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I take the opportunity to catch my breath while he freaking charms the pants off my ornery old cat.
“I can’t believe he’s letting you pet him. He hates everyone.”
“He can sense who’s the boss.” Slade smirks up at me.
CHAPTER5
SLADE
“Speaking of which…”Skye whirls to face me, her face scrunched up. “I know what you said you want from me, but I don’t think I’d be very good at being bossed around, Slade.”
I straighten from petting the cat, giving myself time to collect my thoughts. I had a feeling this was why she stopped responding to me this morning. She’s curious as hell but equally as nervous. This world is brand new to her, and the shit she saw last night probably didn’t calm her fears any at all.
But I’m not deep in the lifestyle. I’m not a trained Dom. I don’t want a twenty-four-seven submissive. I have a kink and an overwhelming desire to tie her to my bed and fuck her until she thinks she’s going to break. The fact that she’s feisty and independent is part of what turns me the fuck on. She doesn’t have to be anyone other than herself for this to work.
“You’re better at it than you think, Skye.” I lift a hand, tracing my finger down the plane of her cheek. “You obey on instinct before you even realize you’ve done it.”
“I do no-”
“Stop.”
She snaps her mouth closed. And then her eyes widen.
“You crave submission, Who,” I murmur softly. “I’m guessing you’ve been carrying a lot for a long time. You ache to put it all down for a little while and just get lost, don’t you?”
“I don’t…” She swallows. “I don’t know.”
“That’s one.”
“One? One what?”
“Lie. You only get three.”
“It’s not a…” She doesn’t finish the second lie. Instead, she stops herself, her eyes narrowing on me. “What happens if I get to three?”
“The same thing that happens to all bad girls.”
She trembles, those blue eyes turning dark. Even as her shoulders go back and she prepares for war, part of her craves the thought of being punished. Part of her wants to know what it’s like. “You aren’t punishing me, Slade.”
“Then I suggest you start telling me the truth, Little Who. Because if you get to three, I’m going to give you what you’re itching for. And you’ll beg me for it.”
“I will not,” she huffs.
“The truth, Skye.”
“Yes, okay? Yes!” She glares at me, annoyed and turned on, and not sure which she feels most. “Yes, I wonder what it’s like. Yes, you planted the stupid thought in my brain, and I dreamed about it all stupid night long last night.”
I reward her honesty by tugging her into my arms to run my lips across her forehead. She melts against me, even though I don’t think she wants to do it. She’s not done resisting me yet. She’s going to give me hell the whole way. But fuck, what a ride it’ll be.
“What have you been carrying, hmm?”
“Noth…” She snaps her mouth closed audibly before finishing the lie, making me smile. “Stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” I tip her chin up, forcing her to face me. I don’t want her hiding from me. If there’s anyone in this world she can be honest with, she needs to know it’s me. She needs to understand that she can trust me with anything. I won’t let her down. I won’t hurt her. Her well-being is my responsibility now. I take that shit seriously.
Her gaze flits across my face as if she’s trying to judge for herself how much she can tell me, or how much she wants to tell me. Eventually, a soft puff of air escapes her lips, pelting mine. “My parents didn’t want to raise us, so our grandma, Gramma Liz, did. She died two years ago, leaving us alone. We used our inheritance to start our own boutique. It’s always been three of us—me, Letty, and Jazz—but now they’re both married, and I’m on my own for the first time in my life. I’m realizing that I don’t like it much.”
Shit. She has been carrying too much. Growing up without parents is tough. Losing the closest thing you have to your parents and then watching your sisters move on and build new families while you’re still stuck in place can’t be easy. But she makes it look effortless. I’m guessing her sisters don’t have a clue that she’s lonely and feels left behind. She loves them too much to tell them.
