Page 32 of Sebastian's Secret

It was true, as well. Even through the years of her father’s brutality, she’d never lowered herself to plead with him. She would never have given him the satisfaction.

“That’s your prerogative,” Sebastian agreed. “As is mine to make it a stipulation of your spanking.”

He was toying with her. She got it, and yet try as she might, she couldn’t get past the mental image of him smacking one of his large palms against her bared ass. Breath hitching at the fantasy, she sensed her face flaming in its usual ritual of humiliation.

“If I beg you, will you…” Pulling in a breath, she steadied herself against the leather. “Spank me, sir?”

“If you do a good job.” Leaning closer, his hand closed over hers, cradling it as her thoughts spiraled.

“Sebastian.” Searching his face, she caught her breath. His eyes were like two bottomless oceans of emotion, deep enough for her to fall into. Fleetingly, a flicker acknowledging potential peril rushed through her mind, the possibility that this could be dangerous—that he could be—a flash of something animalistic in his gaze that she hadn’t noticed before—but she dismissed it. Sebastian wasn’t dangerous. He was the only man she’d met who made her feel safe. Just being with him now anchored her, even allowing for the arousal in the atmosphere.

“It’s okay.” Lifting her hand from the seat, he drew it to his lips and grazed them across her knuckles. “I won’t do anything you don’t want.”

“I know.” She didn’t know how, but she did. Her trust in Sebastian was visceral.

It was something that she couldn’t explain.

“I have to beg, then?” She was bewildered at the idea, even though it drove her wild.

“’Fraid so.” Settling into his seat, he gestured for her to go ahead.

“Please will you spank me, sir?” It was easier to ask for than she’d thought it would be, and her brows knit at the perturbing reality. “I really deserve it.”

“Do you?” One tantalizing eyebrow arched.

“Oh, yes.” It wasn’t a lie. She merited it for every time she’d fucked and left without so much as a goodbye, for all the times she’d ghosted men who’d managed to track her down and demand second dates. Rebecca had treated other people like crap her whole life in some silent attempt at retaliation at her family. It felt like a moment of reckoning.

“I believe you.” Sebastian’s voice was like silk, suave and comforting as it washed over her. “But you’re going to have to beg better, beautiful.”

He wanted better, huh? She could do that.

“Please, sir.” Inching forward, she pushed her breasts toward him. They ached for his touch, like every inch of her did. “Please, please will you spank me? I’ve been ever so bad.”

“Come here.” His free hand rose to cradle the back of her neck and wordlessly, he tugged her closer to him. “I know what you need, little girl.”

Little girl? Was that what he’d just called her? Yet as his lips collided with hers, she couldn’t think to argue. In truth, she rather liked the way it sounded when he said it, just like the way she enjoyed the pooling hedonism at the apex of her thighs. Ceding to the punishing kiss, she melted against him, more than ready to give Sebastian whatever he wanted.

“Would you like a safe word?” His tone was measured as he drew away, smooth even to lure her, but dominant enough to still be in control.

He was in control.

It echoed around her head. It was what they both wanted. It was what she’s missed at the Ritz-Carlton.

“Okay.” She couldn’t drag her gaze from his anchoring blue orbs.

“Okay, what?” His tone was wry, but with enough edge to move her, to make her believe that he’d make her pay if she didn’t learn fast.

“Sir.” Christ, was that her voice? “Sorry.”

“What’s your choice, little girl?”

There it was again, that stirring label he’d devised for her.

“Marble, sir.” She had no idea from where the word derived, but it burst into her head, answering his request.

“Marble, it is.” Nodding, he planted a chaste caress on her heated cheek. “Here’s what’s going to happen.”

She listened as he described the order of play. He would take her inside, start the fire, offer her a drink, and get himself ready. While this happened, he expected her to kneel by the hearth with her head lowered and remain still until he returned. Her heart thundered at the litany of his demands. Under any other circumstances, she’d have balked, but tonight, nothing had ever sounded better.