“I’m no cowboy,” he mocked.

“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 damn 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 Hell. 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 ownership 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 assets 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, God.”

“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 balls off.”

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

“You were pissed 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 fuck 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 hell 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 shivered, 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.