Page 80 of Betrayed

“No, Arturo...sir, the girls convinced me.”

“Ah, the owners’ subs. Jonas told me to bring you here sooner, that all of them have a very poignant story to tell.”

“They have been through so much. Some as much as I have, a few even more so. I haven’t been nearly as strong as them.”

“Each has seen sorrow, true, yet everyone deals with loss in their own way. Don’t fault yourself for how you dealt with your grief.”

“But—”

“Shh, no more arguing.” One hand slid down her belly and slipped between her thighs. He found her wet, gloriously and generously so. His fingers sought her clit, gliding over and around it until she trembled beneath his hand. Then, although he had a punishment to deliver, and because he couldn’t resist, he dipped inside her tight sheath.

“So,” he drawled, two fingers taking up a slow in-and-out rhythm, “has this introspection and your chat with the Decadence subs helped you forgive my role in this mess?”

“As long as you don’t deceive me again, Arturo. Can we agree—”

“Mari,” he broke in fervently. “I am usually forthright. I never intended to mislead you on that long-ago first night, or in the weeks that followed. If I’d known who you were when we met, I’d have never allowed us to become intimate. Do you believe me?”

Her head fell back, and she rolled it so she could look at him, her face flushed, eyes bright, beautiful as always, but even more so when aroused. “I believe you. But I’m vulnerable, betrayed at every turn by important people in my life. I’m entrusting you with my heart. Please, take care of it.”

“You may entrust your heart to me, Mari. I will handle it with care. Can you also trust me with your bodyandyour submission?”

“I can...I will, sir.” She smiled, eyes half-lidded with passion. “I’ve already experienced how well you take care of both and I crave more.”

“Enough to move past these limits you’ve set on your true nature?”

“Yes, please. I want to fly. It’s been so long.”

“I was hoping you would feel that way because you need it, and I need to give it to you. Before I do, let me thank you for the gift of your forgiveness, as well as your heart, your body, and your pain,ma soumise bien aimée.”

“That sounds beautiful, sir. What does it mean?”

“My beloved submissive.”

She sighed wistfully as she nuzzled her face against his shoulder.

“We’ll begin anew. After we address the little tests you’ve put me through these past few days.”

“You knew,” she said with a gasp. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“You needed time. I decided to give it to you, although I didn’t know you’d become quite so nasty.”

“I did, I’m sorry. That remark about not being fluent in English, for example, was quite snarky.”

“I’ll have to remember your tongue sharpens with anger, hm?”

He patted her behind before he bent and withdrew the martinet from his bag, the familiar weight of the handle fitting comfortably in his hand. As he turned to his submissive, made so by her own admission, he considered how she waited anxiously for what he had in store.

Her body trembled and her back arched, displaying the curves of her ass so they appeared to be begging for his hand, his lash, and all of his attention. Two days was like an eternity. He wanted to bypass the flogging and fuck her first, but that would be slapdash and hurried, not to mention giving her the very incorrect impression of a permissive dominant. As he approached, a not-so-subtle throat-clearing diverted him from his goal.

Cap stood at the ropes.

He gave Mari an assessing glance, saw she was in no distress, and murmured in her ear, “Hang tight a moment,” as if she had any other option, before he walked over to see why Tony needed him.

“I’d rather take the whipping you were about to dish out than interrupt this, Arturo, but Jonas called. They intercepted a call and something major is going down at midnight.”

“Tonight?” He glanced back at Mari, her head swiveling from left to right as she tried to identify the reason for the interruption.

“Believe me, it kills me to pull you away. If you’d rather sit it out—”

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