The Last Riders: Shade's Fall Part 21

"You're no cowboy," Lily agreed.

"It doesn't matter what I am or not. I will be the one whose bed you will be in, who puts my ring on your finger, my baby in your belly, and you will let me, Lily."

"No." Lily shook her head, denying his words.

"Yes, Lily, you will. You won't be able to help yourself. I'll make d.a.m.n sure of that. Since I want to make sure there are no more secrets between us, I'm going to tell you that Penni is my sister. Actually, my half-sister, but she says that doesn't count."

Lily sucked in a deep breath. Her sense of betrayal went so deep that she didn't know if she could bear it. Beth and now Penni had kept secrets from her.

"Beth didn't know and Penni thought I asked her to transfer colleges because of Beth. She has no idea of my interest in you."

Lily refused to look at him.

"Lily, look at me."

She wanted to deny him, but she still turned her head to look at his grim face.

"I know that this is a lot for you to take in. You don't do well with surprises; however, there is one last piece of business we need to take care of.

"You have pushed me all week. After I told you that you had earned a spanking, you deliberately tried to raise my temper. I don't lose my temper, unlike you; instead, you have earned several more strokes. I will give you a chance to explain yourself and you may be able to lessen your punishment, if it's good enough. Otherwise..." Shade shrugged.

"I will not take a punishment from you. I'm not one of your women who actually care to please you. You can go to h.e.l.l. I'm leaving. If you lay one hand on me, I'll call the police." It was then Lily realized she no longer had her cell phone.

She frantically looked around the room for it, seeing it lying on the floor where Shade had caught her. Shade saw where she was looking and got up from the chair, walking across the floor to the phone and picking it up. Walking back, he handed it to her before going to the drawer, opening it and then handing her an envelope. He resumed his seat.

"Before you make a call, you should open that envelope."

Lily knew she shouldn't, dread filling her at the unopened contents.

Slowly, she tore the envelope open, pulling out the papers and then looking through them. They were owners.h.i.+p papers of The Last Riders, the factory and the house. It showed all the separate names of the corporation.

Her eyes lifted to his, not understanding.

"My name is John Hunter."

Her eyes went back to the papers, going through them once again. Then horror struck. While the name of all the a.s.sets were divided equally among the members, the property that everything was built on, including Beth's new home that she loved, was owned by Shade. She looked back up at him.

"When we all got out of the service, we wanted to start the business, but they had no capital. They had the ideas; I had the money. My money combined with what they had managed to save was invested in the business. The land, being in my name, was to ensure I wasn't left without anything since I took the most risk."

"Beth and Razer's home..."

"Is on my property," Shade confirmed her worst fears.

"Oh, G.o.d."

"There's no need to be upset. I have no intention of taking their home from them... if we come to an agreement."

"What do you want, Shade?" A lone tear slid down her cheek. She already knew what he was going to say.

"You."

Lily shook her head. "You can't be serious. You have to know this just makes me dislike you even more."

"Lily, you don't know what you want. You want a man who doesn't exist. One who will never touch you, pretend you don't have something seriously messed up going on inside of your head, and willing to put up with you constantly in some kind of trouble."

"I am not," Lily snapped. Shade lifted his brow at her response and her inability to deny the truth of the other two statements. "The man I want exists and I know you're not him."

"I'm the only man for you." Menace poured from his eyes before he regained control, shrugging and nodding his head toward the phone. "Make your mind up."

"Beth and Razer can build another house," Lily argued.

"They certainly can, but it won't be that house."

"Razer and you are like brothers; you wouldn't do that to him," Lily called his bluff.

"Yes, I would."

She thought about his cold-blooded approach to everything he dealt with and knew he wasn't bluffing.

"I can't do this." She pointed back and forth between them.

"I'm not going to rush you. We can go as slow as you want. I'm a patient man." If he tells me he's a patient man one more time, I'm going to scream, Lily thought.

"I'm going to talk to Diamond."

"I'll take you to see her tomorrow, after you get finished at the church."

"If I can find a way, I will leave." Lily had every intention of finding a way out of his trap.

"You can leave now, Lily. It's your decision."

"Okay." Lily gave in, left with no choice until she could make sure Beth didn't lose her house. Beth had protected her too many years to let her lose her house without trying to save it. If Shade was true to his word, he wouldn't pressure her, and she could find a way out of this mess. Beth would be angry and make her leave if she ever found out. She would forfeit the house she loved to protect her; Lily couldn't do less.

Chapter 18.

"Good, now that it's settled, we need to take care of your punishment for nearly ripping my b.a.l.l.s off."

"I became caught up in our lesson," Lily defended her actions.

"You were p.i.s.sed at me for something. Care to tell?"

Lily remained silent.

"All right." Shade leaned forward. "Let's begin with Jewell. She closed the door to my office when Cash called. Kaley broke the rules. I really didn't give a f.u.c.k if she tried to join the club or not. She would never have gotten enough votes to anyway, so it's no loss.

"Now, let's talk about your punishment. I'm going to be lenient this time," he paused at Lily's unladylike snort, "and give you your choice of punishment."

"What are the choices?" Lily had no doubt she wasn't going to be happy with any of them.

