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“When I’m done, you’re going to sit in my lap, and we’ll go over some of my other non-negotiable rules. If we’re going to sell this, we’re going to have to make people believe. Not just those in the vanilla world, but at the club. We’ll use the stoplight system unless you want to give me your safeword.”
“I won’t need a safeword, and red works just fine. Can you just get on with it?”
He smacked her ass hard with no warning or warm-up. Miley sucked in her breath; damn, that hurt, but behind the pain was a delicious warmth. Miley didn’t normally go for spankings, mainly because they left her feeling vulnerable and needy, and that wasn’t something she allowed anyone to see.
“I meant what I said, that mouth of yours is going to get you into all kinds of trouble with me.”
His hand came down again, the sound reaching her ears before the sting spread across her skin. Heat, pain and desire all flashed through her system as she bit her lip to keep from crying out. He began to rain fire across her backside. Biting her lip kept her silent, but nothing could stop the tears from welling or beginning to fall. God, it felt good—sensual, pleasurable, and cathartic. She’d forgotten when the last time was that she hadn’t felt a need to be strong. But his simple act of discipline seemed to be undoing years of denial.
Again and again, his hand connected with her supple flesh, imparting his annoyance with her behavior which, if she was being completely honest, had been pretty horrible. She’d need to call Fitz and apologize. Fitz had always been good to her; had always treated her with the same respect and affection with which he treated the others. He hadn’t deserved the sharp side of her tongue or unkind thoughts. He certainly hadn’t deserved her threats.
She now knew what Samantha and JJ had tried to tell her. When you had a connection to a Dom you respected and he was disciplining you because he believed you needed it, there was something intimate and caring about it and it did provide a way for two people in a relationship to reconnect. She and Knox weren’t in a relationship, but they needed to appear as though they were.
As long as he was disciplining her, she could let the world fall away and be her truest self—the woman who wanted desperately to be connected with someone, who wanted what her friends had—friends on both sides of the slash.
The room had been silent except for the sound of their breathing for a few moments. His hand rested on her heated ass, and for a fleeting few minutes, Miley wondered what it might be like to have him haul her up into his lap and hold her close, letting her ease back into the world. She wasn’t in subspace, not even close, but something akin to a precursor to it had settled over her like a shroud.
Knox helped her up and pulled her into his lap. “You did very well, Miley. How are you?”
“I’m fine, Knox.”
“From here on out, it’s Sir—at least to start with.”
“I’m fine, Sir.”
“Good,” he said, tucking her head into the crook of his neck, one arm encircling her waist while the other toyed with her hair.
He didn’t say anything more but rocked her gently in his arms. Miley was certain that Fitzwallace believed the greatest threat was posed by Franco Acosta’s unhinged daughter. Miley knew she could deal with her.
She was far more concerned with how she emerged from spending time with a man, a Dom, that she feared could command her submission. Was that the real reason she’d run from him at Baker Street?
CHAPTER6
MILEY
Knox held her until she allowed herself to relax against him, to accept not only his authority to discipline her but to care for her in its aftermath. No man had ever dared to discipline her and only one man, who wasn’t on the opposite side of some conflict, had ever tried to hit her. When one of the men she’d encountered as a teen in foster care had tried, she’d swung a cast iron frying pan into the side of his head. Child Protective Services had picked her up shortly thereafter, and she’d been labeled as a ‘problem.’ It hadn’t seemed to matter that he’d started it and she’d only defended herself after he hit her a second time. Her split lip had been ignored.
“I need a minute to unwind. Can you give that to me?” he asked.
She nodded but said nothing. Miley didn’t trust her voice. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping away the dried remnants of her tears.
“Are you sure I wasn’t too rough?”
She shook her head.
After a few more minutes she felt him let her go. “I appreciate you giving me that little bit of extra time,” he said.
“I suppose I should follow protocol and thank you for your discipline, but more than that, I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier today. Neither you nor Fitz deserved to be talked to that way. I’m not saying I was the only one in the wrong…”
“Of course, you aren’t,” Damon said with a soft chuckle. Miley stiffened in his arms. “I’m sorry, Miley. I know it must seem as though I was laughing at you; I wasn’t.”
“Then what do you call it?”
“The beginning of understanding. I just realized how much you reminded me of myself. I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’d like you to call Fitz and apologize. I know for a fact he cares about you. In fact, I thought he was going to knock my teeth down my throat in London. He was sure I’d done something to you.”
“I just don’t like aftercare. He knows that, but I don’t just generally leave the club like that. I’m glad he didn’t hurt you.”
Again, the sexy chuckle that reminded her of champagne on a summer evening. “I’d have given as good as I got.”
