Mel frowned and crossed her hands in her lap. “It’s relaxation therapy, not surgery. Maybe you should take a Valium.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ’cause that’s what I want to do—be drugged up when I hand myself over to a stranger.”
Mel pressed her lips together. “Good point.”
Brynn gathered her hair in her hands and held it off her neck, trying to cool her sweating skin. “I’m going to frigging faint. Right there in the middle of a sex club. Like one of those goats.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Goats?”
“You know, the ones who freeze up and faint when they’re startled.”
“That sounds hilarious,” Mel said, then waved her hand. “I mean, the goats, not you, of course.”
Brynn sank back into the couch and let her hair fall around her shoulders. How could she treat countless clients for post-traumatic stress and not even be able to talk herself down from a panic attack? She ran her hands over her face. “I’m going to lose it.”
Mel stood and crossed the few steps to Brynn, then kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in hers. “Brynn, you are the most kick-ass chick I know and are stronger than this fear. You’re going to be able to do this. If not for yourself, then for your sister.”
Brynn gave her hands a squeeze. “Thanks, Mel.”
A light tap sounded on the door, and Mel rose to unlock it. Cooper poked his head in. “There’s a car here for you.”
Brynn nodded. “Thanks, tell them I’ll be right there.”
He looked from Mel, then back to Brynn. “You gonna be okay, darling?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Mel told you.”
He shrugged. “I dragged it out of her. We’re all just worried about you. You know how the safe word thing works, right?”
“Hell, Cooper. I don’t want to discuss this with you. I’m mortified that you even know where I’m going.”
He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. “Really, don’t worry about it. I’ve been to a club before. I would never judge you.”
She raised an eyebrow, but kept her questions to herself. She didn’t need to know that much about her boss. “I need to get going. They apparently start initiations promptly at eight.”
Both Mel and Cooper gave her tight hugs, and she shuffled off to her office to grab the suitcase she’d brought into work. The Ranch had insisted on a driver picking her up, saying that only members were allowed parking spaces. But she suspected it was really just another way to show her submission to the process.
She walked past Reid’s office, but the door was closed. Just as well. She’d been avoiding him since Monday, and the last thing she needed was for him to see her in this state. He’d be able to pick up on her fear from thirty yards away. Even after all these years, the man still seemed to be able to read her as if she were wearing a billboard with emoticons on it.r: Roni Loren
Instinctively, she tugged back, but the restraints only provided a hair of slack. She buried her face in the sheets and tried to steady her breathing. She was at his mercy. Blind and bound for whatever he chose to do to her.
“Get on your knees.” He gripped her waist and helped her tuck her knees beneath her. Her face and breasts remained against the sheets, the restraints not allowing her to rise any higher. A gentle hand caressed her ass, smoothing over the area he had hit. “Do you know how fucking sexy you look with my handprint marking you?”
She shook her head, but didn’t dare speak.
His finger traced the cleft of her ass, brushing across her most private opening. She automatically tensed. “I have to tell you, Brynn. Spanking such a beautiful ass could get addictive. I’m not sure if I got enough out of the first time.”
Before she could process what he was saying, the flat of his palm landed a sharp blow on her opposite cheek. She bit her lip and moaned, the pain/pleasure mix rocketing through her. “Can you take it, sugar? Handle what I’m planning to dish out?”
She braced herself as his hand came down again and again, covering her ass and the backs of her thighs with stinging heat. He never slapped the same spot twice, but instead methodically covered every inch of virgin skin with his attention. Her back arched and she writhed, the heady buzz of pain and endorphins overloading her system and fogging her brain. To her mortification, hot moisture leaked down her thighs as if her body were begging for more.
When the spanking ceased, gentle hands moved over her skin, soothing her. His voice was choppy, his breathing quick. “Have I scared you enough yet, Brynn? Are you ready to run?”
She moaned into the sheets, half out of her mind with need. “For the love of God, please touch me.”
His hands stilled as if he was shocked by her words. “What?”
She parted her knees, opening herself to him, not caring at the moment what kind of girl that made her. “Please.”