“Don’t scream.” The command held a warning edge. “This will be much worse if you do.”
She quivered in my hold, her arms jerking in a fruitless attempt to free herself. “Are you…” Her voice hitched. “Are you really going to hurt me, Adrián?”
The sound of my name on her tongue made something burn in my gut. I wasn’t sure if it was desire or rage.
Probably both, where she was concerned.
“Yes,” I responded, my tone ice cold, despite the searing heat licking through my veins. “You shouldn’t have run from me,” I told her again, skipping the childish endearment this time. “You will not run from me. When I give you an order, you comply. You will learn obedience.”
She shuddered, but she stopped struggling.
With my free hand, I found the thigh-high slit on her indecent red dress. Satisfaction ripped through me along with the tearing sound of the fabric shredding under my ruthless grip. She let out a shocked cry, but it ended abruptly. My satisfaction increased. Valentina wouldn’t scream. It seemed she could be taught to obey.
I pulled the ruined fabric aside, exposing her upturned ass. The strange, toxic mixture of desire and rage took root deep inside me once again. She wore nothing more than a scrap of black lace that barely covered her rounded cheeks. The panties were sheer, accentuating her sensual shape rather than concealing anything.
My mouth watered, even as my stomach tightened. She’d worn these for her husband. She’d wanted to please him, to wear the pretty things he bought for her. She’d sold her soul to him in exchange for expensive gifts and an opulent lifestyle.
She’s not his anymore, I reminded myself, the thought savage.
Valentina whimpered, and I realized my fingers were digging into her tender flesh.
I eased my grip, running my palm over her curves, re-learning the shape of her. I’d never touched her like this before: skin-to-skin. When we were younger, I’d groped her when we shared frenzied, stolen kisses on my father’s estate. And although I’d allowed myself to covet her, I’d never given in to the temptation to claim her untried body. She’d been too innocent for me to despoil her like that, to indulge in the dark urges that tempted me when I held her with harsh passion.
She wasn’t innocent anymore. The woman trembling in my grip had been ruined a long time ago. She’d given her love and loyalty to a man I despised.
I restrained myself from exploring farther, stilling my fingers before they could dip between her thighs and sample the heat of her pussy beneath the panties that barely covered her. I’d never touched her there, either.
To indulge now felt like weakness. The desire to touch her was so keen that it set my teeth on edge.
I delivered the first stinging slap with force that shocked me almost as much as it startled her. Her sharp cry made my gut twist and my cock stiffen. I hadn’t intended to hit her so hard, but now that I could see the red imprint of my hand burned into her tanned flesh, I couldn’t hold back.
“Quiet,” I ground out, delivering another punitive blow.
The next sound that left her strangled in her throat as she struggled to swallow a shriek. As much as I wanted to indulge in her screams for mercy, I couldn’t risk calling attention to us if someone heard through the hotel walls. Her attempt to silence her cries stirred my crueler, lustful impulses. She would yield everything to me, obey my every command.
“You will not run,” I ordered, my voice so gravelly that I wasn’t certain she’d understand the words. I took a breath and spanked her again, calming myself through mastering her. “You don’t get to leave my side.” As cool control settled over me, my speech became more intelligible. “You can’t escape me, Valentina. You’re not going back to your husband. You’re coming with me. If you try to test me, you will be punished.” Each cold statement was punctuated by a stinging slap to her rounded ass. She wriggled against my thigh, her movements stimulating my stiff cock. I was sure she could feel my hard length pressing against her hip.
Would she fear my arousal? Or would some secret part of her still respond to me?
Unable to hold back any longer, I grabbed her pussy, grinding my palm against her lower lips as my fingers bit into the soft flesh just above her clit. She gasped and shuddered. I felt damp heat against my hand, soaking the black lace that provided a flimsy barrier between us.
Possessive rage ripped through my system as memories assailed me. She’d promised she’d always be mine. She might have chosen to give her heart and body to Hugo, but her soul would always belong to me.
“You’re mine, Valentina,” I growled, increasing the pressure of my hand on her cunt. “Your body still knows it. You will obey me.”