“Hmm. Pet play?”
She shook her head and pointed over at the St. Andrews cross.
“Nope.” He folded his arms over his chest.
“You need this. I can tell. You’re wound up tight.”
“Nope.”
“You do.”
“Even if I did,” he allowed. “Doesn’t mean I’m doing it with you.”
She closed her eyes.
“Fuck. I won’t touch anyone else, I swear, baby.” He drew her close.
“No, it’s not that,” she told him, opening her eyes. “I don’t mind if you scene with someone else. As long as I’m there and you’re not touching them like you touch me.”
“Never,” he told her fiercely. “There is no one but my girl.”
“I know. And your girl needs to give you this. But I also think I might need this. And you know what you promised.”
“Opal, I don’t know if I can.”
She glanced up into his face. “Is it that different from when you paddled me two nights ago?”
His face darkened. “You hadn’t eaten all day. You deserved that punishment.”
“I skipped lunch today,” she whispered.
His eyes flared. “You did what?”
“And I didn’t drink enough water today.”
“You brat.”
“I’m strong enough for this. I promise.”
Renard cupped her face with his hands. “This isn’t about your strength. I know how fucking strong you are. I see it every day. But I don’t want to add to your nightmares. I don’t want you to feel pain and think of him and it’s me who is giving you that pain!”
She placed her hands over his. “I won’t be. All I will be thinking is that my man loves me enough to give me what I need. I don’t want a lot of pain. Just a kiss of it. Can you give me that?”
“You know I can.”
“So give me it. Please.”
He seemed to be thinking about it and she held her breath. Then he nodded. “Fine.”
Her breath eased out of her.
“But you will say your safeword immediately if you need to and I’m going to have Saxon monitor you. Also, we’re going to have a chat about you waiting until we got here to bring this up.”
Uh oh.
“Couldn’t this be considered a chat?” she asked.
“No. It couldn’t.”