My king.
Mine.
Master.
“…Your punishment should be?”
“W-what?” My head whipped back, nearly colliding with his chin. “For what?”
His eyes flashed. “For being tempted.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “But I didn’t get out of the car.”
“But you thought about it,” he whispered in my ear from behind me, bracing my body with one arm while tugging my hair into a ponytail with the other. “Didn’t you? Didn’t you imagine and fantasize what would happen if you went home?”
“I am home,” I responded quickly.
He jerked me against him. His arousal so present that a moan escaped my lips as he rubbed himself against my ass. “That’s right,” he growled. “I am your fucking home. I’ll kill you before I let you forget it, so what is your punishment, pet?”
“I don’t … I don’t know.” My mind was blank.
I couldn’t even think of a proper punishment with him holding me like that, bracing me, keeping me safe when all day I’d felt fear.
“I’ll decide then, yes?” he finally countered after a few heartbeats. “On your knees.”
When I didn’t move fast enough, he forced me to the hard ground, and my knees were the first thing to hit the floor. He didn’t waver, basically tearing my clothes from my body until I was completely naked and staring up at him with only my collar.
His dark eyes stilled and then roamed across my skin, over and over again like a predatory caress. “Stay.”
“What?” I asked.
“Stay,” he repeated. “Until I’m ready for you, stay.”
Tears burned my eyes, but I remained naked on my knees. Waiting for my master, waiting for my keeper, waiting to be released—and hating that the entire time, arousal dripped from every last inch of me.
For him.
For us.
For when the time came that he’d feed me one morsel of his touch, his taste, his scent. He was my jailor—me his prisoner—begging to be forgotten rather than set free because I could only be with my captor in my dreams.
Donovan
I knew there was a reason I put bodyguards on her. Not to keep her safe. No to keep her mine. It had nothing to do with actual safety but the fear of losing her to her own family—even to mine. When I saw her stop, I wondered if she would actually do it. Be able to leave me.
I had my answer in seconds.
I knew she was getting bored, and the time had come to proceed with the next steps of our relationship. If she wanted to work, I could grant her that. Her job would give her the illusion that she was being useful for something other than my pleasure and pain.
The nerve of that prick really did make me want to shoot him in between the eyes. I fantasized about it while I sped the entire drive to the property. Fully aware he wouldn’t hurt her, he wasn’t that fucking stupid. What he wanted to do was scare her, and by the look on her face when I arrived, he’d succeeded in doing so.
As soon as she saw me, her expression screamed it all. It shouted: own me, protect me, mark me—make him go away. I couldn’t give that to her without punishment first for disobeying my orders, although I wanted to.
I needed to show her who the master was. After, I’d love her the only way I knew how, and I’d worship her in a way that ruined her the next morning and the days to follow.
She. Was. Mine.
I was hers.
Everything would set itself to rights again. Except, I couldn’t do it, not with her kneeling in front of me, her pretty eyes lit up with tears, her swollen mouth begging for my cock, her pretty pussy gleaming, nearly pulsing with need.
I left her.
I went outside to collect myself and dialed his number.
He answered on the second ring. “Surprised it took this long…”
“Blindside me again with her, and I’ll fucking kill you.”
Never had my voice been so calm, never had my heart beat so fast, waiting for Troy’s response.
A sigh.
A chuckle.
And then… “Sure, whatever you say, boss.”
I growled, “I’m serious, Troy. Not this one. Not this time.”
“Hey! I was just showing her the business. You’re the one who took it upon yourself to include her in it.”
I barked out a laugh. “Followed by a detailed show and tell of your dick? Right?”
“This is why we get along.” He laughed. “Because you understand! Business is business, and we never bring anything personal into business, right, Donovan? We wouldn’t want to make the same mistake your father did. You know, getting too attached. Man was almost unhinged before his untimely death; what was it again? An accidental—”
“Shut the fuck up!” I gripped the phone so hard I could swear my palm was bleeding. “Cross me again, and you’ll know exactly how he died. Only this time, it will be you looking up at me in horror as you breathe your last breath.”
Silence crackled through the phone, and the air was tense with it.
“Do your worst, Donovan, do your worst. And I’ll do mine.”
So he picked a side. It had always been about Troy and only Troy. He made it seem like he was rescuing me, saving me actually; instead, he was damning me and making plans in the process. Back then, I wasn’t smart enough to see it. Recently, it took everything in my damn body not to kill him and take it all. He still owned a portion of our company. Which meant he still owned part of my past, and he wanted to dictate my future, a future where he thought he could have what was mine.
Never fucking happening.
I hung up, shoving the phone into my pocket as I returned to the room I hadn’t walked into in who knew how long before this evening. Juliet knelt, waiting for me, chin tucked and eyes closed.
“Perfect,” I whispered.
Her ass was so round, so ready for my hands to grip, her hair falling across her shoulders in the short cut I’d given her with the scissors I’d used. I took a minute. I never did that. I never hesitated.
But I did then.
For the first time, I wanted more than the pain. More than the pleasure. I wanted everything, and she was the only one I wanted it from.
“Juliet.”
Her head jerked up, her eyes wide. “Y-yes?”
“Juliet.” I reached out, my hand caressing her cheek before pulling her up to stand on her two feet. Gripping her face with both hands, I pressed my mouth to hers, devouring kiss after kiss, tasting her need, feeling my own. “Juliet.” I bit down on her bottom lip.
I needed more.
Much more.
We pulled apart, both of us breathless as she stared me down, a nervous smile spread across her face.
“I know what I want my punishment to be, Master.”
I arched an eyebrow.
“I want to touch you.”
“So this punishment is for me?”
She blushed with a shy smile creeping. “I’ve never touched a man before, and the thought of touching you excites me, but it also terrifies me. You know you are kind of scary, right?”
Grinning, I remarked, “Kind of? And your mouth and pussy have touched me, pet.”
“Right, but only your lips and your, you know.”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you remind me?”