Page 81 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“Have you been a very good slut for me, Sofia?” he asked, his breath hot and teasing in my ear.

“I wasn’t aware that our relationship required being a good slut for you outside of the confines of these skeevy nights in your hotel room,” I snapped back before I could stop myself.

“Our relationship requires that you do what I want, when I want, my sweet fucktoy.” He ran his fingers up and down my arms, and I shivered, gooseflesh covering my skin in his wake.

I closed my eyes against my frustration. “I told Nick about this—about us—like you asked. Sunday, at my parents’ house, I took off my panties, like you asked. Last night, I sent you a dirty photo, like you asked. I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me.”

Dante hummed as he traced patterns up and down my sides, my back, and my bottom, building up anticipation and nerves as I waited for him to speak.

“I believe that was the deal, correct, Sofia? Anything I want.”

I twisted my lips in exasperation. “And I have kept up my end of the bargain, even as Sergio continues to threaten my daughter and me.”

I hated the effect he had on my traitorous body, how he lit up every nerve and synapse with his soft touches, how standing naked before him, bared to his gaze, made me want to clench my thighs against the throbbing in my clit. I resisted the impulse, remaining tranquil and still despite my growing need.

He skimmed his hands over my shoulders, and a bell jangled discordantly. I froze, remembering the brutal clamps he’d attached to my nipples the last time I was here. Instead, he held up a pink leather collar with a bell and a name tag. “Kitten,” it said.

My breath froze in my chest. He wouldn’t. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t react. I couldn’t move as he wrapped it around my neck and cinched it. He slid a finger between my skin and the collar.

“Perfect,” he murmured, kissing the nape of my neck. “Now, bend over the back of the couch,” he said.

When I took the first step toward the couch, he smacked me hard on the ass. “Crawl, slut. You have to earn the right to walk on two feet.” I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled toward the couch, the bell tinkling with every movement. When my entire body flushed with embarrassment as his gaze settled on my drenched and aching pussy, I paused and closed my eyes, trying to center myself.

“Keep moving, kitten,” Dante rumbled from behind me.

I ignored him, searching for that box I kept buried deep in my soul, where I stashed the emotions I couldn’t deal with. I shoved my embarrassment and humiliation deep inside and calmed myself, stemming the tears and anger that threatened to brim over.

When I crawled up on the couch, I’d mastered my body, no longer trembling and blushing.

“Hands on the back. Spread your knees,” Dante commanded, and my memory flashed back to the night he’d fucked me so reverently in his car.

No, Sofia. Tamp it down.I took a deep breath and braced myself for the pain I knew would come soon.

When Dante continued the slow exploration of my body that he’d begun a few minutes earlier, I didn’t know how to react. I’d prepared for pain and humiliation, but I didn’t know what to do with his sweet gentleness.

His fingers slid down over my hips and clenched on my thighs. When he brought his face to my center and blew over my clit, I couldn’t contain the moan that burst out of me. “Dante,” I whispered.

He spanked me hard enough to sting. “Sir,” he corrected. “I’m going to warm you up with my hand, and then I’m going to leave some stripes on you with my belt.”

I winced, remembering the pain from my last visit. “Is this punishment, sir?”

“No, kitten,” he said, “This is for my pleasure.”

A few moments later, the sting of his hand slapping the flesh of my bottom and the tops of my thighs shocked me into crying out. I bit my lip, determined not to give in and give him the tears he so desperately wanted. As the intensity increased, so did my need, but still, I held back. When he paused to run a finger through my dripping folds, I clenched around air, desperate for friction against my clit, desperate for him to fill me.

Still, I said nothing.

“Stubborn kitten,” Dante murmured, as if guessing my game. He caressed my curves, soothing the burning ache. “I love looking at you like this, wet and twitching, your ass bright red and begging for my belt.”

I listened for the telltale clink as he unbuckled it, then drew it out of his pants. When I heard it, I clenched involuntarily, tightening the muscles of my thighs and stiffening my back, ignoring the throbbing ache in my core that begged for more pain.

“Count to ten, kitten.”

I jerked forward at the sharp sting of the belt on my ass, unable to hold in my cry of surprised pain.

“One, sir,” I gasped, breathing hard.

He continued, and I found it harder and harder to hold back my whimpers of pain and tamp back the tears threatening to fall.

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