Page 28 of Sin & Sapphire

“Why are you doing this?” she asked over her shoulder, once she’d gotten control of herself again.

“Because you’re a spoiled brat who’s been handed everything on a fucking silver platter, and you threw it all away so you could run small cons in fucking Monaco,” I said, ignoring the wrath her terror had ignited in me and my own hypocrisy.

My hand scraped against a bit of uneven skin on the back of her thigh. I looked closer. It was a round burn scar, about the size of a cigarette. There were more—a few that were larger, the size of cigars, and cuts, old injuries that had nothing to do with whatever indignities she’d suffered over the last month.

I stroked my fingers higher, my touch turning sensual as I fought to control the irrational rage that filled me at the thought of anyone else hurting her. After all, I would hurt her too.

My pants grew tighter at the thought.

“I’m going to spank you, princess, the way a spoiled brat like you deserves, then you’re going to apologize for being such a brat, and then we’re going to walk out of here together.”

She took a deep breath, and then another, but didn’t struggle against me.

I cracked my palm against her ass again.

“One,” she whispered, her shoulders slumping. By the time I reached twenty, Ana’s ass was cherry red and hot to the touch, but she allowed me to spank her without complaint. I palmed her ass again, soothing the pain by gently rubbing her skin, and she arched up into me, pressing her curves into my hand.

“Are we done now?” she asked, stilling, as if she’d realized what she’d revealed by her movements. Was Angelo’s brat a masochist? Did shelikethe pain of this punishment?

We’d find out in a minute. “Princess, that was the warm-up.”

Ana jerked away from me, her struggle only pressing her stomach harder into my cock.

“Someone! Help! Let me go! Please!”

Her cries went unheeded. If Julian was listening, he was smart enough to ignore her pleas for help.

“We’re going to do twenty more, princess.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

Because I want to.“You fucking owe me, Ana. You started a war when you blew up that yacht, and I’m going to take the price of winning it out of your hide.”

13

ANA

Valentin strokedthe bare skin of my ass, dragging his fingers over the agonizing burn where he’d spanked me.Warmed me up, he’d said. My muscles tensed as I waited for the next round of punishment. Hot fingers traced my curves in a comforting caress, then slid between my thighs.

I slammed my legs shut around his fingers, only for him to slap the back of my sensitive thighs with his other hand. I whined, but refused to let my legs fall open and risk exposing how wet I was, how turned on I was by this ludicrous situation. What the fuck was he doing to me?

“Ana,” he growled in a deep baritone, and a shiver ran down my spine before lodging in my pussy, my clit throbbing in time with my heartbeat.

What the hell?

He curled his fingers, still trapped between my thighs, trying to nudge them apart.

I couldn’t let him know. Couldn’t let him see. He was my uncle’s lover. So fucking off-limits. So fucking cruel. And he hated me. Always had.

“Ana,” he growled again, the deep rumble in his voice reverberating through my soul and my pussy. “Let me in.”

“Fuck you, Valentin,” I snarled, kicking his leg off me and landing in an awkward pile on the floor, but only because he allowed me to. I scrambled to my feet and backed away, shoving my dress back down over my thighs. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Punishing you,” he said simply, as if his pupils weren’t blown with lust and his hard cock wasn’t visible through his expensive trousers.

A small, petty part of me triumphed that even if I disgusted him, he still wanted me.

“And then,” he continued, “I’m going to take you back to your uncle Angelo, where you’ll crawl to his fucking feet and beg his forgiveness for the weeks of worry you’ve put him through and the millions of euros you’ve cost us.”

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