Page 45 of Ward

Grace

Aidan’shandcomesdown hard on my ass. I’m jolted by the force of it, like lightning striking the ground outside my window. He hits me again on the same side, then twice on the other cheek.

Pain and heat spread across my skin like wildfire.

It happens so swiftly that I’m not sure if I like it until I’ve endured a few more slaps.

But once I start to like it, I can’t stop clenching my thighs.

He has to realize the effect his blows are having on me. Even when it hurts—especially when it hurts—being touched by him feels like a reward.

His hand lingers on my ass before he finally pulls away. I barely have time to register the hardness pressing against my hip before he guides me over to the bed. The skin on my bottom prickles as I sit down, hot tingles that ricochet throughout my pelvis. It feels like there’s a fist between my legs, squeezing tighter and tighter, drawing my attention to the spot he said he wouldn’t touch.

But from the intensity in his gaze, I can tell he wants to do something.

He grasps the front of my neck, pressing the collar tight to my skin. His intense gaze holds me hostage.

“You enjoyed that very much,” he says.

It’s a statement of fact, not a question, so I don’t respond.

Suddenly, his lips are on mine. I gasp at the unexpected contact, which he takes as an invitation to taste my tongue.

I moan softly into his mouth. Does he realize this is my first kiss? Or, is it my second? I’m not sure whether or not foot kisses count.

He pulls away, taking my breath with him, long before I’m ready to let him go.

“The spanking was a test,” he rasps. “I know you’re used to enduring pain, but not all pain is alike.”

If the spanking was a test, then the kiss must have been extra credit.

“How did I do?” I ask.

“You passed with flying colors,” he says. “Just like I knew you would.”

Warm satisfaction washes over me. “When you said no sex, I was afraid you also meant no kissing. I’m glad that’s not the case.”

As long as I can kiss him, I’ll be more than satisfied with whatever he’s willing to give me.

Aidan’s half-smile flattens as though he’s just recalled something troubling. Whatever it is, he shakes it off quick.

“It’s time for you to go to bed,” he says. “I’ll let you choose what to read tonight.”

I pull up a historical romance on my eReader and slide under the covers. Aidan stretches out above the blankets alongside me, tucking his arm behind my neck. I read aloud from the book as I’ve done every night for weeks. I wouldn’t normally choose a story with such racy love scenes, but I’m emboldened by Aidan’s closeness, and his kiss.

When we get to the part where the couple makes love for the first time, he doesn’t tell me to skip it. Even when my face is smoldering, he instructs me to read on.

I nod off in the middle of a sentence some time later. I feel my eReader slide through my fingers and look to find Aidan gazing down at me. He sets the device on the bedside table, then angles my face so he can kiss my lips.

“Goodnight, little one,” he says.

I sigh the words, “Goodnight, Sir.”

As he climbs out of bed, my gaze is drawn like a magnet to the bulge in his pants. I see it, and he knows that I’ve seen it. How long has he been like that?

“Don’t concern yourself with it,” he says. Though now that he’s brought it up, all I want to do is concern myself with it.

As soon as he’s gone, I thrust my hand beneath the waistband of my tap pants and panties. My clit is so sensitive that I’m halfway to Heaven in seconds.

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