Page 23 of Training His Pet

“I know you’re sorry. You’re always sorry once you’ve pushed too far.” He stepped to her side and ran his hand over her blushing cheeks. “This isn’t about making you sorry, you know that.” He smacked her hard, jolting her body slightly and gaining a grunt from her.

Her body softened beneath his words and she wrapped her hands around the leather bonds tethering her to the horse. “I know.”

“Are they playing?” Erika asked a woman near her in the crowd.

The short blonde woman shook her head. “No, he dragged her in here with his belt already pulled from his pants.”

“Maybe they like role-play?” Erika suggested. Though she wasn’t mistaking the severity of the man’s glare. If he was playing a role, he was a damn good actor.

The blonde grunted. “I doubt it. I heard her arguing with him earlier when I passed their cabin for breakfast. It probably escalated.”

Erika turned her attention back to the punishment being laid out before her. He’d taken several steps back and to the side, giving him plenty of swinging room for his belt. As he pulled his arm back, Erika found herself holding her breath as he unleashed the strap across the woman’s ass. She cried out. Her body tensed with the lash.

Blowing out the air, she swallowed hard and her own body clenched as he gave his girl another swat of the belt.

“Enjoying yourself?” Dax’s low voice asked her, the sound vibrating against her ear. His body pressed against her back, and his hands gripped her hips. She wouldn’t be able to turn around to face him, which suited her fine, if his tone indicated what his eyes would look like. She’d seen the fierceness in him at the club, and having it focused on her at that exact moment might be more than she could handle without falling into a fit of rambling.

“You were busy,” she said, as though that explained anything.

“I told you to stay put.” His words came clipped, hard.

“I was curious,” she whispered, turning her head slightly. She caught the grin playing on the blonde’s lips. Obviously, the woman thought Erika was in her own bit of trouble.

“He’s not doing this for your enjoyment.” Dax’s fingers dug into her hips.

“There are other people watching, too,” she defended. This was a public play space as far as she could tell. If the man wanted privacy, he wouldn’t have brought his submissive to the open dungeon for onlookers.

“Let’s go back to the cabin.” He dropped his hands, but she didn’t move when he stepped back.

“No.” She shook her head, not chancing a glance in his direction. Obviously, this place meant something to him, this lifestyle. These things were part of who he was. And he didn’t think she could handle it.

Because he didn’t know her.

“What did you say?” He was back against her, his lips near her ear.

The punishment played out before them, the strapping didn’t stop, the woman’s cries increased. But all Erika could sense, could hear, was him.

“I want to watch. I want to see what it’s like,” she said, shrugging out of his grip and stepped away. She wanted more than that, really. She wanted to know what it felt like. To have someone care so much about her and their commitment to each other that he would take a belt to her ass to keep them whole—what didthatfeel like?

“Keep this up, and you’ll get firsthand knowledge.” His threat ignited an inferno in her belly.

She slowly turned around to face him. The cries and slaps faded into white noise behind her as she brought her gaze up to his. His lips were pressed together into a pencil-thin line. His eyes were narrowed, dark, and stern. But it was the little flare of his nostrils that sent a cold shiver down her spine.

“You can’t,” she said, her voice a weak little sound. Her throat clamped down and the tingling in her belly expounded, multiplying each second his glare lingered on her.

He cupped her chin in his hand, pushing her head back until she had to look down the length of her own nose to see him. Dax bent toward her, hovering over her face.

“I definitely can, and absolutely will if you don’t do as I say while we’re here.” A decision seemed to be made inside of him; his glare grew steadier, his resolve set.

“You didn’t mention that when you asked me to leave my apartment.” She did her best to throw concrete into her voice, but she realized she’d failed by his continued glare still fixated on her.

He let go of her chin. “Keep yourself out of trouble, and it won’t be a problem.”

“I was just watching along with everyone else,” she said again. The extra space between their bodies brought her bravado back to life.

A little muscle in his neck ticked. “I said to stay in the café. I was talking to someone and you just wandered off through the back door. The back door, Erika, because you knew if you came out the front door, I’d stop you.”

Solid theory—completely accurate. But it didn’t matter to Erika.

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