastard."

I had to clench my fists to keep from attacking him, because attacking him was not what I needed to do here.

I needed to get him to talk.  I'd love nothing so much as for him to give me any excuse to fire him, something I could use that was more substantial, in terms of evidence for Bianca, than the way he looked at her.

I sneered at him.  "What did you think, that you would sweep in and save her from me?  She's mine.  You think I abuse her?  Then wrap your mind around this:  She is in absolute bondage to me, chained to me for life, and the things I've used to chain her to my side are beyond your ability to break."