“Don’t worry, I won’t,” he assures me. I don’t get a chance to feel any relief or disappointment, because his hand smacks into me again,on the same damn cheek, making me gasp. “That’ll come later, when I’ve finished here.”
“Finishedpunishingme,” I spit out, ignoring the way my body tightens at his promise. “And you can’t even do it evenly, you bastard.”
Declan chuckles. “Can I get a ‘three’? No? Pinned helpless and still trying to provoke me? Such a little hellcat.” Another spank. The right side of my ass is onfire. I can’t help the cry that escapes. “Four?”
“…Four,” I gasp out, if only because it might stop this shit sooner.
“Good girl,” he says, and the words affect me far more than they have any right to. It’s not the first time he’s called me that, and the worst part is I’vemissedit. How fucked up is that? Like it’s the acclaim that’s been missing all through my life until this point. Bent over his couch, my ass in the air, unable to stop him.
The next smack lands, but immediately his palm strokes over my burning flesh, rubbing away the sting, and my eyes flick wide at the differentsensation, then flutter closed. It’s soothing. No, more than that… it’sintimate. It’s gentle, it’s caring. I see light behind my eyelids, and I can’t help my moan. I’m suddenly aware of the soft couch beneath me, rubbing against my skin. Did Iwrithe? Please tell me I didn’t.
“Besides,” he murmurs, his touch still playing over my ass, “I’m just warming you up.”
Warming me up?
“Forwhat?” I probably shouldn’t have asked.
“You’ll find out,” he replies, voice far too calm. “To your other point, the reason I’m hitting only one side is that I’m pinning you. Promise me you’ll stop fighting, and I’ll balance it out for you.”
Declan makes it sound like he’s doing me a favor. But now that he’s said it, I realize he’s not wrong; his hips are pressed into the left side of me, holding me against the arm of the couch.
Now I have a choice: agree to keep still for him, so that he balances hispunishment, or keep fighting and he’ll keep going on that one cheek.
Bastard.
“Fine, I’ll stay still,” I grind out. “Get it done, then I’m going home.”
His hips shift away, but his hand stays on my back, like he doesn’t trust me. “We’ll make it a nice even ten, and then we’ll see what happens next.”
I don’t get a chance to argue before the next spank drives me into the couch, landing on my left cheek. I gasp in a breath, give him a whimper he doesn’t deserve, and clench my fists so tight I can feel thenails digging into my palm.
“Let me tell you what I think,” he says conversationally, fingers trailing lightly across my ass, then dipping between. I barely get a chance to feel it before the next smack lands, echoing through his apartment.
“I’m all fucking ears,” I mutter, clenching my jaw against the sting.
“Seven.” He pauses to let the count sit. “I think my little hellcat is more scared of herself than she is of me.” His fingers dip down again, stroking softly, making it so damn hard to focus on his words. “I don’t think it’s me you’re fighting, I think it’s yourself.”
“Bullshit.”Except he might be right.
The next spank lands as soon as I try to speak, and this time I can’t muffle my cry. His palm strokes the sting away immediately, and my cry becomes a moan. I can’t stop that either, damn it. This isn’tfair. He’s not just punishing me; he’stormentingme.
“Eight,” he says casually. “I think you don’t know what you do to me. The way you fight me even now, bent over my couch with your ass in the air. Furious and wet at the same time.”
I tense at that. I’m notfurious… am I?
But there’s no denying I am wet. Why is his spanking turning me on?
“Do you know how much I want to be inside you right now?” His voice deepens with lust, the ninth spank lighter, yet my ass burning so much it still pulls a gasp from me. “How much I want tonotbe insideyou, and take my time drawing it out, every excruciatingly pleasurable moment of it.”
“Sounds like it’s you that doesn’t know what you want.” That might not have been smart, but I couldn’t help myself.
Declan laughs as he lands the final spank on my left cheek. “Ten. You’re provoking me, Hellcat. Is ten not enough? Shall we make it twenty?”
“No, thank you.”
“I think we should,” he says reasonably. “You can’t keep your smart mouth in check, and I told you not to talk, except to keep count, which you’ve done precisely once.”
Asshole.
