Warm.
Suspended.
My limbs felt heavier but in a pleasant, drifting way—like sinking into a bath, or a warm bed, or a cloud that wasn’t made of air at all but molten calm.
I caught on a sharp inhale as the warmth spread through my skin, sinking deeper this time, not surface-level but bone-deep. Damien’s hand trailed over the sting, soothing it instantly.
“Good,” he murmured, voice low. “You’re right where I want you.”
Another strike—harder.
A clean, echoing crack that stole the sound from the room for half a heartbeat.
My gasp came broken, almost a sob. But he didn’t relent. Only intensified.
The impact landed with a sound that cracked through the room, sharper than anything before.
My whole world jolted—heat exploding under my skin, my lungs stalling, my fingers curling into the leather padding.
Another landed before I fully processed the first—not rushed, not cruel—but deliberate, calculated to push me past whatever line I’d been holding. My vision—already blindfolded—went white behind my eyelids. I made a sound I didn’t recognize. A whimper. A moan. Something helpless and wanting.
“Now, Emma,” Damien whispered, voice hitting somewhere deep in me. “It’s time.”
And then—something happened.
Something subtle.
Something seismic.
My mind… slipped.
The room faded.
My thoughts faded.
Even the sting faded—turning soft around the edges, melting into warmth that didn’t hurt at all.
It didn’t feel like pain anymore.
It felt like floating.
Like my body wasn’t being struck but being rocked—guided—pushed gently out of my own head and into something weightless.
His palm landed again—but the sting no longer spiked.
It spread—warm, slow, like ink blooming through water. My limbs felt heavy and light at the same time. My muscles unspooled. Air slipping out in languid exhales. I wasn’t thinking.Couldn’t think. Not about Candace. Not about the breach. Not about investors. Not about anything except warmth. Rhythm.
Damien.
A sense of falling without fear. Like stepping backward into strong arms I knew would always be there.
My mouth fell open on a soft, broken sound.
“Beautiful,” Damien whispered, so close I felt his warmth on my skin. “So goddamn beautiful.”
Drifting.
Floating.
