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“Do there have to be four? I mean it’s just a crazy song.”
“Yes. Those are the rules.”
“Obsess much, Miguel?”
He smiled, but his eyes were hard. “You have no idea, Roo.”
A little shiver went through her at the intensity. At the same time, she got it. More than one person had accused her of the same.
“All right. Two more spankings. Remind me to leave instructions over where to ship my remains.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “What now—nap in the shade? Then perhaps a swim, a little spanking and sunset cocktails then the dancing I owe you.”
“And then once more unto the breach.”
“I think you like it more than you pretend.”
She closed her eyes, letting the lassitude seep through her. “No comment.”
* * *
He woke her from a deep and boneless sleep. Surprised to see the sun already lowering in the sky, she started to get up, then stopped when Miguel shook his head, pointing sternly to the pool deck.
Her groggy mind taking an unduly long time to catch up, she nearly asked a question, but the strict lines of his expression showed that he was in no mood for negotiating. With a quiver, she obeyed, sliding off the lounger onto her hands and knees. With his bare foot, he pressed her head down until her forearms were flat, her brow resting on her hands. The sense of unreality—her thoughts still scattered from the heavy afternoon sleep—swamped her. She wasn’t sure who she was, where she existed.
There was only him and the primal desire to please him.
Soft, yielding and barely awake, she hardly registered the first stinging slap of the paddle. But the tears came immediately, welling out of some deep place that remained still open, that she hadn’t had time to board up with her conscious mind. This time it was no struggle to hold still, she simply knelt there while he punished her, weeping for all the times she hadn’t cried. For all the little wounds that had never healed.
She was still sobbing when he stopped. When he sat on the hot tiles next to her and gathered her into his lap, his sweat combining with her tears, while he rocked her.
After a while, empty, she managed to raise her head. Faintly embarrassed, she wiped her wet face and he gave her the room to do it.
“Sorry,” she said. “I really don’t know what came over me.”
“It happens like that sometimes,” he replied, staring off into the scorching blue sky. “We’ve probably been going too fast. One of my failings.”
“And here I didn’t think you had any.”
Now he glanced down at her, keen eyes darkly amused. “One could only wish.”
She sighed for the truth of that.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “We can skip the rest of the program, if you need time to yourself.”
“No.” The firmness of her tone surprised them both. “Dinner, dancing and one more spanking.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, reveling in his musky man scent, and kissed him long and hard. “Those are the rules.”
* * *
They both needed to clean up for the evening. Miguel produced a set of sweats for her to borrow—proving there were clothes after all—so she could run down to her room for a dress and to get her make-up. The suite felt slightly stale and abandoned, a little forlorn. The lovely—and far from cheap—room managed to seem drab in comparison to the penthouse.
How quickly one’s standards could be corrupted.
It didn’t help that she felt like a different person from the one who’d first checked into this room. She hadn’t thought about anything work in what seemed like forever. It was good.
