“Shh. Don’t say a word. This is where I take over. This is where you let me. Just as I said you would.”
He bit down hard on the shell of her ear, and she gasped once more. His arms tightened around her, crushing her to him, lifting her onto her toes. She wanted to struggle, felt on some level that she should.
This is not happening.
It was like some dark dream—one she hadn’t allowed herself to indulge in for too long. When he slid a hand down over her ass and gave a hard spank, then another, and another, her body went loose, surrendering even before her mind was made up. But no, that wasn’t true—her mind had been made up that day in his shop, when she’d seen him up close for the first time. Which was maybe the first real truth she’d told herself about kink and connection in years.
“Breathe, my lovely,” he commanded.
She pulled in a breath, exhaled as he grabbed the curve of her ass through her dress hard.
“Fuck, Duff.”
“Now, princess? But we’re in a public place,” he murmured, his voice low and rough. He started moving her backward, murmuring to her, “I’m going to be thinking about that, particularly since it’s off the table. For now. But there are still plenty of other things I can do to you while still respecting the boundaries you’ve put in place. Oh, yes, I can be very creative when the need arises. And things are rising right now, my lovely girl, which makes me a very formidable man.”
Suddenly her back was up against one of the tall pillars and he was pressing his hips into her, the hard ridge of his arousal a solid shaft grinding against her. And she went soft all over, damp between her thighs. Some part of her thought she should protest. But why? She wanted this man in a way she hadn’t wanted anyone in forever. Truly forever. She’d never felt desire like this before—as if her body would go up in flames if she didn’t do something to bank the embers before they engulfed her. Then Duff leaned in and kissed her neck, sucking and biting, his tongue making slow, sensual patterns on her tender flesh, and all she could do was sigh. Sigh. And surrender.
He pulled back to whisper against her throat, his Scottish brogue thick, “I hear your breath. I can feel it, you know. The rough, warm exhale. The way your body softened under my hands, under my mouth. When I kissed the pulse beat at your neck, it was racing. As fast as my own blood is, Layla. You do something to me. I’ll admit it. I’ll admit it’s all I can do to hold on to some control. But I’ve got it. I’ve got you. Don’t worry about that. Now be a very good girl and do as you’re told.”
She gasped as he spun her in his arms, then pressed down on the back of her neck until she was forced to lean forward. And despite the alarm bells clanging in her brain, she let him do it, didn’t argue. Didn’t want to.
“Good girl. Hang on to that column. Hang on tight. Because I’m about to spank the hell out of you, right here on the edge of this lovely lake, with nothing but the moon to see. Maybe nothing but the moon. But that’s a chance we’ll just have to take. Because I’m not waiting. And because I know you’ll like it, this little bit of risk. Oh, yeah.”
She could not believe she was doing this, but she was. Bracing her hands on the cool stone pillar, she bent at the waist as he pulled her hips back. He kept one strong thigh against hers as he stood a little to one side of her. Stroking the back of her bare thigh, he inched the hem of her dress up, higher and higher, until it was bunched around her waist.
“Black lace. Very nice.” He smoothed the edge of her panties up a little more, baring her ass, then ran his palms over the exposed flesh. “Ah, your skin is amazing. As soft and silky as I knew it would be.”
He smacked her ass, just hard enough to sting, and she wanted to lean into his hand. To ask for more. Was this really her doing these things?
But all conscious thought fled from her mind when he began to whale on her, the blows coming hard and fast, taking her out of her head. It was all she could do to process the sensation—sensation that turned very quickly into pain. And just as quickly into pleasure. His big hand came down on her again and again, and her breath was coming in short, sharp pants. The pain was beginning to overwhelm her, and just as she realized she would have to call “yellow,” he stopped, running his smooth palm over the soreness.
“Duff . . .” She nearly choked trying to say his name, a small knot forming in her throat.
His voice was right next to her ear. “What is it, princess?”
“I don’t know. I don’t . . .” She had to pause, trying to figure out what she needed to say, what she was feeling. “It’s so much all at once.” It was the best she could do.
“Too much? Too hard?”
“No. I . . . No. That’s not it.”
He pulled her upright, holding her close, so that her shoulders were against his chest. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”
She shook her head, but the words came anyway. Words she maybe didn’t want to say, rather than not knowing what they were. “I haven’t felt anything like this in . . . I’ve never felt this. This instant sinking into subspace. This instant need for more, when I thought—I knew—I’d fight it for a while. When I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go there, to be taken there ever again. But all you have to do is touch me, and it simply happens. And I don’t like it.” She shook her head hard. “I don’t like it,” she repeated, then said very quietly, “except that I do.”
“Ah, princess. Don’t you know this is exactly how it’s supposed to happen? If it wasn’t meant to we’d still be back at my shop arguing, yeah? Yeah, I think it’s so. Your body knows it. So does mine. Let me do my job here. All you have to do is give yourself. Give yourself to me. I will take care of everything. Try to quiet the demons arguing inside your beautiful head, telling you to struggle against what you clearly want. All you have to do is be.”
He stroked her cheek, and she leaned her head back against his muscular chest, relief flooding her system.