“It’s definitely for me, pet.” I didn’t bother to hide the truth from her.
She huffed. “At least you’re not pretending this time,” she said pointedly. “You like to offer me things you think I’ll enjoy, but they’re always meant for your enjoyment. You want to lure me into liking you. Underneath it all, you’re a selfish bastard.”
“Right again, clever girl.” Carmen understood how I operated, and I relished the opportunity to completely be myself around her. “I can’t help but notice that you forgot to mention that you hate me.” I leaned in close to whisper my declaration of triumph in her ear. “Because my tactics are working, kitten. I think you are starting to like me.”
“Asshole.” The insult left her lips on a breathy gasp, her anger softened by my swift bite to her delicate neck.
I hummed my approval, soothing the area I’d bitten with a flick of my tongue. She shivered in my arms, and the budding tension melted from her frame.
“This is for me, but you’ll enjoy it, too.”
I plucked up the strawberry, dipping it into the chocolate sauce before offering it to her.
“Open your mouth, pet.”
She eyed me with suspicion. “I thought you said that was for you.”
I trailed the berry across her pouty lower lip, tempting her with sweetness.
She remained resolute, refusing to taste the chocolate I’d painted on her pretty mouth.
I fixed her with a steady stare, my features shifting to a stern mask. “Open.”
I hadn’t used this forbidding demeanor with her in days, gentling her with subtler commands. That tactic had made her more malleable, and instead of bristling at my order, the distrust cleared from her expressive eyes, and her lips parted.
“Good girl.” I guided the berry into her mouth, pausing when the widest part hovered between her teeth.
“Don’t bite into it.” I imbued the words with the full force of my will, no longer mitigating my desire to dominate her completely.
She froze in my arms, her thick lashes flying wide at the shock of my sudden intensity. I leveraged my control over her and pushed harder, determined to make her bend.
“Hold this, but don’t bite down.” I shifted to the silkier, dangerous tone I used when terrifying my enemies. Carmen trembled, affected by my threatening menace. “If you do, I will punish you.”
A small whimper teased around the berry in her mouth, but if she wanted to offer any words of protest, it was too late; she was effectively gagged, and disobedience would earn my retribution.
She could try to behave, but she would suffer the consequences eventually. I understood her mind, and I knew she would be more resistant to punishment than obedience. Not because she feared pain, but because she feared surrendering more of herself to me. For days, she’d mentally evaded me, complying and pouting just enough to prevent me from pushing hard enough to break down the barriers she tried to keep between us.
She thought she’d discovered a way to manipulate me, but I’d simply been biding my time. My poor little pet didn’t stand a chance of avoiding the punishment I had planned.
But it would be amusing to see how long she managed to cling to her defiance.
My cock strained against my slacks, the heady rush of controlling formidable Carmen Ronaldo flooding my system. The next few hours would be painful for us both, but the savage pleasure I found in her helpless surrender beneath my ruthless hands would be far more powerful than any discomfort that might disturb me. If anything, the pain added a crueler edge to my game with her, and she would ache all the more keenly for it.
I touched two fingers beneath her chin, tipping her head back to expose her throat. I lingered there for several minutes, stroking the column of her neck with a feather light touch. Her skin pebbled as her senses awakened for me, her physical responses already conditioned by days of subtle manipulations.
She’d always been susceptible to the chemistry between us, but I’d spent the last week mapping out each of her sensual triggers, slowly training her body respond at my whim.
I toyed with her at my leisure, stimulating her with the lightest touches on the most innocent areas. I didn’t have to tease her more obvious erogenous zones to incite her lust. She wouldn’t be rewarded with direct contact to her nipples or her tight little pussy until I was prepared to devastate her.
Her lips softened around the berry, so she could draw in little panting breaths through her mouth. Her teeth remained delicately closed around her gag, but she resisted the impulse to bite down. The effort caused her muscles to flex, suppressing the instinct to clench her jaw by redistributing the tension to other areas of her body.
I didn’t stop my slow, torturous exploration of her throat and shoulders until her fingers curled into my shirt. She held on to me as though I might prevent her from falling over the cliff’s edge, when I was the one slowly pushing her toward the precipice.