"You can take the spanking you deserve, or you can sleep in the bed tonight, or you can give me one kiss. Take your pick."

"You're not serious?"

"Yes, I am being more than fair. It hurt like h.e.l.l when you grabbed my nuts. None of your choices involve excruciating pain."

"That strap looks like it's going to hurt."

"I plan for you to enjoy that." Shade gave her a grin.

Lily s.h.i.+vered, and it wasn't from pleasure.

"Which one?" Shade prompted her. "Would you like me to pick for you?"

"No!"

Lily was stuck. She was going to have to pick one. She really didn't want a spanking with that strap, but the other two were just as bad. The kiss was totally out; she couldn't imagine touching her mouth to his.

"I'll sleep in the bed," Lily said reluctantly.

"You sure?"

Lily nodded her head.

"Fine. You can get ready for bed." Shade got up from the chair, turning the television on.

Lily gathered her pajamas before going into the bathroom. Pulling off her clothes, she walked down the three steps into the shower. She turned it on, feeling the water hit her body at different areas. She took her time, as the shower was becoming an obsession of hers. Each time she took one, she felt absolutely decadent.

Lily bowed her head, confused with why he wanted her when he had a variety of women to choose from, not only in the club but also in town. Every woman in town who was single, and some who were married, had been chasing him since he had rode into town.

Reluctantly getting out of the shower, she blow-dried her hair to take even more time delaying the inevitable. She wanted to flick the rubber band, but she didn't.

Dressed in her thick pajamas, she opened the door, going into the bedroom. She wanted to go to the corner; instead, she forced her feet toward the bed.

Shade didn't take his attention away from the television as Lily climbed into the bed, clinging to the side as much as she could without falling out. Shade then turned the television off and went into the bathroom. Lily relaxed when he left the room, letting herself get even more comfortable when she heard the shower. She drifted in and out of sleep, too tense to slip into a deep slumber.

When the door opened, however, she pretended to be asleep. She felt the bed dip on the other side of the bed and felt Shade reach out to turn off the lights. With her back to him, Lily opened her eyes and saw he had left the bathroom light on. She continued to lie tensely, feeling him move under the covers, getting comfortable.

She was trying not to panic. If he rolled one inch closer to her, though, she would go to the corner. Lily didn't know how long she lay tensed before she realized he was already asleep. She forced herself to relax again, her fingertips lying against the red rubber band as if it would protect her.

Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep, thinking she had gotten one over on Shade. This wasn't a punishment; she was glad to be out of the corner.

Shade forced his body to remain still long after Lily had managed to fall asleep. The whole bed had practically shaken with her frightened tremors. When he was sure she had finally gone into a deep sleep, he rolled closer to her, fitting her against him as his warmth seeped into her chilled body.

He let his fingers play with the wisps of hair on the pillow. He was an expert at moving his body a centimeter at a time. All his years of experience had led to this one moment that he had waited years for: Lily in his bed, holding her close.

After she had been hurt back in the summer, he had purchased a whole new bed. None of the women had lain in the bed Lily was lying on now.

A small smile tugged at his lips. Her temper had surprised him today. Over the last couple of years, he had seen a few flashes of it, but today it had pa.s.sed her barricade and broken loose. She had been jealous, and she didn't even realize that was the emotion she was feeling, yet he had known it when he'd opened the office door and seen her face.

He hadn't touched Jewell in his office. He had told Lily the truth. He hadn't touched a woman since he had almost lost her and had seen her lying on that hospital bed. The sight of her had made him come to the conclusion he couldn't wait for her anymore. Lily needed him as much as he needed her.

All summer, he had worked toward one goal-luring her to him. He had almost succeeded, too, if not for that b.i.t.c.h Kaley. Now she believed she hated him and he couldn't blame her, but it didn't make a difference because, either way, she wasn't ready to admit to herself that she cared about him.

Lily woke the next morning to an empty bed. She showered and dressed and then, leaving the bedroom, she found Shade working out.

"I need to get to the church."

"Grab some breakfast while I get dressed," Shade said, setting his weights down.

"All right." Lily went upstairs.

No one was in the kitchen as she prepared herself a bowl of cereal. She had just finished when Shade came in.

"Ready?"

"Yes," she answered, putting her bowl into the dishwasher. "Aren't you going to eat breakfast?"

"Rider and I are going to eat at the diner."

They walked outside and down the path to Shade's bike. Rider nodded at her as he came outside, getting on his own bike. Lily put on the helmet that Shade handed her and then got on behind him. Her car was still at the college. She needed to make arrangements to get it back to Treepoint so she wouldn't have to depend on others for transportation.

The ride down the mountain was spectacular in the fall with the changing leaf colors. Lily couldn't imagine a more beautiful sight.

Shade pulled into the church's parking lot by the door that led to the room she and Rachel would be working in for the day.

Lily climbed off the bike, handing Shade his helmet.

"Thanks," Lily said, starting toward the door.

"Lily." She paused, turning back toward him. "Call when you're finished."

Lily nodded, going inside the building. She needed her car.

Rachel was already there, sorting clothes.

"Hey, Lily."

"Good morning, Rachel. You're hard at work, I see." Lily picked up a handful of socks that the woman was sorting.