Page 27 of Bought

“I don’t—”

“Yes, you do,” she interrupted as if interrupting me was permissible. As if I’d allow it. “You might see fear in me, but I can see desire in you. You say you want obedience, but I’m not sure you do.”

Something twisted inside me, self-protective and savage, and before I could stop myself, I’d put her hands behind her and pinned them at the small of her back, forcing her against me from breast to hip, the way I’d done in Arcadia.

Back then, her eyes had widened with shock and then she’d pulled away.

She didn’t now.

Her eyes were still wide, and all the breath went out of her, but this time her pupils were fully dilated and there was a hot flush in her cheeks. Her pulse beneath my fingers at her wrists beat fast and hard, and in her gaze, there was a flicker of apprehension. But not the fear that had been there before. “Is that all you’ve got?” she asked huskily. “We’ve done this before, remember?”

So, she was fully committed to pushing me, was she? Silly girl.

A voice inside me warned that this wasn’t what I’d told myself I was going to do, but I wasn’t listening. I was tired of her pushing and now the Dom wanted to push back.

“Is this what you want?” I demanded. “You want a taste of submission? Submission to me?”

“Sure. Why not?” Her breasts pressed harder against my chest as she took a shuddering breath. “Sounds like I might enjoy it. And clearly your dick would too.”

I shouldn’t be doing this. I should have been walking away. And yet I’d come to the end of my patience, and I couldn’t allow such a defeat.

“In that case…” I turned her in my arms, so her spine was up against my front, keeping her wrists pinned firmly in the small of her back with one hand. Then I encircled her throat with the other, letting her know who held her, who controlled her. Who was in charge.

“Kneel for your master,” I ordered.

11

Zara

The words went through me like a sword. His strong fingers were around my wrists, holding them tight, and his palm was pressed to my throat. The pressure was enough to make my breath catch.

He’d moved so fast, spinning me around in his arms and drawing me up against him before I’d even had a chance to breathe.

He’d shocked me. I’d been certain that I wouldn’t be able to make him stay. He’d resisted me touching him, me questioning him. Me, pushing and pushing at him. He’d seemed so utterly sure of himself and of his decision.

I’d hated that surety. I’d hated having my inexperience and my youth, and Dad’s physical abuse thrown in my face. Making me feel small and weak, like the victim I’d spent years putting behind me.

But I knew that if I wanted to continue on this path I’d chosen, I’d have to confront the reality of what Fox was. A sexual dominant. It hadn’t come as a shock, you only had to look at the man. Yet what had come as a shock was my own response to it.

“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…”

Those words should have filled me fear, should have made me jerk my hands from his grip and put some distance between us. Because there was no way in hell I was going to be any man’s property.

And yet…what he’d said had touched something deep inside me, setting off an echo that I hadn’t been able to ignore.

I’d been on my own since I was thirteen when Mom had left. Her family was all on the west coast so nowhere near me and Dad had no family. It was only him and me and he didn’t count. I had no friends, no support network, and when I’d run away, it had been really hard. I’d had no one to rely on but myself and while I’d survived, it got exhausting knowing there was no safety net. That there was no one around who cared whether I lived or died.

It had been lonely, and it was still lonely, and there was a part of me that wanted desperately to belong to someone. To have someone else make all the decisions for a change, to take care of me, to keep me safe, because I was tired of doing it all myself.

Not that I thought that someone was Tennyson Fox, but maybe I did want a taste of what he could offer. A taste of what belonging to him would feel like, even just for a night. And apart from anything else, it would be a great opportunity to test myself. To face my fear, challenge it, and hopefully win this time.

I was tired of it being there, a constant I couldn’t seem to outrun.

I shivered. His body was a furnace at my back, his fingers around my throat a subtle threat that had me panting with terror. And yet…it wasn’t a terror based entirely on fear for my life or of being hurt. It was more complicated than that.

I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. But he might do something else. He might do something worse. He might make me like it. He might make me trust him.

Kneel for your master.