“I’ll give Xavier a heads-up, and I’ll talk to HurtMe.” His lips quirked. “Can’t beat on him—he’d enjoy it too much.”

She rolled her eyes. “Thank you.”

“Softhearted baby.” DeVries’s mouth went firm. “So, you were confused, but you didn’t come to me for the truth. Even worse, you didn’t give us a chance to talk about the problems of me being a sadist. That’s going to change in the future.”

What future? She nodded.

His expression said he wasn’t buying her silent concession. “And you’re figuring there’s no future because you can’t fill my needs.”

“I can’t.”

“Lindsey.” His hands stroked her waist under the shirt. “How do you define being exclusive?” His mouth twitched. “Or, as you put it, going steady.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Exclusive means you don’t fuck anyone else, right?”

“Of course.”

He slid his hands under her matching latex skirt to cup her bottom before moving higher to tease the sensitive hollow above her buttocks.

Her toes curled under.

He asked, “Does doing an S/M scene with someone else violate those terms—if there’s no fucking involved?”

Flustered by the intimate knowledge he displayed of exactly where to touch her, she tried to think. “I…don’t know.”

He smiled.

“I didn’t agree.”

“No, but, pet, you’re thinking about it.” He drew her closer and nuzzled between her breasts. “If you get hot and bothered while you watch me whip a guy, I’d consider it a win all around.”

“You want me to watch?”

His eyes glinted. “Baby, if you’re in the building when I’m doing a session, I’m going to tie you up in the corner so I can keep an eye on you.”

She started to say he was insane, only remembered the caning and wand scene he’d done with johnboy. How Master Rock had been delighted deVries had given his slave what he couldn’t—and afterward had reaped the benefits.

Could she do that? “I… We can try.”

“Good.” His strong fingers massaged her bottom as a corner of his mouth tipped up. “We’ll start now.”


FUCK, HE’D MISSED having his hands on her. DeVries felt his control shredding inch by inch. But little Tex was all female, so she probably wanted to talk shit over for another hour. Had good reason, really since she’d had, hell, almost as bad a week as he’d had…though, at least, she hadn’t frozen her damned balls off.

He wasn’t going to talk now.

She’d get a lengthy chat…later. He closed his thighs to trap her between his legs long enough to yank her shirt off. Unzipped her skirt and let it drop. Sat back to enjoy the sight. “Damn, you have a gorgeous body.” And he watched her blush from her pretty little tits to her face with the compliment.

But taking her without thought to what had happened would set a bad precedent. “Now you’re dressed appropriately, kneel in front of me. Eyes down.”

Indecision wrinkled her brow. Yeah, the lack of talking had done damage. Nonetheless when he straightened slightly, she went to her knees. There it was. As a submissive, she wanted control—his control. When she’d broken them apart, they’d lost that instinctive balance.

Before clouding the issue with sex, he needed to set their D/s relationship straight. He studied her face as he considered.

She’d made decisions. He didn’t want a submissive who didn’t think for herself. Hell, no. Neither would he let one choose for them both without talking it over. She’d misstepped, and in a way he couldn’t ignore. Her arbitrary actions had almost cost them each other…and she had to know down deep he wouldn’t tolerate that again.

She had to be punished. Right now. For future mishaps, he’d have the time to figure out more appropriate punishments, but here, they needed the intimacy of sex to reforge their bonds.

First, pain to break down the barriers, followed by pleasure to bring them back together.

“I don’t want to do this,” he said resolutely. “But when you ended our relationship without discussion, you disrespected our partnership, my authority, everything we were building.”

She nodded, her lower lip between her teeth.

“To start with a clean slate, I’m going to punish you. Got any questions about why?”

Her shoulders tensed, and yet she shook her head. Her quick glance at his bag made him smile. Newer submissives worried about impact toys, never realizing a spanking could sting even worse.

“No toys, pet.” He patted his thighs. “Right here; right now.”

Her arms closed around her waist in a telling fashion. Breaking up had hurt her badly, even if she’d been the one to do it. Now her subconscious was trying to keep a distance between them.

Too bad. He wouldn’t permit any distance…which was why he wanted the intimacy of a bare-ass, bare-hand spanking. “Now.”

