He walked over and cupped her chin, raising her face up. “I let this go, then you’ll start to believe I’ll let other things slide. You won’t believe me when I say there are consequences for breaking a rule. You might do this again, thinking there won’t be a punishment, not knowing exactly how much I love you and want you to be healthy and safe. Something might happen. You might collapse and hit your head and I might not be around. I want you safe, Ari. Always.”
She leaned in and wrapped her arms around him. “I understand.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Good girl. Now push your pants and panties down then turn and bend over for your spanking.”
Christ. Even though she was nervous as hell, there was still a small part of her that was turned on by this. She guessed his dominance just did something for her. You’d have thought that after years of feeling out of control of her own life, of doing as she was told, she’d hate it. But the opposite was true. Because she knew everything he did was for her. Because he loved her. Wanted the best for her. Not because he was ashamed of her or because he wanted to use her.
She pulled her pants and panties down. He hadn’t even slept with her, but he’d already seen her privates up close and personal.
“Nothing to be embarrassed about, angel. You’re gorgeous. Now turn around and bend over.”
She shuffled around and placed her hands on the workout bench before moving her legs apart as far as they would go with her pants caught around her ankles.
“Good girl. Not going to lecture you or count. Going to give you as many as I think you need. You’ll get a hand spanking first then the rest with the resistance band, understand?”
“Yes.”
“Say your safeword if anything becomes overwhelming or too painful. What is it?”
“Donkey.”
“Good girl. Love you, Arianna. Want you safe. Want you to share what you need to with me. You don’t need to deal with all the shit life throws you on your own. I’m here now. I’ve got big shoulders. I can take on as many demons as you need me too.”
She knew that. But she wanted to tackle them together. “We can.”
“We can,” he agreed.
Then his hand landed on her butt and she let out an embarrassingly high-pitched squeal. But he didn’t pause. His hand landed again. And again. It wasn’t long until her bottom was hot and throbbing. Tears welled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. And this was only the first part of her punishment.
Holy shit.
She turned her head, staring into the mirror at the sight they made. The slight girl bent over the workout bench with her bare butt in the air, her face stained with tears.
Over her stood the sexy, dark-skinned man. His hand swinging back, landing against her bare bottom. She was a direct contrast to him. Small where he was large. Pale-skinned to his dark. Fragile to his strength.
And yet, they seemed so perfect together. She couldn’t imagine herself without him.
“I’d look away now, Ari,” he rumbled.
She closed her eyes, directing her gaze down as the rubber resistance band hit her already burning ass cheeks.
Okay. That wasn’t as bad as she’d thought.
Then it landed again. And again. And the sting became a burn. The burn became fire. Sobs wracked her body and she had to lean her forearms down on the bench to balance herself.
Finally, he stopped. But the fiery pain in her backside didn’t dissipate one bit. Bain grabbed hold of her, swinging her up into his arms. He held her cradled against his chest, rocking her back and forth and placing kisses on her head.
“Angel, I love you. I love you.”
Funny, she’d always imagined he’d have trouble saying those words to her. But he continued to say them over and over. He sat on the bench with her in his lap, turned into his chest so she was leaning on a hip rather than her aching butt.
She didn’t know how long they sat there, with him holding her, soothing words being murmured to her quietly. But she started to stir when she realized she urgently needed the bathroom.
“I gotta pee.”
Her mother would kill her if she ever heard her say that. But she was tired of worrying about what her mother thought.
He stood her up between his open legs and dressed her like one might a small child. She rubbed at her eyes. God, she was exhausted. She winced at the feel of spandex over her poor butt. It felt like the darn thing had doubled in size and the damned spandex seemed to hold the heat in.