Page 45 of The Bargain
“And yet, you have your clothes on, and you’re not touching me. Again. Why are you doing this again?” There is accusation in my words. He says the right things. And yet, he is still so very in control.
“If I undress, I’ll bury myself inside you, and I won’t be able to stop. I’ll fuck you, fast and hard, and it will be over. I don’t want it to be over.”
“Then what do you want? Because you aren’t touching me.”
He folds me close, his hands splayed along my back, my bare breasts between us, his hard body cradling mine. “You, my pretty little one, want me to spank you.”
“No, I—”
He kisses me, an oh-so-sexy brush of his tongue against mine, before he says, “There’s no better way to earn trust or give trust than with a spanking.”
“I don’t know what that has to do with trust.”
“Don’t you?”
“I… I don’t—”
“I think you do. One of the things people like about being spanked is the way the anticipation leaves no room for anything else. No thoughts. No stress. They live in the moment, and the endorphins it releases linger in all the right ways. I want to show you. Are you going to let me?”
“And if I say no?”
“We won’t, but don’t say no. Don’t let your inhibitions win over your fantasies. You can do that with me.”
“And you? What is your fantasy?”
“Spanking you is high on the laundry list of things I want to do to you, but I’m not going to pressure you. You have to want it. You have to need it the way I do.”
Need it.
Want it.
“Yes.” I say it without thought. I say it before I can stop myself.
And already, he’s kissing me, drugging me, and before I can catch my breath, scooping me up and carrying me toward the living room. I think I just said yes to letting him spank me.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ethan
Iownyou.
Not once has Sofia pushed back on that declaration, but I hadn’t expected her to, either. I’m aware of how much she enjoys being dominated, at least when it comes to sex. But I make no mistake in believing I could dominate her elsewhere, nor would I want to anyway. I like her independence. I like her fire and drive. I fucking love that she only submits to me. If I could shut down her instinct to run, we’d be good, but I hope like hell a little bit of trust goes a long way toward ending her inclination to push me away. Of course, me going around her to her father didn’t help my case, but she’ll get it when he comes around and inks a deal with me to save his business. And he will. I saw the give in hiseyes. I saw his realization that I was not going to fuck him over when he saw something different in others.
I step in front of the couch and ease Sofia to her feet, tangling my fingers in the soft blonde of her hair, and her lips part as I say, “Hawaii was never going to be enough, but you always can say when it’s too much. Never forget that. You are in—”
“Control?” she questions.
“Yes. Exactly.”
“I don’t feel in control.”
“Because you don’t want to be in control. You like when I own you. You like how I fuck you. Don’t you?”
“Maybe I do.”
I scoop her close and grip her wrists behind her, my gaze raking over her plump, rosy nipples, my cock so damn hard it hurts. I lean in close, my lips at her ears, filling my free hand with her perfect breast. “You have no idea all the things I want to do to you. All you have to do is say yes.”
“But I’m not even allowed to touch you?”
