Page 15 of Submit

Her heart thudded a heavy rhythm in her chest, making it hard to breathe. Could she give that much power to another person? Could she allow herself to be so entirely vulnerable?

“No. I… I can’t. Adam, I can’t do this.”

Adam’s hand snaked up and gripped the back of her neck, gently forcing her down to her knees on the floor in front of him. It happened so fast she didn’t have time to consider what was going on. He buried his hand in her hair, grasping it at the roots tightly and pulling her head back so she had no choice but to look into his face. It hurt, but at the same time, it was the most amazing thing she’d ever felt. Her pulse raced, a heady mixture of fear and desire as a flood of damp heat pooled between her thighs.

“You will do as I say, Skye. We’ve already discussed this as much as I intend to unless you want this to be over. Enough with the back and forth. Either you turn yourself over to me or we are done here. You always have the power to end this—you can safe-word out. Until then you will obey. Do you understand me?”

She nodded her head as much as she could with him still holding her so firmly. His face was stern, but there was no anger there. Why did she find that reassuring? Her mind was spinning at a hundred miles an hour.

His voice went softer. “I understand what you’re going through. When you truly give yourself over to this, to me, the panic will go away. And what I’m about to do will help you. If you can’t take it, you have your safe words. Are you safe-wording now? Is that what you’re telling me by your resistance? Because if you are, I will absolutely respect it, no questions asked. You get dressed, go home, we part friends. End of story. You may respond.”

“I… No. I’m not safe-wording.”

She knew then that she wasn’t, that she didn’t need to, that the combination of his sternness and his tenderness made her feel strangely safe. She pulled in a long breath, and it calmed her.

“I didn’t think you were,” he said. “I’d have felt it when I put you on your knees if there was real fight in you. I’m telling you this so you understand why I did it, that I wasn’t operating from my own agenda. I was testing you, but only to see what it was you truly wanted, what you could handle, and your response tells me everything. It’s part of how I operate as a Dominant. I will always operate with your best interests in mind. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“Yes. Yes.”

He smiled a little. “Alright, then. Here we go, Skye. And no more talking until I tell you to. Last warning.”

Before she had a chance to think any further, he pulled her up and into his lap, laying her face down. The wool of his slacks was a little scratchy against her stomach, the undersides of her breasts, the front of her thighs. He smoothed his palms over her back as he spoke, helping her to accept what was happening even as her mind still echoed faintly that it was too much, too sudden. Even as desire flowed through her veins like liquid fire.

“You need this, Skye. You need a little pain to give you the chemical release in your brain that will make this all good for you. Endorphins. You’re so damn responsive you got a little just from me touching you, didn’t you?”

Her breath hitched.

“Don’t answer,” he continued. “There’s no need to. I can feel it in the heat of your skin, hear it in the rhythm of your breathing. I could see how beautifully hard your nipples were before I put you over my knee, and now I can feel them against my thigh.”

He gave her a small pinch at the skin on the underside of her buttocks, making her wince. It didn’t really hurt, she realized—it was simply sensation. And the chemicals were flooding her brain, making her go soft and loose all over.

He went on, his voice growing deeper, smokier. “You have such a gorgeous body. Incredible skin. Flawless.”

He drew one finger slowly down the length of her spine, causing a ripple of desire to dance over her flesh. When he got to her buttocks, he moved lower, dipping between her thighs, brushing her pussy lips. She squirmed, parting her legs a bit more.

“Ah, good girl.”

Her mind hummed with pleasure at his words, but she remained quiet, as she was supposed to. She needed more than ever to please him.

“You like it, don’t you, Skye? You’ll love it all, I promise. I’ll see to it that you do. And I will love every minute of what I’m going to do to you.”

The first slap was nothing more than a quick rap against her skin—sensation more than pain—but it surprised her, and she jumped. He laid a palm flat against the small of her back, stilling her. After a few moments he began a slow rhythm, moving his hand over her buttocks. She was surprised that while there was a slow build of pain as he increased the rhythm and force, it felt good. And the harder he smacked her, the wetter her pussy grew.

“Breathe into it, Skye, into the pain. Into the pleasure.” He was still holding her down with one hand on her lower back, making her feel his command.

The spanking went on, harder and harder. Sensation moved over her skin, spread over her body in rolling waves. She felt that odd sinking sensation again, more intensely this time, and understood finally what it was she’d felt when she’d first met him, before he’d even touched her.

Subspace.

Her mind was letting go, moving to some other plane where she was hyper-aware of everything: his scent, the faint scent of the suede upholstery on the chair, the slapping sound of his palm coming down on her flesh, the soft, white noise of the heater kicking in somewhere in the house. She could feel the hard muscles of his thighs beneath her, her breasts crushed into his lap. And the solid ridge of his erection against her belly. She moved her hips, grinding into him.

“Hold still, Skye,” he said sharply.

She tried. But as the volley of smacks rained down on her, her flesh heating up, seared by his hands, it became almost impossible. Pleasure and pain.

Pain.

When he moved a hand between her thighs and plunged two fingers right into her wet, aching heat, she jumped.

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