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“Ava.”He repeats it, my name rolling seductively off his tongue.“It’s a beautiful name, but I like Avalon better.It suits you.”
“I don’t answer to Avalon,” I say.
“You’ll answer to whatever I tell you to answer to,” he says softly, but there’s no mistaking the steely authority in his voice.
I feel a flash of anger.“Oh, really?I’d like to see you make me.”
To my surprise, he laughs, a rich, hearty sound that comes from deep in his chest and makes him almost seem approachable.Almost, but not quite.He has an uncanny way of making me feel constantly off balance around him.
“Oh, I assure you I will make you do whatever pleases me, and thoroughly enjoy doing so,” he says with a gleam in his eyes.“But for now,Ava, tell me why you don’t like to be called Avalon.”
I’m silent.He may have bought my body and I may be his for the duration of the games, but he didn’t buy my soul, and I certainly don’t owe him any explanations.
He sighs and stands up abruptly, grabbing my arm and roughly pulling me to my feet.
I tremble slightly, afraid he’s going to punish or hurt me, but instead he grasps my chin, holding me still as he looks into my eyes.Time stands still as we stare at each other, and something inexplicable passes between us.He’s close enough that I can see the flecks of gold in his eyes, which I realize are actually more gray than blue, and the dark sooty sweep of his long lashes.His lips are full, and I stare at them, wondering briefly what they would feel like on mine.I’ve never wanted anyone to kiss me before, but I suddenly want nothing more than to know if his mouth is as soft as it looks.
As if reading my mind, he leans forward and presses his lips to mine.They are everything I’d imagined, velvet with an underlying edge of steel, and after a moment he gently but insistently presses his tongue against the seam of my lips until I open them, granting him access.My stomach flutters as his tongue slips inside my mouth, exploring the taste of me.My tongue tangles tentatively with his and with a slight groan, he plunges deeper.His teeth nip my lower lip as he pulls back slowly, and he feathers tiny kisses along my jawline.
I’m trembling in the aftermath of that ...assault.As kisses go, that one was epic.
Still holding my face in his hands, he whispers, “Now tell me why you don’t like to be called Avalon.”
Angry and humiliated that I’d enjoyed that kiss so much when he’d only done it to coerce me into telling him what he wanted to know, I look him straight in the eye.“Fuck.You.”
I’m over his knees before I can even squeal, and he yanks my panties down and smacks my bare ass with the palm of his hand.
“Ow!”I try to squirm away, but he just grabs my wrists in one large hand, pins them against the small of my back, and spanks me three more times, hard, before pulling my panties up and depositing me back on the couch next to him.
My hair is messed up, my face is flaming with humiliation, and my heart is pounding, but there’s an odd and inexplicable awareness rushing through my veins.
“You spanked me!”I say accusingly.
“You deserved it,” he returns.“A submissive should treat her Dom with respect at all times.I let your insolence slide once.It won’t happen again.Now, are you going to tell me why I should call you Ava instead of Avalon?”
“No,” I say defiantly.I try to look away, but he won’t let me.He grabs my chin again, forcing me to look at him.His gaze is inscrutable as he rubs his thumb across my bottom lip, which still feels bruised and swollen from his kiss.“Are you always this stubborn,Ava?”he asks, his voice raspy.
“Are you always this domineering,Sir?”I counter.
His laugh is a short bark as he drops my chin and turns away, running his fingers through his short dark hair before turning back to face me.
“Why are you here?”he demands.“Do you want to stay in this competition?Do you want to win?”
Anthony’s face looms in my mind, and I feel the familiar churn of hatred and disgust at all that he’s done and all that he’s taken from me, coupled with a newfound sense of retribution and the knowledge that there is finally something I can do to make him suffer, even a little.
“Yes,” I say, my voice soft but resolute.“I want to stay, and I want to win.More than anything.”
“Then you’re going to have to trust me.Beneath the trappings of floggers and handcuffs, D/s is all about trust.We can’t win if you don’t trust me.”
I know what he’s saying is true; Emmett said the same thing.But how can I explain to him that I can’t trust anyone?That my ability to trust has been irrevocably ripped away from me.I decide to go with the more acceptable explanation, which is also true.
“How can I trust you when I don’t even know you?”
He studies me thoughtfully for a long moment, and then he takes a deep breath.“I see,” he says.“In that case, will you go out with me tomorrow?”
“Like, on a date?”Surely the tough and forbidding Dom isn’t asking me on a date.
He nods.“Yes.”
“With clothes?”I clarify suspiciously.
His lips twitch.“With clothes.I’ll even let you choose them.”As an afterthought, he adds, “This time.”
“Okay, then,” I say with a small smile.
