Page 29 of Hard Ride
Lucas nods again, then pushes a curl back from Katherine’s forehead. “Wake up now, pretty sub,” he murmurs. “Tate has some questions he needs answered, and then there’s the other question of punishments.”
She stirs against him, reluctant to open her eyes. So, I order, “Open your eyes, sub. Now.”
This time she opens them immediately, looking first up at Lucas and then at me. Her blue gaze is dark and deep, and wide, and for a second, I see pain there. Then the shutters come down, wariness entering her eyes. She shifts in Lucas’s arms, but instantly, he closes his fingers in her hair into a fist, keeping her where she is. “No,” he murmurs. “Stay still, little girl.”
A breath escapes her, and she trembles, but doesn’t fight. Her breasts are rising and falling fast, though, her soft pink nipples in hard little points. She really loves being restrained, and it’s obvious.
“What is this?” she asks. “Good Dom, bad Dom?”
I smile at this display of spirit, because I like her fight. I always did, even if it scared her. “Talking back already, sub? If you’re not careful, that might just earn you another punishment.”
Her mouth firms, as if she wants to protest, but all she says is, “Sorry, Sir.”
“I don’t think you are, but let’s leave that for the moment.” I put the cloth down on the floor. “I want to know why you left, Katherine. And I want the truth.”
She shifts on Lucas again, hissing at the grip Lucas has on her hair, but he doesn’t let up. It’s good. She needs to know there’s no escape. That she’s held and contained here by us. She could safe out, of course, and then I’d lose her, but given the pleasure she’s already had at our hands, and how much she loved that, I’m gambling that she won’t.
“Does it matter?” There’s an edge in her voice. “It was ten years ago.”
“It matters.” I hold her gaze. “I loved you, Katherine. And you left without a word or an explanation.”
Her lashes fall at this, and her cheeks flush. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t love you the way you?—”
“No,” I interrupt. “That’s not the reason. And I told you not to lie to me.”
Flickers of her fiery temper glitter in her eyes. “Are we doing this Dom thing or what? Because that’s what I signed on for, not fucking conversation.”
Lucas’s fingers tighten further, pulling at her hair, making her gasp. “Language, little sub,” he murmurs. “You need to show some respect for Master Tate.”
“You do,” I agree. “You’re already up for some punishments. I’m sure you don’t want any more.”
She bites her lip, her body quivering. “Yes, Sir,” she whispers.
It’s clear that she’s not going to give in, not yet, so I glance at Lucas to give him the green light to move her for the next part of the scene. He lets her go, and now it’s my turn to take her in my arms.
She’s warm and soft against my chest, the scent of flowers and sweet feminine musk sending me back ten years to when I first held her. When I first kissed her, and felt something in me, something that had been sleeping all this time, wake up.
That same thing is still there, still awake, and still waiting for her, and I feel the clench of it now as her lashes lift and she looks up at me. Her gaze is full of trepidation and wariness, and yet beneath all of that, I see her hunger. It’s the reason she hasn’t said her safe word yet, and I know that. There’s always been a hunger in her, desperate and wild, and she’s afraid of it. She’s afraid of giving in to it. But she has to understand that she can give that hunger to me. I will sate it. I will show her that it’s okay to surrender to it. That it’s not wrong to feel the things she feels, because I’m starting to wonder if that was her problem all along. If that’s why she left.
“It’s okay to give in to it, sub,” I say as I move over to my armchair. “It’s okay to lose yourself. I’m here to catch you, and so is Lucas.”
The color in her face deepens, and she looks away, hiding from me again. She won’t for too much longer, though. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll make sure she gives me everything.
I sit down in the armchair, with her in my lap. The arms of the chair are low and padded to my specifications, and perfect for doling out punishments on a sub’s backside. I arrange her, turning her onto her stomach so her pretty ass is exposed. Lucas comes to the side of the chair and kneels to grip her legs, so she doesn’t kick. She tenses up, but I’m not making any allowances tonight. Besides, the feeling of being restrained should make this intense and pleasurable for her, though she won’t enjoy it at first.
“I have to punish you, sub,” I tell her. “Firstly, because you ran away from us, and secondly because you didn’t give us an explanation. And also, because you made us wait ten fucking years before coming back, and that’s just not acceptable. So now you’re going to get the spanking you so richly deserve.”
I don’t wait.
I bring the flat of my hand down on her ass.
12
Katherine
I’m face down across Tate’s hard thighs, one of his hands on the back of my neck, holding me down as he brings the other down hard on my butt. He’s not light or gentle, and there’s strength behind it. He really means it. This is a punishment.
And it hurts. It fucking hurts.
