“You don’t have to do this,” he said, the first time he’d spoken to her since their terrible ending that afternoon.
“I need you. Inside me. Please, Bear.”
He studied her, then nodded and returned to removing his clothing. He shucked his tunic and undershirt, the bulging muscles of his chest rippling with his movements.
She swallowed, remembering the swiftness and power in those muscles—the way he had just defeated three men at once to rescue her. She started to flinch reflexively when he removed his leggings, but made herself look uponhis manhood. Barrett would never force her, never harm her with it.
He crawled over her and she lay back, trembling. He nudged her thighs open and settled between them, his stiffened shaft prodding her sex. He cradled her head in his hands and gazed down. For the first time, she saw emotion on his face—pain. He stroked the hair back from her face and lightly brushed her throbbing cheek, his expression darkening.
“Please, Barrett,” she begged, trying to distract him from her bruises.
He lowered his head to one of her breasts, sucking the nipple into his mouth until she felt an answering tug between her legs. He flicked the other nipple, making her gasp. He kissed down her stomach and bent her knees up toward her shoulders, spreading and lifting her sex. Lowering his head, he licked into it, running the tip of his tongue along her folds, then swirling it over the most sensitive place. She grasped his head, trying not to kick him as he sent shocking sensations rippling down her legs. He licked until she moaned and whined and then he withdrew and lifted both ankles in the air.
* * *
The position raised Daisy’s bottom and pushed her delicate quim forward and open. Barrett raised his hand and brought it down, right across the middle, catching both cheeks and her sweet little sex.
“Oh!” she cried, squeezing her cheeks together and lifting her bottom higher.
He began to spank in earnest, striking every area of her exposed bottom, thighs, and sex with each well-aimed slap.
“I’m sorry, Barrett,” Daisy gasped, her little bottom bobbing and dancing under his hand, trying to escape the punishing slaps.
He paused and rubbed her reddened cheeks. “So am I, Daisy,” he said gruffly. “I knew you were mine, I should have trusted that.”
“So you’re not angry?” she asked.
“Oh, I am angry,” he said honestly, resuming spanking whilst she gasped and twisted. “I’m angry that you didn’t confide in me and let me help you. I’m angry you told Father Albert and not me.” He knew that was stupid, but he resented that the old priest had been privy to her dilemma while he had been in the dark. He stopped spanking. “And I’d like to kill that monster all over again now that I understand what he did to you and your sisters.”
“Barrett…” she whispered, her eyes pleading.
He parted her legs, wrapped them around his waist, and lifted her torso up so he held her like a child, cupping her heated bottom in his hands.
She did not seem to require the comforting he thought she needed. She bit his ear, kissing along his jaw. “Please, Barrett, I need you to make me wholly yours. Punish me as you wish, but please take me tonight.”
Dear God. His urge to protect her after what she’d been through warredwith answering her needs. If it had been up to him, he would have tucked her in bed and held her all night, leaving discipline and sex for later, when she had recovered. But she seemed to crave this. Maybe they both did.
He lowered her to the floor, turned her to face the bed, and pushed her torso over. “I’m going to spank you, little one.” He tucked a pillow under her chest to keep her bruised cheekbone from touching the bed and stroked her back. He drew a breath, remembering the pain of believing she had betrayed him. He picked up his riding crop and tapped her bottom with it. “Never, ever offer yourself to another man, not for any reason,” he said gruffly. He did not wait for her to answer before he whipped the crop through the air, catching her smartly across both cheeks.
“Oh,” she gasped and stood on her tiptoes, hugging the pillow to her chest. “I won’t, Barrett, I promise,” she cried when she’d recovered her breath.
“Do not keep secrets from me,” he said, swinging the crop again, landing another stripe just below the first one.
“Ah… I won’t keep secrets,” she said in a strangled voice.
He struck her again, changing up the pattern of speaking before swinging. “You will not endanger yourself or try to protect me.” He whipped her two more times. “Iprotectyou,” he said emphatically.
She reached her hand behind her, not to cover, but opening and closing her fingers as if she wanted him to grasp it. The gesture completely broke him. He clasped her little palm, dropping the crop and rubbing her hot arse with his other hand. His fingers strayed between her legs and he found her quim dewy with moisture.
Should he take her from behind? He didn’t want to evoke any part of the position she’d just been in with Wolfhart. He nested his hips against hers, his erection sliding between her legs. He shivered at the feel of her nectar when he brushed along her beckoning sex. He squeezed her hand and bent it behind her back, pressing it there as he rubbed the head of his cock at her slick entrance.
She shifted on her feet, but did not move away.
He applied a little more pressure, paying attention for any fear or panic from Daisy. She held perfectly still, seeming to wait. “I’m going to make you mine, Daisy,” he said, speaking to distract her from any discomfort. “You’ve always been mine, but tonight I will be sure you know it with every fiber of your being.”
“Yes,” she breathed.
He pushed more insistently, advancing an inch, then another. “I will take you in every way possible. I will teach you to find pleasure in every act, every form of lovemaking.” He eased all the way into her tight channel and remained there, giving her time to accommodate to his size.
