Page 215 of Safe Word

His hand slid lower, fingers slipping beneath my waistband, teasing the edge of my lace with maddening intent.

I surrendered to my vices – I leaned in and kissed him.

Mistake.

He lifted me, spinning me in his grasp until my chest met the wall.

A sharp gasp slipped from my lips as his fingers hooked beneath my underwear again, the slow, drag of fabric down my thighs licking up my spine.

His knuckles grazed my skin, setting my body ablaze and keeping me suspended between shame and anticipation.

He moved behind me, his heat a brand against my back. Then his hand shifted quickly. My heart stuttered as he brought my underwear to his face, inhaling deeply. A low, sinful groan rumbled from him, his cheek leaning against mine.

‘Beg for forgiveness.’

I pressed my lips together, a silent – final – act of defiance. His smirk grew wicked. He had expected it.

‘Open that mouth, Paula.’ A silken order.

A tremor ran through me, my thighs pressing together again, but I obeyed. He stuffed the damp fabric between my lips, pressing it down with two fingers.

‘Since you’re so talkative,’ he murmured, ‘I won’t be offering reprieve any more.’

A muffled whimper escaped through the silk barrier, my eyes going wide. Cain exhaled sharply, his fingers grazing my cheek before his thumb traced my chin.

The belt uncoiled from my throat, slipping from my skin like a serpent shedding its hold.

He wrapped the leather around his fist, his gaze raking over me where I stood bare, shaking, pinned between his body and the wall. Waiting.

His hands hooked at my waist, dragging me flush against him, lifting me with one single hand.

Something electric ripped through me as I felt him poised at the edge of something inevitable and ruinous.

And then he took me – deep, all-consuming.

We both groaned at the sensation as his cock slipped past my slickness, my walls, finally reaching that unbearable point of collision.

He held me tight with one hand.

With the other?

A sharp crack.

The belt landed against my thigh, a sudden, searing rush of heat that sent a jolt through me. I scraped at the wall, my nails burning, my body caught between the cold surface and his body as pleasure spider-webbed up my spine. My breath came hard, uneven, anticipation twisting deep as the leather slid over me, trailing a slow, measured path across my bare back, my hip. A warning. A promise.

‘That’s one,’ he said, thrusting into me so hard the stars behind my lids scattered, ‘for the lies.’

Then—

Fire.

The second spank stole the breath from my lungs and I yelped, my cry muffled by the underwear, a raw burn spreading across my skin. The belt left a tingling imprint that vibrated through me, my skin pebbling with it.

Cain’s eyes were molten, heavy with something darker than lust as he held me locked in his gaze from the side.

‘That’s two,’ he said, following up with another hard thrust into me. ‘For disobedience.’

He hesitated with three, fucking me slowly, as if momentarily taken by the sheer feel of me around him.