Page 201 of To Catch a Sub

“I don’t want to be pierced.”

“Of course not.”

“Anywhere,” she clarified, dismounting to kneel beside him. She squeezed her thighs together. “Ever.”

“Look at me.” When she did, Landon searched her expression. “Why ‘anywhere’? Did something else happen, besides the abuse to your nipples?”

She slid down to lay beside him and tucked her chin, staring at the little hollow at the base of his throat. “After they finished with my nipples, the one who liked piercing?—”

“Tonsure?”

“Yes, him.” It made her smile that he’d used her odd nickname. The smile didn’t last. “He tried to convince Damien to let him pierce my pussy, too.”

“Did he?” Landon’s voice was dangerously soft.

“No. Damien touched me while he thought about it.”

“Touched you here?” Landon gently spread her legs, cupping her sex.

“Yes. He decided that, after we got married and he fucked me, then he’d have chastity piercings put in. Five rings on each side. And then he’d lock them closed.” Her voice started to shake, and she couldn’t seem to stop it. “Ten. That would be ten times they’d shove a needle through me?—”

Colette hadn’t realized how terrified she’d been by the casual promise of future pain, until she choked on her own words.

Landon’s arms came around her, his leg hooking over her bare ones.

“No one’s going to do that to you,” he promised. “No one is ever going to pierce you or hurt you again without your consent.”

The terror that had made her shiver was no match for the warmth and power of Landon’s body wrapped over hers. Tucked up against him, she could just see a sliver of the ceiling. She watched the gold light slowly fade. With each breath she grew calmer.

Eventually, she eased back, his arms relaxing—holding, but not restricting.

She tipped her head to meet his gaze.

“There’s one more thing…place,” she said.

He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Your breasts?”

She nodded.

“That’s one we’ll have to leave until later. You still need time to heal.”

Colette rolled onto her back, exposing her chest. The rectangular bandages over each nipple looked almost like ugly nipple pasties.

“There was something I wanted to ask.” Landon went up on one elbow, looking down at her breasts, his expression stark.

“Yes?”

“I put some love bites on you.”

She knew what he was going to ask, and wished he wouldn’t.

“Did he do this to you…” He traced the edge of one of the suction bruises. “Because of what I did first?”

“He knew.”

At that Landon frowned. “Knew what?”

“That you were hiding me in Club Alibi. And what kind of place it was.” She’d told his boss, Anu, during the medical exam, using the recitation as a way to distract herself from what the nurses were doing.