Page 127 of Safe Word

‘Without my permission.’ I crouched in front of her, gripping her jaw in one hand. Her head tipped up. ‘And you disobeyed last time, too. That wasn’t play. That was theft.’

Her chest stopped moving as she held her breath, her eyes wide, searching for something in the gleam of my mask.

‘You took control without earning it. That means you owe me something.’ My grip tightened slightly until I felt the pulse screaming beneath my palm. ‘You owe me retribution.’

Leaning in, I allowed her to feel the weight of the words before they landed. ‘And tonight, you’ll pay every second of it back.’

I paused. We stared at each other. Then I asked, ‘Green?’

And held my breath.

I wasn’t sure if seconds or an eternity had passed until she inclined her head.

Her lips parted to say something, but I moved my hand over her lips.

‘No speaking unless I ask you a direct question. Nod if you understand.’

She did.

Fucking gorgeous.

I stood. ‘On the bed. Face down. Legs spread.’

She moved instantly, the submission itself an ache I didn’t deserve but was going to claim anyway. She climbed onto the mattress gracefully, every motion a vow that she still trusted the creature standing behind her.

Her spine bowed into a perfect arch, hips tilting back in invitation, thighs parting inch by delicious inch until she was open for me – all dewy pink and temptation carved in flesh.

Vulnerable.

Waiting, trembling, desperate for whatever darkness I chose to unleash.

I stayed where I was. Watching and drinking in the hypnotic slopes of her backside, the faint quiver running through her thighs as anticipation tightened in her muscles. My gaze crawled lower, devouring the wet sheen between them as she shifted, the delicate folds parting like a secret displayed for my eyes alone.

A sound tore out of my chest, part groan, part confession, because none of this felt fair. It was too much. I shouldn’t be allowed this view, this trust.

This willing sacrifice.

But she always knew I’d let her take anything from me. Even this cruelty I hated needing.

I hung back deliberately. She needed to feel my gaze like a touch – to understand that the punishment had already begun. Not with leather or command, but with the monster who was already devouring her from across the room.

Retrieving the flogger and cuffs from the duffel, I moved like a man performing a rite.

Retribution wasn’t just discipline. It was a way of putting things back where they belonged.

I walked to the bed, eyeing the headboard’s design. The artful scatter of holes across it nearly made me smile as I shackled her wrists to it. Then the leather slithered through my fingers letting the slow sound carry across the room.

Her spine stiffened, a gasp hovered, but she stayed open for me.

‘I won’t have your release,’ I said, testing the chains with my fingers. ‘You forgot who you belong to. And I’m going to remind you.’

She stayed silent, but her exhale trembled, and that tremble caught in me too.

‘When you make a decision for me, you take something that isn’t yours.’

The flogger snapped once through the air – a clean, sharp promise. She jolted.

‘So now I get to take from you.’