Page 59 of Handle Me

“What if I forget?” She turned her face to brush her cheek against my wrist.

“Let’s keep it simple. If you’re nervous or want to slow down but not stop, say yellow. If you want to stop immediately, say red. Can you remember that?”

“I think so,” she said dryly.

“So impertinent,” I muttered. I moved away and snapped my fingers. “Take off your clothes.”

Lola slid off the counter and leaned down to undo the strap of her shoe.

“Leave those on,” I stopped her.

She pressed her lips together as she straightened. There was no resistance to my commands. No hesitation. She wanted the vision I’d dangled in front of her, but was she ready for it?

Lola reached under her arm and unzipped her dress. She wiggled out of it, allowing it to drop to the floor. She kicked it off and paused to preen as I studied her appreciatively. Her nipples beaded in the open air. She hooked her thumbs around her thong and drew it slowly off. Stepping out of it carefully, she tossed it at me.

“More impertinence,” I murmured. “Are you trying to push my buttons, boss?”

“Maybe,” she admitted, fluttering her eyes at me.

I closed the space between us. Thanks to her heels, she was nearly face-to-face with me. “You don’t have to work so hard to get what you want with me,” I explained. “It’s my privilege to give your body what it needs. Got that?”

Another quiet nod.

She was starting to understand, but it would take time before she submitted immediately. Even now, as she stood nude before me, she wasn’t ready. “Now, I’m going to finish undressing you,” I told her, grabbing her hip and guiding her around to face the counter. “Bend over.”

She folded over, clutching the edge of the counter as she presented her ass to me.

“Put your hands flat on the marble.” Grabbing hold of her hips, I gently urged her forward. Her palms slid across the hard surface. Pressing a hand to her shoulder blades, I encouraged her to relax. Her breasts flattened on the marble as she gradually settled into position. I took my time, erasing all but the final strands of her tension. Those were bound to her like a second skin. They would come off together.

I brought my palm to her bare ass, and she drew in a sharp breath. I didn’t spank her. Instead, I rubbed circles, preparing her. I continued as I opened the drawer next to us. I closed it when I found silverware. Tension began to creep back into her limbs as I opened the next drawer. But I found what I needed inside it.

Lola turned her head, pressing her cheek against the counter as I placed the wooden spoon next to her. Her eyes widened. “Yellow…”

I snorted as I brushed hair from her face. “Noted, boss. Now, about what you’re wearing.”

“I’m naked,” she said with confusion.

“No, you’re not.” I trailed a finger down her spine, and she trembled. “But you will be soon. May I undress you now?”

She stared at the spoon for a second before she answered softly. “Yes.”

I didn’t start with the spoon. I wasn’t even sure I would use it this time since it had been an immediate yellow. Showing her was about setting expectations. The sooner she accepted what her body needed, the easier she would accept who she needed to be in the bedroom.

I lifted my hand and brought it down with one hard clap on the lower curve of her rear. Her ass bounced as I smacked it, and she gasped. The imprint of my hand lingered angrily on her fair skin, and I rubbed it out slowly as I waited. She made no other noise. No safe word came. Crossing my arm, I delivered another smack to the opposite side. This time, she flinched a little but made no noise.

“Perfect,” I praised her, rubbing out the sting. “More now.”

She tensed as I stepped back and positioned myself to deliver a series of spanks. She clung to that tension for the first five. On the sixth, her arms gave, and she slipped lower. By the tenth, her eyes had closed, and her mouth hung open. Her backside glowed red, and my dick twitched as I gently rubbed the heat from her skin. Lola barely moved. Her chest rose and fell so rhythmically that she looked like she might be sleeping.

It was better than I’d imagined. Most women I’d dated enjoyed a little spanking now and again, but usually just for fun. There’d only been a few who seemed game for more. But none of them had relaxed into it as she had. Until this moment, I’d only experienced this at a very private club I’d talked my way into a few years ago. Some of the women there responded like this. Was it too much to hope that I’d finally found a woman I not only wanted to talk to and fuck, but one who filled the empty half of me?

I already knew that Lola Bishop could hold her own with me. She was a spitfire at my side. She fucked like a goddess. She took absolutely no shit. She was nearly everything I’d ever wanted. She nearly completed me.

But as I stared at the angry lines of my palm lingering on her porcelain skin, I couldn’t help hoping that I’d found the last piece of me. And maybe she’d found the part of her she didn’t realize was missing.

My submissive. Her Dominant.

There was only one way to know. I reached for the spoon.