“It’s my job to follow you around.”
“Yeah. Your job.” His laugh was humorless. “Don’t fucking spy on me, Miss Korsgaard.” The first swat landed hard, stinging her ass, and rattling her teeth. The next several were just as intense. Punishment. Not a joke. Not kink.
Damn it. Why was that hot?
He held her still, his big rough hand coming down on her ass again and again – smack, smack, smack. She’d thought she was pretty tough, but after several minutes of hard, fast spanks the fire in the firepit was nothing compared to the fire in her ass cheeks. She began to yelp in protest. When she tried to block with her hands, he caught both wrists at her lower back and held them there with one hand. Reflexively, she kicked out, and the next spank was even harder, jarring.
There was no way to get away from him – not with the disparity in their strength – and there was no way she was going to safeword something as minor as a spanking. He seemed to need it, because the longer it went on the less it seemed to be about her.
She sank into it, accepting the pain even though it went past the point of being something she could physically enjoy. Fuck, he was huge, and he had a hard fucking hand. It hurt, but she took it for him, pushing her safeword down when it threatened to spill out. She stared at the ground as it blurred in her teary gaze, wondering what had triggered his mood. It was hard to comfort a man who hated being touched.
Once it had gone on far too long, he slowed, and eventually stopped, resting his hand on her burning, throbbing ass. She could hear him struggle to slow his breathing. After all the worry of the day, she was glad just to be with him. Glad to have given him what he needed. Maybe she’d needed it too, to reconnect after he’d given her to Rodrigo last night.
Sooner than she wanted to move, he set her on her feet. She was shaky, but he grabbed her hips and turned her ass toward the firelight. The warmth hurt. He inspected his handiwork, then grunted, but his expression didn’t give her any clue as to what he was thinking behind those hooded eyes of his. When he brushed his mouth along the damage he’d done, the kindle of arousal he stoked in her boneless exhaustion made her knees tremble. His mouth was hot and stung, but it also tickled and felt sexy, and his tongue and teeth explored bits of her he’d left undamaged. Her nipples were so hard they throbbed in time with her ass. Her pussy ached worse than the spanking had. When he stopped, her moan of distress gave her away.
“Get to bed, Miss Korsgaard. It’s late.”
She turned to face him. In the firelight his expression had already grown distant.
“You’re not serious. You don’t want...”
“No.” For a man who didn’t want, his dick seemed to heartily disagree.
“You don’t have to talk. I could just –”
“Do men never tell you no?”
“Never before you. I’m not in the habit of offering men blowjobs if I’m not pretty sure they’re interested.” She decided not to gesture at his cock which, right then, had to be composing a note to the complaints department of Severin’s twisted mind.
Whatever. Far be it from her to throw herself at a man who didn’t want her. Okay, well with Severin that was a complete lie, but damn he was worth fighting for. It helped that she didn’t really believe he was disinterested. If she’d had an ego, the man would have shattered it the first day.
Gingerly, she drew up her PJ bottoms, making sure not to let the elasticized waist drag over her skin. Even so, the drape of the fabric touching her, hurt.
“Anyway...goodnight, Mister Leduc,” she said, trying to appear calm even though the itch of her drying tears probably meant her makeup was tracked down her face. “What do you want me to make for dinner tomorrow?”
“Whatever you feel like making.”
“Don’t you want me to make something special to welcome Sutton back?”
“She’s not coming.”
Her brows shot upward. “But – I thought she said tomorrow.”
“She did. She changed her mind. The work at her sister’s is taking longer than she thought.” His expression was bleak. It had to be hard with Sutton leaving so soon after Church.
“She’s coming back soon though?”
“Another week, she said.”
Minnow shrugged. “A week is okay. We’re okay here alone another week.”
He bared his teeth, but it wasn’t really a smile. “Go to bed.”
All of his body language said this was what had him riled. A week, though? What was wrong with one more week? Sutton had been around for the past fifteen or so years – why was he begrudging her a bit of extra vacation? Was he that much of a control freak?
Duh. Yeah. He had every reason to be, though, after what life had done to him.
“Sutton will come back, Mister Leduc.”