Page 19 of What About Love

“Five more and you’re done, little one. Don’t forget to count.”

Against bare skin, the leather paddle connected with a much louderthwap, and man alive, did it sting! Unable to hold back any longer, a hiss of pain followed as she sucked air into her lungs.

“Sixteen, sir,” she panted.

A harderthwaplanded without a pause.

“Ooh, ow! Seventeen,” she cried.

The next swat carried more muscle and stung like blue blazes.

“Motherfucker!” she exclaimed to the accompaniment of gasps and low chuckles.

“Angela,” Dan barked.

“Eighteen, sir. Sorry, sir, but that hurt!”

“It’s meant to, since this is punishment. Too bad your naughty mouth means I’ll have to repeat it.” And he did, the paddle finding the exact spot with the same fire as its predecessor.

“Eighteen number two...sir,” she ground out. “But I count it protest, since you never included swearing in your dos and don’ts.”

Outright laughter followed her response.

“Don’t give me justification for eighteen numbers three and four, Angie.”

Another fell, and she counted nineteen without the snark.

“That’s better,” her pretend dom murmured with approval, which made her grind her teeth.

When this assignment was done, she was deleting all of those titillating BDSM stories from her Kindle. Fantasy was one thing, but reality so did not do it for her.

With number twenty, though the actual count was really twenty-three, she heaved a relieved sigh. When his hand returned to her burning butt, she jumped.

“Easy, subbie. It’s done,” he assured her, rubbed her scorching skin and calming some of the sting.

Moments later, wrapped in a soft, fuzzy blanket, she half sat, half reclined in Dan’s lap while a strange foggy lethargy consumed her. Vaguely, she reflected on how he didn’t seem so pretend anymore.

The comfort arms surrounding her squeezed her in a tight hug. “So, little newbie, what did you think about your first session?”

“Maybe you could ask me tomorrow when my brain and behind are in functional order?”

Chuckling, he kissed the top of her head but persisted. “You’re stringing your words together pretty well. How about trying now?”

“Well,” she began, wriggling atop his thighs until she found a more comfortable spot on one hip. “I found it incredibly intimate. Especially the first part, which wasn’t entirely awful. But I could have done without the leather tormenter, sir.”

“I have two things to say about that statement. First, if I’d spared you the leather, you would have missed the lesson and wouldn’t remember the difference when tempted to get sassy in the future.”

Meaning in LA, in order to fool and subsequently catch the killer, she had to be on her game. He lapsed into silence, simply holding her, which felt rather nice, but her curiosity had her prompting, “What’s the second thing?”

He lowered his mouth to her ear. “If I was your dom for real, I’d have proven you didn’t find any of itentirely awful.”

She swallowed, not saying a word because he wasn’t wrong.

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