Page 17 of Fallen Petal

Chapter 8

Petal

The hot water stabs at my wounded skin. The burn is so strong in the beginning that it makes me want to jump out of the bathtub before I’m even fully immersed. But it gets better with every moment I spend in the warm water, surrounded by soothing mountains of cloudy soap that smell of lavender and citrus.

He’s with me, next to the bathtub, watching as I slowly make my way into piercing heat that will soon turn into a calming embrace. It’s the first time I’m ever allowed to see him like this, naked and just as exposed as I am. He emits power and dominance when he’s dressed—usually in all black—and none of that fades now that he’s only in his tanned skin. He looks like a wild animal, feral and strong, with a muscular body that has been sculpted by hard work. His chiseled chest is as smooth as his strong jaw, only a hint of black hair trailing down the area below his belly button. His accented pelvis muscles slope down in a V-shape, culminating at his core, where his cock still stands massive and erect.

“I’m not done with you,” he growls, his dark eyes resting on me as I slowly lower myself into the hot water.

He follows as soon as I’m sitting, the water reaching up my boobs and covering the entire area on my back that has been marked by him. I grimace at the burn that throbs through all across my back, down to my ass and my upper thighs. It’s so fierce at first, but soon calms, like the breath of an athlete once the challenge is completed.

The water level rises when he joins me with such speed that it almost seems as if he’s afraid of changing his mind. I’m hugging myself on instinct, feeling weirdly exposed. This feels so much more intimate than anything we’ve done so far, but it shouldn’t. It’s just a bath. How could it ever compare to what happened in that room?

I can feel the warmth on my cheeks as I recall those moments. I didn’t recognize myself. I was loud, I was wild, I was so needy. He hurt me like he’s never hurt me before. The pain was blinding, a torment that has no equal—until it wasn’t. What happened? Why did I cry for him to continue when just a few moments before I didn’t want anything other than for him to stop?

This is so twisted.

“Come here.”

His demand is followed by a strong grip on my upper arms. He lifts me, causing the water to spill over the edge of the tub as he pulls me close to him, beckoning for me to straddle him.

“Sit on it.”

My eyes dart back and forth between him and his hard member beneath the water surface. I reach forward, closing my hands around his girth, evoking a moan from him when I gently stroke up and down his length. He closes his eyes, throwing his head back and diving deeper into the water while the expression on his face softens. He looks so elated, so beautiful and calm. I have never seen his face like that. Until now, I didn’t even think he could look this way, so beautifully innocuous.

I gasp in surprise when he reaches down to my hips, waking a new set of waves when he hauls me on his lap, leaving no room for caution or reconsideration. A deep groan flees my lips when he impales me on his length, stretching my sore core as he pushes me all the way down in one go. His eyes fly open the moment he’s buried inside me, seeking mine.

“Fuck, Petal,” he breathes, wetting my face as he holds it in a tight grip between his hands. “You have no idea how long...”

His eyes flicker angrily as he forces himself to stop speaking.

And there’s something else in his expression, something I haven’t seen before either.

Pain. Pain so deep that it’s palpable just by looking at him now.

Why is he in pain? Did I do this to him? Is this what I’m being punished for?

Then again, this is not a punishment, is it?

You’re here because you want to be here.

But why?

“You’re right,” I whisper. “I have no idea. About anything.”

The look he gives me in response suggests that he notices the reproach in my voice, but he doesn’t say anything about it. Instead, he lets go of my face, his fingertips grazing along the sides of my body with a sensual tickle as he lowers them down to my hips again.

“How does this feel?” he asks, pinching into the flesh around my hips as he urges me to move my core. “Tell me Petal, how does your master feel inside you?”

A blissful sigh flees my lips, and it’s just as treacherous as the circling motions of my hips as I accommodate his size deep inside me.

“Right,” I say, surprising myself with an answer as honest as this. “It feels right.”

He nods, intensifying his grip on me while a smile plays at the corners of his mouth.

“So did the pain, didn’t it?” he probes.

I bite my lower lip, my eyes locked on to his as I nod silently. What he says is as spot-on as it is confusing. How did he know it would be like this? How did he know I’d beg him for more instead of crying in relief once the torture was over?

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