Page 39 of Tangwystle
It’s when I noticed the bruise on her ass.
For a second, I floated, not feeling anything, that’s how great my surprise was. Then I dropped into a pit of rage.
I made myself scarce during breakfast, telling them I needed to mop the east wing, and I did. Aggressively. All my thoughts and feelings swirled around with the soapy water as I scrubbed.
“Fairy,” Baz called.
I blew at my bangs, forcing the hair out of my eyes. I hadn’t allowed Gretel to help me braid it today, and I didn’t notice it much until that moment. I’d been so in my head.
“Fairy,” Baz said again, and my muscles ached as I turned to find him leaning against the wall. The sleeves of his blue button-down were rolled up, and he dangled a letter in his hands as he peered at me.
He wore a frown, but otherwise appeared casual. He nodded at me to follow him into his study.
I was allowed entry almost everywhere. His bedroom and the library. But I rarely came into his study. The place was set up to his liking. And by that I mean messy.
Papers lined the wide desk, a glass and decanter of an amber liquid set out on the edge. Maps filled the walls.
Baz moved a large ledger out of the way, storing a pen and inkwell in the drawer.
“I want your ass touching the desk,” he ordered.
Part of me wanted to turn up my nose. But I couldn’t when he used that voice. The tone both demanding and promising.
Blowing more hair off my face, I walked to the end of the desk. He shook his head, dropping into his leather chair, and motioned for me to come around the desk.
Quietly, I came to stand in front of his chair, his legs splayed to the side as he sprawled back. I lifted myself so I sat on the desk, repositioning my dress so my bare ass touched the cool wood.
I might have sat taller than him, but Baz’s silent but serious face could command armies. The cut of his jaw was sharp, his eyes darkening as he looked up at me. No glint of amusement sparked, and my mouth dried the longer he kept gazing at me. My stomach tightened, and if I could have thought straight, I’d probably see that I was in trouble.
After a moment of stillness, he grabbed my right ankle and took off my boot. The sock next. He placed my foot on the arm of his chair and then moved to the left one.
Cool air hit my pussy as I found myself on display. Baz lifted my skirt higher, making sure he could see every inch of me.
His head bent forward, openly inspecting me. “I can’t tell you how much it pleases me to know you follow directions.”
“Better than Gretel?”
His head snapped up, but a second later, a long sigh slipped from him. He ran his hands up over my thighs, his fingers rubbing into the curves of my ass and waist.
“If you have something you’d like to speak to me about, then now is the time,” he said, and I knew he saw me last night.
The low-lying rage rose in me. “How could you do such a thing?”
And it wasn’t the scandal of finding them together. Of her bobbing in front of him as she sucked him off.
The bruise on her ass cheek hadn’t left my mind all morning.
Baz understood me. Because, for some reason, he always did.
“Would you believe me if I told you she liked it?”
His hands curled around my waist, keeping me in place.
“You can’t dislike Clinemell and then proceed to act like him,” I whispered furiously.
It was one of the few times I ever saw his face cloud up.
“I’ll ask you kindly to never compare me to that man again. Tangwystle, do you remember how I once told you I don’t take what’s not mine?”
