Page 39 of The Devil's Torment

“What did I say about lying to me?” he whispers darkly, his lips gracing the shell of my ear. “This is what you get. Tell me.”

Thwack.

This time, I groan. It doesn’t hurt anymore. Instead, it’s turning me on. Eloise is a big fan of being spanked, but as I’ve never experienced it, I’ve no frame of reference. But when Nicholas’s large hand lands on my buttocks for a fourth time, a gush of wetness dampens my upper thighs. I groan again.

“Looks like we’re already discovering something you like. Isn’t that right, Half-pint?” He spanks me again, and again, and again. By the time he’s finished, I’m a quivering mess, my inner thighs are soaked with my arousal, and my knees won’t stop shaking.

He turns me in his arms, grips my hips in a bruising hold, and smashes his lips to mine.

I melt.

The alpha male act isn’t one I’d have thought would’ve turned me to putty, but it does. It has. I virtually collapse against him, driving my fingers into his hair. He picks me up, fireman style, and marches back into the bedroom, tossing me onto the mattress. When I land and bounce, I laugh.

He follows me, trapping me with his muscular arms, his knees on either side of my thighs. “Tell me. I won’t ask again and next time, the punishment might not be quite so arousing. I don’t want fucking secrets between us. Tell me what they said.”

He isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants, and I like that he doesn’t want secrets between us. I don’t, either.

“Not they.He. Matthew, my college boyfriend. The other guy was a kid, like me. High school fling.”

“Tell me about Matthew.”

“On one condition.”

He arches an eyebrow. “You’re negotiating with me? That’s cute.”

“Nicholas, I mean it.”

He makes a dismissive gesture, flicking his wrist. “Spit it out, then. What’s this condition?”

“You don’t do anything to him.”

“What makes you think I’d do anything to him?”

“Oh, come on. No secrets, you said. I saw the bruised knuckles. You found out who the guy was who hit me at Noir, didn’t you?”

“Damn fucking right I did. No one touches my woman and gets away with it.”

My woman.I thought I couldn’t melt any more. Turns out I was wrong. I’m nothing more than a puddle of gooey marshmallow. He may be incapable of love, but he’s got the possessive jerk down to a fine art, and the fact I’m here for it might make me a jerk, too, but I don’t care.

“Promise me you won’t hurt Matthew.”

His eyes flash. “Is this man still in your life?”

“No. He joined the navy. I haven’t seen him in over a year.”

He nods, and I’ve a horrible feeling I’ve just given him information I should have kept to myself.

“Promise me,” I reiterate.

“As long as this Matthew doesn’t come anywhere near you, I won’t seek him out and show him what a real man looks like. Now, tell me.”

I rub my lips together. “He asked me if I was frigid.”

Nicholas’s jaw tightens and his fists scrunch the sheets. “He fuckingwhat?”

His voice is lower than I’ve ever heard it, laced with a raw anger that made me glad I’d dragged that promise out of him. If I hadn’t, Matthew’s days may be numbered. There’s a dark part of me that’s enjoying this possessive show of strength. It makes me feel… wanted, I guess. But I don’t want anybody to die over it.

“It doesn’t matter.”

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