“Stop,” she begged on a groan. Her hips shifted back toward my hand, and she didn’t bother lying and telling me she didn’t like it.
“But I like petting your pussy, gatita.” She grew slick beneath my fingers, flowering open for me. “You were very well behaved for Lauren, weren’t you? I think you’ve earned another reward.”
I intended to give her an orgasm, but her venomous words forestalled me.
“Is this what you did to her?” she hurled at me. “Beat her and manipulated her until her mind warped? Did she used to hate you before she started worshipping the ground you walk on? Did you—?”
That was enough. She didn’t have the faintest clue what she was talking about, and I couldn’t stand to hear any more. Yes, Lauren was broken, but it hadn’t been by my hand. Even if I hadn’t done anything to save her.
Guilt tinged my anger as I abruptly flipped Samantha onto her back and settled my hand over her throat. I stopped myself from applying pressure, but the warning was clear.
“I’ve never harmed Lauren,” I ground out.
A maddened laugh bubbled from her throat. “You’ve never harmed her? Just like you didn’t harm me when you strapped me down and whipped me after mindfucking me into thinking I had a chance to escape? How crazy are you?”
Cold settled over me, my face shifting to a forbidding mask as I stared down at her. “I never claimed to be sane,” I said, my soft tone more chilling than if I’d shouted. I could hear the menace in it, could feel her trembling beneath me. Samantha obviously didn’t understand what she was dealing with. She thought I was a rational man who possessed the ability to empathize with her plight.
She was mistaken. I felt nothing for her but possessive hunger. I didn’t pity her, and I certainly didn’t entertain any ideas about releasing her when she so desperately wanted her freedom.
“Do you think a normal man wants to take an innocent woman and turn her into his plaything?” I continued. “Do you think a good man wants to bend her will and shape her into his obedient little fucktoy?”
“So you…” She choked on her words. “You did do this to Lauren.”
“No,” I declared, still frigid. “The Bliss broke Lauren, not me.”
Her eyes sparkled. “So, you do want to break me,” she whispered in horror.
A frown curved my lips. She didn’t understand what I was saying. Just because I was a monster didn’t mean I wanted to destroy her. I just wanted to mold her into a different version of herself. A version whose sole desire in life was to meet my every perverted need.
“I told you, I’m going to tame you. I’m going to make you mine and teach you to obey. I don’t want to see you broken.”
“You told your brother you’d break me for him,” she countered, starting to shake in earnest.
My scowl did nothing to ease her mounting fear. I hated when she mentioned Cristian. That was another tendency I’d have to tame out of her.
“My brother likes to break things. He likes to take things that aren’t his and shatter them. If I left you with him, he’d torture you until he discovered what you love most in the world. Then he’d make you watch while he destroyed it. Is that what you’d prefer? That I hand you back over to him?”
Terror clouded her eyes, and tears slipped down her cheeks. “No,” she breathed.
I wiped at the wetness on her face and reined in my anger. My ire was making me lose control, and I was frightening her unintentionally.
“I’m not going to let him break you,” I promised. “He’ll never touch you again. You’re mine now. I will be harsh with you. I will hurt you sometimes. And I will enjoy your pain. But I will never cause you harm, not to your body and not to your heart. Do you understand?”
She closed her eyes and turned her face away from my touch, hiding from me.
I sighed, realizing I really had lost all semblance of control. I couldn’t be around her when I was like this. I might do something I’d regret.
“I can see that you don’t understand,” I said. “But you will. It won’t be so bad, cosita. I’m not so bad.” I murmured the last, the words barely registering in my brain as they dropped from my lips.
I pushed up off the bed, and she shivered on top of the sheets. I didn’t like leaving her alone when she looked so fragile, but I might do
something to shatter her if I didn’t take time to collect myself.
I strode out of the bedroom, hardening my resolve. I allowed my emotions to get the better of me when I was around Samantha, especially when she mentioned Cristian. Training a woman was supposed to give me a sense of control, not lose it entirely.
I recalled the heady sensation of power that had overtaken me when I’d flogged her.
Yes, she needed more of that treatment. I could be gentle with her when necessary, but I had to assert my dominance at all times. She needed to learn who was Master and who was slave.