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His biting tone caught Raine off guard. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good. Count, precious.” Hammer stepped far behind her.
Oh, god. He’s really going to do this.
Clenching her eyes tightly shut, Raine tensed every muscle and held her breath, waiting to feel the blistering pain she knew he could inflict.
But a whisper-like caress fanned over her taut flesh instead, so soft Raine wondered if she’d imagined it. Lashes fluttering open, she turned her puzzled stare Hammer’s way.
“What was that?”
His face hardened. “I told you to count, girl. I’ve already laid the first stroke across your ass. Face the front and do as I’ve said.”
When she hesitated, Hammer lifted his arm and drew the serpent over his head, then flicked his wrist. A thunderous crack rent the air.
Trembling and gasping, Raine whirled back to stare at the wall, unable to catch her breath—or reconcile the whispery sensation she’d felt with the certainty that whip could cut her open.
“One.” Her voice sounded breathy and uneven in the still room.
Hammer brushed her backside with another barely perceptible kiss from the whip.
She still couldn’t quite understand. She’d seen Beck work subs over dozens of times, always inflicting excruciating pain and sometimes drawing forth blood. When she’d stolen glimpses of Hammer using the whip, he’d usually been subtler, less invasive, but wasn’t the point of this agony?
“Two.”
“Relax,” he commanded.
Raine darted another glance back to see Hammer coiling up the whip. “Is that it?”
Macen stormed toward her and gripped her hair in a tight fist. Her scalp sang as prickles skittered over her skin and slid down her spine.
Yanking her head back, he locked her in a fierce gaze. “Yes. When you saw me pick the whip up, you were terrified. Right?”
She still shivered all over. “Yes, Sir.”
“Yet you didn’t use your safeword. You let me continue, despite worrying I meant to inflict the worst possible pain?”
Raine winced. “Yes, Sir.”
“Why?” His voice dripped disapproval.
Her heart lumped in her throat. “Because it’s you. Even when we’ve had our problems or fights, you never wanted me to bleed.”
Frustration and desire clashed all over his face. Clutching her hair even tighter, Macen slammed his mouth over hers and swept in deep. She tasted his desperation.
“That’s right,” he growled finally. “You knew deep down I would keep you safe. But when I came home from Sterling’s office to find you’d gone to see your brother, I didn’t have any such assurance of your well-being. I was out of my mind with worry.”
Raine felt like shit for putting him through hell. She bit back the explanation he hadn’t given her permission to give.
“The panic you felt when I pulled out this whip…” Hammer dangled the leather coil in her face. “It wasn’t even a tenth of what I felt when I discovered you’d gone. You fucked with my head, little girl. So I just fucked with yours.”
Quid pro quo.
“I’ll apologize until I’m blue in the face because hurting you hurts me,” she murmured. “But no matter how much you punish or mindfuck me, I will never lie and say I wouldn’t do it again.”
“Why is that?” He bit out each word.
“I know I’m supposed to be learning a lesson, but the fact remains that River wasn’t going to listen to anyone but me. I had to fix this mess, Macen.”
“And you wanted me to…what? Thank you for putting me through hell?”
“Trust me. Watching the police haul you off for questioning was hell for me. I get it.”
“Not the same. You knew I would be back.”
“I hoped and prayed you would. But I had no guarantee.”
“Sterling wasn’t going to let me rot in a cell.”
“If he had the power to get you out, I knew he would. But he’s not God or the president.” She gritted her teeth. “Don’t be so stubborn, Macen. You let him help you. Why won’t you let me? I can’t just sit here when I might have the power to save you.”
“It’s not the same. Me conferring with my lawyer wasn’t a risk to my physical well-being. You running off to meet with your crazy-assed brother put you in horrific danger.”
“You’re missing the point!”
“What point is that? The one in which you think I’m helpless? From here, it looks like you willfully disobeyed me and met with a lunatic who tried to kidnap you and kill our unborn child because you thought I was incapable of using my resources or devising any sort of strategy to save myself.”
“I never thought you were helpless!” The fact that would even cross his mind stunned and horrified her. “But I’d risk my life and your wrath if it meant a happy ending to any situation that threatened our lives together.” She sighed heavily. “Look, I’m sorry I worried you. I’m sorry I disobeyed. But I’ll always do whatever it takes to keep you alive, free, and with us. Over and over again. Because I love you. I can’t imagine living my life without you, without Liam. You two and this baby we’ve made…you’re my whole heart.”
