Page 26 of Bought

She must not have heard the warning in my voice, because she made no move to pull her hand away. “So, what am I getting myself into then? Come on, show me.”

She’d told me in the car that I didn’t seem like a man who made empty threats and yet that’s all I’d been doing from the moment she’d walked through the door in Arcadia, all steel and silver sparks. Threatening various things yet not following through.

No wonder she thought she could push me, and no wonder she continued to push me. She wasn’t getting any consequences for her actions.

She’s not yours to teach.

That was true. So why I kept thinking I needed to, I had no idea. She might have been Isabel’s age, but she didn’t need me going into overprotective father mode, just as I didn’t need another rebellious daughter to fight.

Still, I found I couldn’t walk away.

She was pushing me hard, and perhaps one day she’d push the wrong person and get consequences that would hurt her. I couldn’t stand the thought of that. Someone had to teach her a lesson. Someone had to show her that if she continued to reach for a flame, she’d get her fingers burned.

You can’t keep giving ground either.

No. I had to retain my authority and she needed to know that her behavior was unacceptable, and that I wasn’t having it.

I moved before I could think better of it, grabbing her other hand and crossing both her wrists, holding them firmly between us. Then with my free hand, I gripped her chin between my fingers and tilted her head back. “I’m not a man you can play with, little one,” I said. “And I am not the man to take your virginity.”

Her breathing had quickened, and her eyes had gone wide as they looked up into mine. Fear was stark in them and yet also defiance. She didn’t pull away. “Why not?” she asked. “Why aren’t you that man?”

“Because I like control. Absolute and total control, do you understand?”

She took a little breath. “No.”

Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t, I wasn’t sure. Either way, it wouldn’t do her any harm to know. In fact, it was probably better that she did, because maybe then she’d stop pushing me.

“I’m a dominant,” I said. “So, when it comes to sex, I want a submissive. One who is obedient, and does whatever I tell her when I tell her. One who doesn’t argue. Who accepts my word as law and doesn’t challenge me. Who accepts her punishments without protest and then bears them without a sound. One who willingly gives me her body as my property to do with as I see fit.”

Her eyes got rounder and rounder as I went on, and there was no denying the shock in them now. Or the fear. Yet still, she made no move to pull away and there was something else in the depths of her eyes, something I didn’t want to see.

Interest.

She’s curious so why not show her?

That wasn’t going to happen and not with her. I’d made it clear what I was and what I required when it came to sex, and that was nothing she’d want, I was certain.

“Oh,” she said finally, her voice breathless. “Not a total shock, I have to say. You’re kind of an uptight asshole and you really like tying up or holding onto my hands.”

“Because you keep putting them where they’re not supposed to be.” I adjusted my grip on her wrists, placing my fingers along her pulse so I could gauge it. It was fast and getting faster. “I presume you understand now?”

“Yes, I get it. You like being in charge and you want me to do what you say, right?”

It was more complicated than that, but I wasn’t going into the complexities now. “I don’t want you to do anything. I will not be doing anything with you let alone taking your virginity, no matter how much you push me.”

Her nose wrinkled. “But what if I’m interested? What if I wanted to be your submissive?”

I almost laughed. “You? You’ve been doing nothing but fight me ever since you walked through the door in Arcadia. You wouldn’t follow my orders and you certainly wouldn’t accept all the punishments you’d get for not doing so. Also, you’re afraid of me.”

Instantly, defiance sparked in her gaze again. “You don’t know what I would do or what I wouldn’t. You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know you don’t like being told what to do, because you’re already talking back to me,” I pointed out. “And I know you’re afraid because I know what fear looks like and I can see it in you right now. You don’t like me restraining you and since I enjoy restraining a submissive, I don’t think you’d take to it.”

More sparks glittered in her eyes, and she tried to jerk her chin from my grip, but I held on, keeping her still. “There,” I murmured. “See? You’re already trying to get away from me.”

Suddenly that cool, assessing intelligence was back, a certain piercing knowledge in her gaze “And you like that, don’t you?”

Surprise rippled through me. Firstly, that she’d been able to see that yes, I’d been enjoying the little challenges she kept throwing my way, even as they infuriated me, and secondly, that I’d somehow given myself away.