Risqué Business (Club Risqué #8)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

X avier was worried about his wife. He felt so damned impotent. His career was based on helping people - on healing them.

And the most important person in his life was struggling and he didn’t know how to help her. He’d never thought much about having children. It wasn’t that he’d written the idea off. Lord knew his mother had been on at him enough to provide her with grandchildren - more grandchildren. It had simply never synced with his lifestyle, and if it didn’t happen, as had seemed increasingly likely the older he got, he hadn’t felt he was missing out, necessarily… not until Grace.

Now he was invested more than he’d ever imagined being. In fact, he was stunned at how much difference fifteen months and the love of a good woman could make.

There was also a constant wringing in his gut, like he was letting Grace down. As a doctor, he had access to all the knowledge and best practices. He’d been able to fast track getting them both tested, and there was no obvious reason why either of them couldn’t have children. Biologically everything appeared fine, although they were on the older side of parenthood. But unlike Grace, he didn’t necessarily see that as a negative. They’d both lived their lives, established their careers. They were secure financially and had maturity and wisdom on their side. They’d make great parents.

If that was ever a reality.

Right now, it looked less and less likely. Especially with Grace’s current mental state. He could see just how down she was getting. How the stress and strain of it all had her teetering on the edge of depression. He watched her closely, doing everything in his power to prevent her from falling, but not even he had all the answers.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Grace announced as they sat down for dinner that evening. They’d just had their second IVF attempt fail. It had taken its toll on both of them, but of course Grace felt the failure far more personally than he did.

“Maybe just one more?” Xavier suggested as she listlessly pushed the food around her plate. He already knew - as did his wife - that no more than three or four attempts would be made, anyway. “I’m sure you’ll feel better after a few weeks have passed.”

Grace shook her head. “No,” she stated, and her tone was resolute. “I can’t keep doing this. It’s time to accept that for me, children just weren’t meant to be.”

She worried her lip, and Xavier knew there was more to come. Something he really wouldn’t like if the way she was behaving was any indication.

“Xavi, I’ll understand if you want us to split up…” She ploughed on, never giving him a chance to object. “Just because I can’t have children doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue that opportunity with someone else.”

Xavier surged to his feet, and Grace looked taken aback - as she should. “That, pet, just earned you a punishment,” he told her, his voice hard and unrelenting.

“What?” she squeaked. “Xavi, be reasonable. I’m just trying to think of your best interests here. You shouldn’t be denied children just because I’m too broken to provide them.”

“And that’s earned you another,” Xavier growled, taking her hand and pulling her away from their barely started meal as he stalked down the hallway to their kink playroom - the room that had been earmarked to be turned into a nursery one day if the necessity arose.

“Umm… don’t you think we should talk about this,” Grace asked with a wince. She was right to be concerned. She might be the most extreme type of masochist, but Xavier was a sadist who had a lot of years under his belt. In that time, he’d learned the finer nuances of how to give a punishment to a woman who really did see punishments as her idea of a good time.

As he’d told her on many an occasion; there was more than one way to skin a cat.

“Undress and kneel,” he demanded harshly, pointing to a rough coir mat on the floor.

Grace made a small moue with her mouth but didn’t argue. Neither did he let her get away with it. “I saw that,” he advised. Her mouth tightened, but she kept her expression neutral this time. Unwilling to add any more demerits to her current position.

He stripped off his shirt and removed his belt, popping the top button of his slacks while Grace got herself into position. Then, when he was certain he had her attention, he spoke his mind.

“Why do you think I married you, Grace?”

She looked confused for a long moment.

“It’s not such a difficult question, is it?” he prompted when she didn’t immediately speak.

“B-because you love me?” Her voice was uncharacteristically timid, and her response was a question rather than a statement, which Xavier didn’t like.

“That’s right. Because I love you. Have I ever given you a reason to think that love is conditional?” he demanded.

Grace shook her head. “No, of course not.”

"Yet, you made a decision for both of us tonight—without even discussing it with me first." His voice held a trace of disappointment. "You assumed I would leave you just because we can't have children. That's not only unfair, Grace, it’s not even confirmed."

She looked down, not answering but clearly chastised. He stepped forward, kneeling beside her. He reached out and gently lifted her chin, compelling her to look at him.

"I would never leave you," he said quietly, his eyes meeting hers in a solemn gaze. "Children or no children, Grace. You are my world. I love you more than anything else, and make no mistake, I married you for you. Nothing more… Anything else is simply a bonus.”

The corners of her mouth twitched up in a small smile as tears welled up in her eyes, blurring the determined sincerity in Xavier's gaze. His fingers brushed lightly against her cheek, catching a tear that had slipped down.

"Now then," he said quietly, moving back to his feet where he towered over her. The harshness had seeped out of his stance and voice, leaving behind a stern calmness. “Do you understand and accept that you’ve earned a punishment?" he asked her, looking down at her with a question in his eyes.

Grace nodded, swallowing as she answered him. "Yes, Master."