Page 49 of Lukas

“I’m sorry.” She shrugged and put her hands on his trim waist, trying not to ogle at how good he looked with no shirt and just a thin pair of pajama pants. If he was easing back, she needed to do the same. Without being a shrew. “I’m not a very temperamental person, but occasionally even I get a little snooty.”

His head tilted to the side as he continued to study her.

She reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek then stepped away. “I should probably head out. You and I both need to work tomorrow, and—”

“You want to tell me what’s really going on?”

She forced a bright smile to her lips. “Nothing. Today was amazing, as always. I just know we both—”

“Are you hurt? Did things get too rough? I know we don’t have the safe word talk much anymore, but you know it still applies, right? I expect you to tell me immediately if something is wrong, Reina.”

“No! No, you didn’t hurt me.” At least not physically. “I just think it’s better if we give each other a little space. Distance.”

She tried to step around him, but he blocked her path. She stared out over his shoulder as his strong arms moved so he could grip the railing on either side of her, boxing her in.

“Did the three days we had apart make you want more time away from me? From us?” he asked. “Make you want spaceand distance? Because it didn’t feel like it in the elevator when you were begging me to lick that sweet pussy of yours. Or a few minutes after that when you were screaming for me to fuck your ass harder.”

She still didn’t look at him, tried to keep her breathing even despite his words and to stop wetness that was already pooling between her thighs. “Lukas, be reasonable.”

She found herself backed into the corner of the balcony, Lukas’s hard body pushed against her. “Reasonable? Fuck, princess, that is the last thing I am when it comes to you.”

She didn’t know what to do, what to say. God, she was terrible at interpreting this relationship stuff. Why couldn’t it be more like computer code—rigid with strict rules that always supplied the same results. His words made her think he truly wanted her. That he wasn’t backing off. But that newspaper story…

“That.” He grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “What thought is going through your head right now that is putting that look on your face?”

She shook her head. Explaining it would just make her look more foolish. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It damn well does. Tell me.”

She mashed her lips together mutinously. “No.”

His eyes flared as his hand came up behind her neck and forced her across the balcony until she was bent over the corner of the table, legs sprawled on either edge. He kept pressure on her neck as he pulled up the shirt with the other hand, leaving her lower half completely exposed.

He bent over her—his erection pressing firmly against her—so he could whisper in her ear. “One night I was out sitting out here at the table about this time in the evening, sipping on whiskey, enjoying the city. Could hear as a woman came out a couple units over and seduced her husband on their balcony. I didn’t watch—didn’t want to—just wanted to listen as she sat on his lap and rode him in the chair. No screams. Just soft moans and pants from both and the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Sexy as hell.”

Oh God, she could feel herself get wetter just at his words.

“We’re too high for anybody to see us, but anyone sitting out on the balcony enjoying this beautiful night is certainly going to hear the sound of my hand as it cracks on your ass.” He brought it down hard against her skin as an example, the sound echoing into the darkness, her moan quickly following. “And they’ll be hearing you beg me to let you come.”

His hand rained down blow after blow on her ass and thighs, the sound unmistakable in the darkness, even when Reina tried to hold back her moans and quiet sobs.

After a half-dozen spanks the defiance melted out of her. Everything melted out of her. She could only relax into it and feel.

“That’s right. You want this.” His hand never stopped its constant staccato against her skin. “Do you get to say no to me, princess, when I tell you to do something?”

“No, sir,” she wailed quietly as he pushed her legs further apart with his knee so he could spank the tender area of her inner thighs thoroughly.

“Exactly. You can safe word at any time, but you don’t say no. And you know why? Because for you, fighting your need to submit is because you’re fighting your need to trust me. You’re going to learn to work through things rather than run when you get scared. And if you need this so we can get to the point where we can talk about whatever’s bothering you, then I’ll give it to you.”

Yes. She did need this. Her body understood it and she could just sink into the sensation. Feeling rather than thinking.

She grunted as the blows continued, over and over, but somehow changed. They still hurt, but in a good way—a way that was making her soar. With each sound, feel, of his hand striking her flesh she flew a little higher.

He was giving her what she needed. She trusted him. Her hips slid back and began to rise up to meet his hand with each blow.

“That’s right, princess. Let go.”

She found she didn’t have any choice. She did.

---