I let her grab me. Let her hold her self up under my strength. "Tell me you want to leave," I command, my voice rough. "Tell me you want me to call the helicopter right now and send you home. Tell me you want nothing to do with this."
She stares at me, her mouth working soundlessly. Eyes barely able to focus.
"Say it," I press, one hand sliding down to grip her ass, pulling her harder against my erection. "Tell me to stop. Use your safeword. End this right now."
"I..." Her voice breaks as she gasps for breath. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because..." She squeezes her eyes shut, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. "Because you're right. I'm such a fucking slut. You're right to call me that. I'm such a slut. I like this! I love it! I what you to do more! I do want this. I've always wanted this. But I'm terrified?—"
"Of what?"
"Of you. Of myself. Of what it means that I'm turned on right now when I should be screaming for help. Of what kind of person that makes me."
I withdraw my fingers from her pussy and bring my hand up to cup her face, my thumb brushing away her tears with surprising gentleness. "It makes you human, Scarletta. It makes you honest. It makes you exactly who you've always been in your stories—a woman brave enough to want what scares her."
"I'm not brave," she whispers. "I'm a coward. I hide from everything. I can't even pay my rent or answer emails or?—"
"You got in the helicopter," I interrupt. "You signed the contract. You submitted yourself to the auction. You let me make you come so hard you squirted all over me. That's not cowardice. That's courage."
She laughs—a broken, desperate sound. "That's insanity."
"Maybe." I lean down, pressing my forehead against hers through the mask. "Or maybe it's the first honest thing you've done in years. Maybe this is the only place you can be real."
She's quiet for a long moment, her body still trembling against mine, her heart hammering so hard I can feel it against my chest.
"What happens now?" she finally asks, her voice small and uncertain.
I smile beneath the mask. "Now we finish your exam, little slut. But this time, I'm going to strap you down properly. Then I will make good on every promise I made. Of course, I'll have to punish you for running. Don't worry, my slut. I'll make sure you love it."
"But I get to go home, right?"
"Do you," I ask. Petting the side of her cheek. "Do you get to go home?"
Fear. Absolute fear. Her breath hitches. "I'm going to run again if you don't let me go home!"
"Then I'll chase you again." I slide my hand down her body, between her legs, feeling the slick evidence of her arousal. "And catch you again. And fuck you again. As many times as it takes until you understand that you're mine. That you've always been mine. That every word you've ever written was a letter addressed to me."
She whimpers—a sound of pure need that goes straight to my cock.
"But first," I murmur, my fingers circling her clit with deliberate pressure, "I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you admit what you are."
"What I am?" she gasps, her hips already moving against my hand despite everything.
"A good little slut who gets wet when she's chased. Who comes harder when she's scared. Who needs to be owned by someone who knows all her secrets." I increase the pressure, watching her face carefully. "Say it."
"I... I can't..."
"Yes, you can." I pinch her clit—not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make her gasp. "Say it, or I stop touching you right now and chain you to a wall until you're ready to be honest."
Her eyes fly open, meeting mine with desperate intensity.
"Do you doubt me, Scarletta?" I ask, my voice dropping to something cold and dangerous. "Have I proven myself to be a capable Master?" I let the silence stretch between us, watching the way her pupils dilate with something between fear and arousal. "Or am I just another Derek?"
The name of her ex strikes her like a physical blow. I watch the fear bloom in her eyes—real fear, not the delicious kind that makes her wet. She'd forgotten about him in the haze of endorphins and adrenaline.
Now she remembers.
