The whole time I’ve been talking, Duncan’s face has stayed as hard as stone.
His jaw works now that I’ve finished. His hands clutch the items in them so hard that his knuckles go white.
He glares at me with such intensity that it knocks the air out of my lungs.
“You think”—his nostrils flare—“you seriously think I’d beat you?”
I’m relieved to have been wrong about this. Hope flickers back to life too, since his indignation tells me there’s a crack in the armor.
I didn’t expect it to happen so soon, but it did. I made it happen.
I’m not letting the moment slip by. This is my chance to reach him, to find my Duncan beneath the layers of hate.
“Can you blame me?” I add some attitude, thriving on how riled up he’s getting.
He’s quiet, breathing hard and staring at me.
“Something’s clearly going on here,” I continue undeterred. “Whatever it is, it’s making you lash out at me. So excuse me if I’m not sure what to expect anymore. That’s why we need to talk. If you’d only explain?—”
“You want an explanation, Elowyn? I’m going to give you one.” Duncan scowls, rounding the pedestal and stopping behind me. I gasp when he uses the hand holding the tape to push my knees apart. “Have I ever slapped you? Backhanded you? Punched you?”
My pussy is bare and embarrassingly wet. My body is on fire. I can’t say another word.
“Answer me,” he growls, snapping me out of it.
“No.” It’s barely a whisper. “You haven’t.”
“That’s right.” He drops the tape at my side, fisting my hair.
One pull, and my head is tugged back. The sting is as painful as it is delicious.
My heart beats twice as fast with his lips at my ear. “I won’t beat you up. Won’t lay a hand on you unless it has to do with sex. This plastic bone folder is meant to pleasure you. To humiliate you. Not to leave bruises, nothing like that. Don’t you ever repeat those words to me.”
Heat springs to my cheeks, a tingling sensation flaring throughout my body.
If it were anyone else saying those things to me, I would’ve slapped him across the face.
It’s not anyone else. It’s Duncan.
“Hey,” he murmurs, voice thick. “Did you hear me?”
“Yes.” The scent of his cologne fills my nostrils. I have to stifle a moan. “I won’t repeat them.”
“Hmm,” is all he gives me.
“Hmm, what?”
“You’re trying so hard, aren’t you? To pretend to be good?”
“I’m not pretending.”
“Try a little harder now.” His hand slides from my hair down to my throat. When he presses his cheek to mine, his stubble grazes my sensitive skin, and I shudder. “Slide forward until your feet are back on the pedestal. And keep your knees apart…”
A pause. My pulse spikes.
“…when I make you take it.”
I crawl forward, trembling as I ask, “Take it?”
