Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 59044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
But first, she had to be punished for toying with me. Because she was a smart girl. She knew what she was doing when she was doing it.
Why… that was what I intended to find out.
It wouldn’t take much to get a confession out of her.
She looked about to cry from need when I finally eased off of the remote before shuffling her into the car, and telling Eric to drive us home.
“Wha—“ she started when we were in the elevator.
“Don’t speak,” I demanded, watching as she immediately lowered her gaze.
She was a quick study.
She was craving submission.
“Take off your clothes,” I demanded as we moved into her penthouse. “Then kneel,” I added.
I watched as she removed her heels, dress, bra, then panties, and I couldn’t hold in a smirk when I lifted them off the ground and found them soaked.
“You behaved badly tonight,” I told her as she kneeled for me. “Now, the question is how much you need to be punished,” I said, walking in front of her to snag her chin, pulling it up further, so I could watch her micro-expressions.
“Yes, sir,” she agreed.
“Were you innocent tonight?” I asked, running a finger up her jaw, then over her hair as I walked behind her.
A little shiver coursed through her at the barely there touch.
“Or did you provoke me on purpose?”
“On purpose, sir,” she whispered.
“Why?” I asked, coming around the front of her again. “Answer me,” I demanded, snagging her chin when she tried to hang her head.
But she didn’t.
She wasn’t ready yet.
Saying anything real wasn’t easy for her.
“Fine,” I said, reaching to pull my belt off, folding it in half in my hand. “Up,” I demanded, watching as she got to her feet. “To the table,” I added, waving toward her dining table. “Flat on your stomach.”
She did exactly that, reaching out to grab the edge of the table, then sucking in a deep breath.
“You will count your lashes,” I told her as I moved to the side of the table. “Until you’re ready to tell me why you misbehaved tonight.”
With that, I pulled back, then swung out with the belt, the leather cracking against the skin of her ass.
A startled cry escaped Scarlet as her body jolted hard at the pain.
“Count,” I demanded.
“One,” she hissed, breath coming in ragged gasps.
A bare hand and a belt were night and day.
I didn’t think she would make it far before she felt ready to confess.
“Do you have anything to say yet?” I asked.
When there was no answer, I swung again. It was the same amount of force, but her cry was louder this time.
“Two,” she gasped.
When nothing else was said, I went for a third.
“Three.”
Then a fourth.
But this one landed on a spot on her ass that had already been struck, making her almost shoot up off of the table.
“How many, pet?” I asked.
“Four,” she hiccuped.
“Do you have something to tell me?”
She sniffled, but said nothing else.
One last one should do it.
“Five,” she cried. “You stopped wanting me!” she added, the words tripping over each other.
What?
“What was that, pet?” I asked, setting the belt aside, and moving up a few steps to squat down next to where she curled herself up in the fetal position on the table.
“All you wanted to do was talk to me,” she said, covering her face with her hands like it embarrassed her to say them. “You weren’t giving me any…”
She trailed off, letting me finish the thought.
“Attention,” I filled in as it dawned on me what the problem was.
“Yes,” she said, sniffling harder, her voice sounding thick.
Real emotions were hard as fuck for her.
I wondered if that was from an absent dad, a nanny who didn’t give a fuck about her, or from the combination of the two that left her feeling like no one gave a shit about how she felt, so she was better off pushing it down, and never admitting to any depth of emotion about anyone or anything.
“Okay,” I said, reaching for her arms, pulling until she followed and slid off of the table, letting me pull her into my arms.
I didn’t say anything for a long moment, just letting her actually feel her feelings for the first time in a long time.
My hand rose, holding the back of her head.
“There are different kinds of attention, pet,” I told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as her fingers tightened on the lapels of my jacket. “The superficial type and the below-surface type. I wanted to get to know you. That is attention too. Asking you questions. Listening to you when you speak.”
Her body racked slightly as she let out another sad sniffle.
“But I may have forgotten how much you enjoy the other type of attention,” I admitted. We’d get nowhere if I wasn’t willing to admit to my mistakes.