Again, she was processing feelings she had never known. Purpose in her pain. A strange victory in her ignominy.
What was happening to her?
Was this man of the shadows dragging her to even darker places? Forbidden acts she should be running from? Or was he simply awakening what had been inside her all the time? And what did either answer mean?
There was only one way to find out.
To keep doing as he ordered.
“All right. In with you, girl. But no water yet. Lie on your back, facing sideways, with your legs toward me.”
Even if it was trusting him about bizarre instructions like that.
“Good. Very good. Now scoot a little closer. Hook your knees over this lip.”
And like that.
“Good girl.”
He had that mysterious tone of voice again. The kind that reminded her of a wicked narrator in a haunted house. Sure, he knew what was coming next—but it was his secret and nobody else’s.
“Hands up, flat to the spaces next to your head.” He gave her that addicting hum again, watching her comply. At the same time, he grabbed a pair of towels from the rack and pressed them over her palms. “If either of these moves, there will be swats,” he stated. “Exactly like this one.”
She had been so obedient about noises for so long, her startled shriek was a foreign sound. And a frightening one.
Had Brickham just paddled her…right there?
“Hell yes, I just did.” Once more, her Dominant had become her mind reader. “I don’t have access to your ass, sweetheart—and discipline is sacred in my play spaces.”
Jayd was too busy inhaling much-needed air to be irked by his cocky air. She knew his jesting demeanor would not last long, and she was validated the very next moment. At once, the shadows took over him again, so fierce and focused. If his wounds were giving him pain by returning to his wide X of a stance, he exposed no outward signs of it. Once more, he was all steel and sinew, coal and command…desire and dominion.
Thankfully, he gave her a moment to process the sight of him like that. She needed a million more, but she would make do with what he granted. These precious seconds to marvel at his rippling grandeur. To tremble at his unblinking scrutiny. To acknowledge exactly what all of it was doing to her mind, her spirit, her body.
She belonged to him.
Maybe not forever, but the heady reality of now was good enough.
And now, more than ever before, she longed for him to prove it. To stamp himself on her, inside her, so the indentations lasted forever.
She wanted every drop of his desire. Every corner of his shadows. Every slice of his pain…
And yes, even the jolt of his next unexpected words.
“Checking in again, Pixie. Where are you at, sweet girl? You may speak to answer me.”
She drew careful breath. “I…am fine, Sir,” she whispered. “Truly. I am… It is just all so…”
His brows drew together. “So…what?”
She could do nothing but frantically shake her head and close her eyes. “Please,” she rasped. “Just…pull me under again. Tell me what you want.”
Though tension took over more of his formidable features, his reply was wrapped in velvet sensuality. “Why don’t you show me what I want, Pixie?”
Before his gaze slipped lower, Jayd became his clairvoyant. She felt his need like the beat of her own heart…the pulse that thrummed throughout the triangle she exposed to him by slowly spreading her legs.
“Beautiful,” Brickham grated. “Yes. Thank you, my little toy. That’s very good.” He grunted while reaching down, giving his crotch a ruthless squeeze. “I want to come just looking at you. Fuck.”
Jayd gave in to a soft smile. His burly sough suddenly made all her awkward feelings and aching muscles worth it. But just when she thought he would grant a reprieve from the uneasy position, he stepped forward and grabbed her beneath the knees. With that extra leverage, he hauled her forward until her backside was braced against the tub’s lip and her thighs were open like wings.
“Oh, dear heavens!” she exclaimed, robbed of the chance to think clearly—or the opportunity to make ready for the stinging spank on her mons. “Ohhh, fuck! Please, Brickham, not ag—owww!”
At least the man had yanked her forward so fast, the towels moved with her. And at least he did not leave her trembling and hurting. He remained right there, circling his long fingers through her curls and the quivering folds beneath. He peered down at her with quiet authority—and breath-robbing beauty.
“Want to tell me what’s sacred in our space, little pixie?”
She gulped hard before stammering, “D-Discipline.”
“Correct,” he returned. “Good girl. Because without discipline, there’s no understanding of the rules or the roles. And the roles are what?”
A fast lick of her lips, buying time as she struggled to remember the answer. She knew it, but the man robbed her of more and more recall with every knowing swipe of his fingers. Stroking closer and closer to the little crest of her desire…
“They…are…ummm…”
“Yes?”
Closer…
Please…
“They… You are the Dominant.” It left in an exultant rush. Thank the Creator and all his angels!
“And you are…”
“The submissive.”
Surely now he would rub her where she most needed it…
“Which means you are here to do what?”
“Please you,” she blurted. “By obeying you. Which I am doing, yes? Brickham, by all that’s holy—ahhh!”
Her arousal plummeted by significant notches. Being spanked soundly on one’s intimates probably had something to do with it.
“What the hell was that for?”
“Speaking out of turn, sweet subbie,” he admonished. “And now, yet again…” He bent over, parking his hands wide on the tub lip while pushing his shoulders against her inner thighs. “Have you grown tired of pussy swats already? Do I just need to get more creative here?”
Something in his suggestion had her stare bugging. The way he emphasized creative… By the stars, how could he be more imaginative than this? The possibilities boggled her mind as Brickham took a step back and started looking around the bathroom, even peering over into the vanity area.
“If we were at Bastille, I’d have a dozen clear-cut solutions for this,” he murmured. “So many awesome punishments for you right at my fingertips. Maybe some clamps or wax. Perhaps a dildo or an electric wand…”
An electric what?
She was on the brink of yelling it out, consequences be damned, when the man snapped his fingers as if the perfect solution had magically materialized from thin air.
What on earth had him so entranced?
As soon as Jayd followed the trajectory of his gaze, snapping that answer into place, her horrified shriek did burst out.
Chapter Seven
Officially, Brick couldn’t tack on extra discipline for his Pixie’s sharp scream. She’d taken care—or was perhaps too shocked—to not add words to it, and he doubted it had carried that far beyond this cavern of a bathroom.
Besides…it was goddamned sexy.