Page 58 of The Enforcer

He played with a curl of her hair, pretending to be relaxed. Meanwhile, she was trying really hard to ignore the hard-on that pressed against her soft belly.

“Because of the fantasies in my head about the things I want to do to you. Correction, the things I’mgoingto do to you. I’ve got a new plug and nipple clamps to break in.”

It was hard not to feel terrified and excited at the same time.

“Oh.”

A Master’s degree andthat’syour best comeback?

It’s my mouth that got me in trouble in the first place!

You are an embarrassment to your gender.

Hector lifted her butt and pressed his knee against her core. Any thoughts of giving him lip fled her mind. Grinding his knee against her, he made it impossible for her to use more than a few braincells.

“But first, let’s get our misunderstanding out of the way.”

“Yes, let’s,” she sighed.

“You want the truth? I’ll give you the truth. Yesterday, at the store, I had an… episode. It was just a flashback. Thing is, I never had that before during the day. Ever. Whenever I see Decker’s dead eyes stare up at me, it’s during a nightmare. I’ve thought about it all day. He’ll probably haunt me again tonight. I didn’t want you to have to deal with that.”

Her heart went out to him and she placed an apologetic kiss on his lips. “I’m sorry you went through that. But that’s still no excuse to leave our bed. The good and the bad times, remember? You can’t just shut me out like that. That’s not okay.”

“I hear you.”

She let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad we talked it out.” She rewarded him with a sweet smile that told him there were no hard feelings.

He stepped away and motioned for her to go back into their bedroom.

“You still sore? Not that it really matters.”

This stopped her in her tracks. “It doesn’t?”

“No, baby, it doesn’t.”

She watched, fascinated—and slightly horrified—as he pulled a paddle out of a cabinet.

He gave a good swat to his open palm. “See, I can’t let you calling me names go unanswered. Cursing, as you’ve told me numerous times, is a bad habit.”

“I’ll put a dollar in the swear jar,” she said hastily, while trailing backwards into their bedroom.

He followed her slowly, the paddle hitting his hand.

Slap.

Slap.

“I don’t think that’s going to cut it,” he claimed. “See, you didn’t only say bad words, but you hurt my pride. My male pride.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Yes, you really seem like a broken man, stripped of all his confidence.”

“I wanted to ease you into things, but I’ve changed my mind.”

Easing into things sounded pretty good right now.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. First, I’m going to redden your ass, taking the paddle to it thirteen times.”

“Why thirteen?” It sounded like a bad omen.

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