He’d seen snails move faster. Finally she draped herself over his knees. Hands flat on the floor, toes on the other side. Damn, she had the sweetest ass. Soft and heart shaped. “I’m sorry to have to do this, Lindsey,” he said. “I hate hurting you when you don’t enjoy it…and you’re not going to like this.”

No warm-up. No fun. He simply gripped her shoulder and started smacking her ass. Hard and fast, one cheek followed by the other. It only took a few slaps to have her squirming and kicking. She rose up, trying to use her hand to protect her butt—so he captured her wrist, pinned it in the small of her back, and continued.

She struggled harder. “Dammit, stop. I don’t like you anymore. Let me go!”

No safeword. He stopped to rub her buttocks briefly, letting her hope he was done, letting the nerves recover. And he started again. Slap, slap, slap.

She fought to kick him. “You fucking asshole. I h-hate you!”

He closed his eyes, breathing through the pain of her words. Didn’t mean them; he knew it. Still hurt. “I’m unhappy you feel that way, babe.” He spanked her, not harder. Not softer. Seemed like forever.

She broke, her sobs filling the room, shaking her shoulders. “I’m s-s-sorry, Zander. I’m sorry.”

Thank fucking God. He stopped, pulling in air through his nose. After a minute, he managed to unclench his jaw. “God, baby, I don’t like this. Don’t make me do this again.” Why the hell had it been so hard to punish her? He was fucking known as the Enforcer in Dark Haven. Jesus, hopefully someone would shoot him before he ever had to discipline her again.

Her crying didn’t stop, but she nodded her agreement.

Eventually, his guts settled. “Tell me what you learned, Lindsey.”

She sniffled. “I-I-if I hear something, I talk to you about it. And we discuss what’s wrong between us.”

He considered. “Yeah, that covers it.” With a feeling of relief, he boosted her up and set her in his lap. She didn’t pull away but buried her face in his shoulder and cried. Yet even as she did, she relied on him to hold her. Comfort her.

Jesus, yes. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head, feeling his world return to normal.

When her sobbing had moved to hitched breathing, she lifted her face. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you first.”

Fuck, she was going to unman him with her sweetness. “It’s past.” He used his fingers to wipe away her tears. “I fucked up too. Said shit.” Guilt lodged in his chest. “You want to hit me, I’ll take it. I deserve it.”

“Like I could even dent those muscles of yours?” She rubbed her cheek against his hand and was silent a moment. “I just won’t make you cookies for a week.”

Hell, he’d looked forward to her cooking. “You got a mean side in you, babe.” He kissed her damp face. “We’ll both do better next time.” Next time. Had a good sound. A future.

“Next time.” She bit her lip. “I didn’t ask you before…because you looked unhappy. But—”

“Go on.”

“The mercenary stuff. How—isn’t the work awfully dangerous?”

She was worried about him. Damn. Damn, he liked that. “It’s risky.” He tipped her face up and kissed her slowly. “And last week was my final mission as a merc. I told them I was quitting on Thanksgiving.” Iceman was now retired. Damn straight.

“But…” Her eyes softened. “You took the job because it was a child.” She read the answer in his face. “You have a big ol’ mushy heart, Sir.”

“You want another spanking?”

She giggled and twisted in his arms. “Nope. I have something else I think you should do.” Gripping the hem of his shirt, she yanked it off.

“Bossy, aren’t you?” Lifting her with her round, red ass in his hands, he carried her to the pile of cushions filling one quarter of the room. By the time he got there, his cock was straining against his leathers.

He went to his knee, shoved her back onto the pillows, and stopped for a moment to enjoy the sight. A hanging wrought iron light illuminated her golden body surrounded by the rich blues and dark red cushions. Her streaky brown hair waved over her breasts, leaving the pink-brown peaks jutting up. Her legs were open, her cunt wet with her arousal.

And the scent was…captivating.

Kneeling between her thighs, he ran his hands over her curvy shape, teased her nipples to even tighter points, and smiled as her hips wiggled. Fuck he loved making her squirm. Making her eyes glaze over. And this time, he was going to let her move as much as she wanted.

“C-can I touch you?” she whispered, trying so hard to be a good submissive it warmed his heart.

“Sure, baby, touch me.”

Eyes lighting, she pulled him down onto her and kissed him. Her soft hands stroked his face, his shoulders, his back.

Yeah, here was home. He reveled in the welcome, simply enjoying the anticipation…until it became too much.