She threw in his self-imposed title in a desperate attempt to mollify the obviously angering Goliath.She stood by her denial of his theatrics—there would be no spanking—but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t pacify him if she could.
“I am going to spank you, little one.”He cocked that same eyebrow at her, her heart rate missing a beat.Such a subtle physical signal.It shouldn’t have affected her so profoundly, but it did.Not only was her pulse racing, but she sensed the heat rising to her face.“The only decision you had to make was whether you accepted your fate with grace or chose to fight.”His lips twisted into an arrogant smirk.“Not that it is much of a fight.Now, come.”
Time stood still, her every sense attuned to his physicality.Yes, he was vast, and he’d already evidenced his power, but it was more than that.An air of authority surrounded him, sending a vibration through her body that insisted she yield.It wasn’t only his ability to overwhelm her and force her to obey, but the potent way she suddenly believed she might want to.
I can’t want him to spank me.Puzzlement echoed through her head.So why does the thought of being flung over him sound so good?
She clenched the muscles between her thighs, her body betraying her need, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it.In some base way, she did long to yield to him.Her childhood had been tumultuous, and her father had been absent for years.The lack of a father figure had affected her more than she cared to admit.She wanted to know what it was like to have someone to rely on, someone who would set boundaries and follow through when those boundaries had been crossed.There had never been structure like that in her life.
What would it be like to submit to someone as strong as Kronos?
Her throat dried at the tantalizing idea.How would it feel to be sprawled over him and given no choice?
As though he’d read her thoughts and sought to answer her, he lifted one hand, and right on cue, her legs slid away in front of her.She startled at the change of tack, knowing she hadn’t commanded her limbs to move and dreading what his control over her might mean.
It’s going to happen.She could barely catch her breath, her mind still trying to fathom how he was manipulating her into movement without saying a word.He’s going to spank me whether I want him to or not.
“No!”She called out as another flick of his fingers saw her standing at the side of the bed, her toes pressing into the oddly warm, glowing white floor while her hands still grasped for the relative cover of the blanket tumbling down in front of her.“What are you doing?”
She didn’t know why she was asking.He’d been nothing but frank about his intentions.
“What I told you.”His index finger beckoned her forward, and step by step, her feet responded, bringing her closer to his foreboding body.“Youaregoing to be spanked, little one.”
Stunned at her inability to prevent the motion and appalled at the way she secretly yearned for it, Kris heaved in air, the hand not holding her blanket waving in protest as her shins neared his feet.Her mind boggled at her apparent impotence, she was once again reminded of the desolate feeling she’d experienced when Kronos had snatched away her right to speak.One moment, she’d been comforting herself on the covers, and the next, it was as if an alien force had taken her over.
Fixing her stare on the alien responsible, she didn’t know whether to sob, scream, or succumb.How was he able to maneuver her legs and feet while she continued to retain authority over the rest of her body?But then, how had he been able to instruct any part of her with, she presumed, only the power of his mind?
“Please don’t.”In the end, with her thoughts reeling, she opted for a plaintive plea, regretting her pathetic tone as soon as it met her ears.
Was that who she’d become?A whiny, begging woman?Another pitiable example of her gender—the sort of girl she’d always rolled her eyes at in the past.
Where was the determined graduate who’d fought for her place at university and come top of her undergraduate class?
Shame washed over her as she accepted that she was both the fiery student and the unraveling woman clutching the blanket.A few hours bound to a bed and with the risk of Kronos’ penalty hanging over her, she’d been reduced to a pleading woman.Her hands balled into fists at the infuriating reality.He hadn’t had to raise a hand to achieve the feat.He hadn’t even raised his voice.
“I told you to come to me, and you refused.”His voice remained impossibly low.Deep, gravelly, and powerful, she sensed the bass vibrating over her goosing form.“You made your choice, Kristina.”
“But, please…” She was standing right before his chair, his unfeasible command over her body bringing her around to his right side.With the cover only shrouding the front of her body, her backside was left unnervingly exposed to the air.“I don’t want this!”
Her eyes closed fleetingly at the half-truth.At that moment, Kris couldn’t have said what she wanted, except maybe to have woken up in her bed and discovered that the torrid and testing ordeal was nothing but a bad dream.
Turning to meet her eyes, his lips tugged.“It would not be much of a punishment if youdidwant it.”
“But I don’t deserve it, Master,” she tried again, barely even registering his answer before she spoke.All she could think about was finding a way to stop him, to prevent this awful fate from playing out.Perhaps a facet of her did want to feel the brunt of his palm against her backside, to play out some perverted fantasy, but the louder, rational part of her brain knew better.“I didn’t know anything about your rules when I ignored your messages.”
“True.”He reached for her nearest hand, his warm fingers enveloping hers, and rather than pulling away, she was surprised to find she welcomed the touch, as though the man who’d once so successfully played her savior could come to her rescue again.“And I will bear that in mind when I give you what you require.”
“What I require?”she snapped, her gaze taking in the hard, muscular surface of his thighs that he presumably expected to turn her over.
Inner conflict was running wild within her, swimming through her system like the adrenaline that warned her she was in trouble.
Kronos was huge and instinctively terrifying.He’d appeared out of thin air.He didn’t have to present an overt threat to incite surrender, yet there was something else going on, too; that question within her about what it would be like to be taken in hand by someone as powerful as him.
Staring into his eyes, she felt absurdly vulnerable.There was nowhere for her to flee, no one who was going to save her from discovering whether she could handle the penalty he’d promised.It no longer mattered that she didn’t deserve the treatment.The growing electricity in the room amplified, shining a light on what was really important.
Relenting to his will.
Letting go.
