Page 132 of Naughty Nelle

He took a shaky breath. “I used to. I’m not sure anymore.”

Ah, the emotional scar left behind by his ex-wife. I yearned to tell him that scars can fade. Even my mother’s broken heart had mended after my father deserted her.

“Did your father love your mother?” I asked.

“Totally. He put her on a pedestal and worshipped her. He was very possessive of her.”

That explained a lot about his behavior. Like father, like son. He treated me like he owned me.

“And my mother loved him like none other. It took two years for my sister and me to convince her to sell our family home just outside Philly. That’s where all the family memories were stored…all the memories she needed to let go of to survive. Finally, she acquiesced and moved into the city to be close to us. She’s happy now, but I don’t think she’ll ever marry again. No one can ever replace my father.”

I understood what he said. Though my mother’s first love was hardly as adoring, there’d always been an attachment she couldn’t let go of. There had never been another.

I stared at the ocean, absorbing his words as the waves gently crested along the shoreline. The word “love,” which had been mentioned several times in our conversation, rolled silently over my tongue.

“Ari…”

“Yes?”

Do you think you can love someone again?The words I was burning to say stayed trapped in my throat, and instead I commented on his earlier behavior.

“You get jealous.” My observation was more lighthearted than judgmental.

He let out a short, sexy laugh. “Yeah, I confess. I get jealous. I wanted to kill that asshole.”

“You can be a very bad boy, Mr. Golden,” I laughed back.

“Ms. Greene, I was never good at sharing my toys.”

A pang of anger stabbed at me. “You think I’m a toy?”

“No, not at all.” He flicked the tip of my nose. “I just want you all for myself.”

“Then come and get me.”

Relieved, I didn’t know what made me do it, but I broke away from him and took off like the wind. Turning and running backward for a few yards, I shouted out at my shocked companion, “You said you could keep up with me. Prove it.”

Without waiting for a response, I sprinted across the sand.

“You’re going to pay for this, my pretty princess,” I heard him shout back.

I craned my neck and stole a look at him. He was running after me at hell-bent speed. I propelled my legs to run faster. My lungs were burning and so were my thighs. I looked over my shoulder one more time. Shit! He was gaining ground on me; I needed to run faster, but I couldn’t. Panting, I was losing speed and running out of stamina. I could feel him behind me, his breath on me. And then a powerful arm cinched my waist, stopping me dead in my tracks. He flipped me around, his breathing ragged.

“Saarah, it’s payback time.”

Holding me prisoner with one arm, he feverishly unbuttoned my jeans and yanked them down without even bothering to unzip them. Then, one-handedly, he pulled my T-shirt over my head and tossed it onto the sand. His lustful eyes made their way from my head to my toes, lingering on the obvious places.

“Fuck. You’re so, so beautiful.”

The words rolled off his tongue like a song. Then as he hauled me to him, a sharp slap sounded in my ears and a sharp sting zapped my ass. Simultaneously.

“You’re getting something my son never gets,” he breathed in my ear. “A good spanking.”

Holy crap! I’d never been spanked before in my life. My mother didn’t believe in that form of corporal punishment. And while I had always shuddered when I heard about other children being spanked, I was strangely looking forward to it.

Before I could take another heated breath, his large hand struck me again. Whack! I winced. And then again and again. Each slap louder and harder than the one before. With each blow, I let out a shriek, and tears stung my eyes. Yet, somehow, this licking was turning me on. Wetness was dripping down my legs, and I was tingling all over.

“You won’t stray from me again…will you, Saarah?”

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