Page 47 of Beautiful Betrayal

“Now we do,” he promises, shoving my pants down further and then lifting me and I don’t know how he manages it, but in about thirty seconds, I’m also naked from the waist down. He smacks my backside again, and heat rushes through me.

“Grayson,” I bite out this time. “I thought you didn’t spank me out of anger?”

“Tonight, I do.” He leans in close, near my ear again. “Did it hurt?”

“No,” I whisper. “Not hurt. You know you didn’t hurt me.”

“Then what’s the problem?” He spanks me again and I arch into the touch.

“The problem,” I hiss, “is you’re mad and I’m aroused right now and I shouldn’t be.”

“No,” he says, easing back to my side, and squeezing my cheek, his free hand on my belly, “you shouldn’t be. That defeats the purpose of a spanking when I’m this mad at you.” His hand slides between my legs, fingers sliding along the wet seam of my sex. “You will not come.”

“I’m pretty sure that I am, in fact, going to come if your fingers stay where they’re at right now and you spank me again.”

He cups my sex and spanks me again. I gasp, arching into the palm now back to squeezing my ass, and then into the onecupping my sex. “Grayson,” I whisper, though I have no idea what I’m asking for. “Can you please—”

His fingers slide inside me, his lips at my ear. “Please what, baby?” The words are soft, seductive, but that edge, his anger, is not gone. It’s sharp. It’s moody and present. It’s a wedge between us and I can’t take it.

“I’m just trying to protect you,” I whisper. “The way I should have before.”

His fingers slide out of me and he turns me to face him, those green, tormented eyes fixed on me. “Protect me by trusting me this time. Trust me that he’s dangerous. Trust me to protect you and us.”

“I do,” I whisper. “I just—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, baby. Not right now.” He cups my face. “Just be here.”

My hands go to his hands. “I am. I’ve never been anywhere but here.”

His mouth crashes down on mine and the taste of him explodes on my tongue: torment, fear, pain, loss, hunger,need. He needs so much and he has hurt so much and I can’t do anything to add to those feelings. I just don’t know how to do that but I’ll decide with him. That’s the only way this works. He scoops me up and starts walking. I’m naked in his arms while he is fully dressed and I have this sense of being willingly vulnerable with this man. I would do anything with him and anything for him.

Chapter thirty-one

Mia

Grayson settles me on one of the soft navy-blue couches, the cushion absorbing my weight, while Grayson’s big body frames mine, even as he pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it. “You,” he says, “will listen to me.” He doesn’t give me time to reply, by obvious intent. He kisses me, licking me into that submission we both know he can get from me if he so pleases because Grayson’s subtle demand for power is not so subtle when we’re naked.

One of his hands slides under my backside, while the other covers my breast. He’s not even undressed yet and I’m wet, wanting, and in need of him, but I know him. I know I will not be easily sated. I know the darker side of Grayson that no one else does, and in his present mood, he’ll deny me until I’m downright desperate. “Don’t move,” he orders when his mouth parts from mine, buthemoves. He lifts his body off of mine and then suddenly I’m on my stomach. He’s turned me over and before I can even gasp, I’m not just on my stomach, he’s dragging me to my elbows and knees. “Down,” he says, his hand on my back andI get it and him. He needs control right now. He feels like I’m taking it. Ihavetaken it.

I sink as low as this position allows me.

He’s on his knees beside me, his hand caressing a slow path up and down my spine. “God, I missed you, Mia,” he says, but there’s a vibration in his tone I do not like.

“Why do you say that like it pisses you off?”

“Wanting you isn’t what pisses me off and you know it.” He stands up and I can hear him begin to undress, while he’s left me here submissive, vulnerable, and willing. Because I do know why he’s angry. He’s angry that I left. He’s mad that I misjudged him and while he’d denied those feelings back in the Hamptons, he’s not denying them now. He needs my submission now and I’ll give it to him, but I always did. He has always been the one person that I would dare to do anything with. He’s always been that man for me, theonlyman for me.

I trust him.

I trust him completely.

My God, how did I let myself forget that? But I know in this moment exactly how. I know the flaw, my flaw, maybeourflaw.He sits down behind me on the couch, but I don’t wait for what comes next. I need to talk to him, I need to touch him. I sit up and twist around to straddle him and all his hard, naked perfection, his erection thick at my bottom. “I know what you wanted and needed right now, but I need to say something to you. I trust you,” I say, my hands on his shoulders but he doesn’t touch me.

“Are you sure about that, Mia? Because you’re on my lap right now. You don’t seem to even trust me like this, naked.”

“No, that’s what I’m telling you. When I was laying there I thought: I trust him. How did this happen? How did we get here? And then it hit me. I trust you completely. I trusted you completely and the idea that I could trust that much, and findthat woman pressed against you, I just—that was such a deep wound. Don’t you see?”

“No, Mia, I don’t. Because what happened didn’t feel like trust.”

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