She swallowed audibly. “That was a warm-up? You mean it’s going to get—”
“More painful? Definitely.” Beck sidled closer and forced her gaze to his. “Is it too much for you?”
She didn’t answer right away. “No, Sir.”
“Let me know when it is.” Beck flashed her a wicked smile, caressed his way down her spine, then spanked her—hard. Heavenly sucked in a sharp breath and held it.
He leaned back and admired the angry imprint of his hand.
When a silent sob shook her body, he sank a fist in her hair and tilted her head back. “Breathe through the pain. Let it flow through you so you can rise above it.”
“Yes, Sir,” she squeaked, shuddered.
“Good girl.” He stepped behind her again and lifted the belt, squaring his shoulders, already riding the fringes of his Dom space. She was being brave. Pride in her submission surged.
But the warm-up was over. Time to get real.
He jerked his arm back and lowered the belt, his downward strike much harder than before. The report of leather on her flesh melded with her high-pitched scream. Her shock and anguish echoed in his ears. She grabbed at the cabinet pulls and clawed as she hung her head.
“Too much now? Do you need your safe word?”
To his surprise, she shook her head, but it took her a moment to find her voice. “No, Sir.”
He tugged on her hair until he could see her face once more. She wore her resolution like a shield. It served as another fucking barrier between them.
He’d shatter that quickly enough.
“Then brace.” He landed another stinging blow, this one even harder, right below the welt already rising on her ass.
Heavenly shrieked and danced on the tips of her toes. A loud sob ripped from her throat. She bit it back.
“Ready to cry yet?”
“No, Sir.”
So she wanted to be stubborn. Beck didn’t blame her for wanting to protect her psyche. Sure, she’d asked him for this. And she needed it, every bit as much as she feared falling apart.
As he unleashed a torrent of wicked lashes, her screeches and wails coiled around him, binding them together. He wasn’t simply marking her; they were marking one another.
But when he heard something that sounded like a sob and she nearly collapsed against her bindings, he wondered if he’d already dished out too much.
“You don’t have to do this now,” he pointed out. “I’ve given you a taste. We can leave it here or come back later.”
“No, Sir.”
“Why?”
“I want this.”
He pulled on her hair again and growled right in her ear. “Why?”
“Because I do.”
“I don’t believe you.”
She cut tear-filled eyes at him—and stunned him with pleading defiance. “Just keep going. I don’t want to talk.”
Beck laughed—just before he skimmed his fingernails across her fiery backside and sank his teeth into her neck. Something between a shriek and a wail ripped from her throat. She squirmed and tried to avoid him, but he pressed her into the cabinets with his body and held her firmly in place. “Guess what? You’re not in charge here, little girl. I am. And I will fucking talk to you until I get the answers I need. Let’s try this again. Why do you want this? Because let me tell you, I refuse to give you something you merely endure.”