“Yes, Axel,” she gasped.
“Better.” He cast his gaze over her body, still except for her harsh breathing. The yoga pants she’d tossed on just before they’d left the hotel hugged the curves of her ass and lovingly outlined her thighs. Not a line or a bump marred the black cotton surface.
“You’re not wearing underwear,” he observed.
“No, Axel.”
“Perfect.” He dragged his fingers up the crease between her cheeks, and the fabric clung inside the crevice, stretching even tighter across her ass, further defining its shape. “Beautiful.”
As Mystery splayed over his lap, he felt the rise and fall of her body, heard her long shuddering sigh. She lifted her butt to him, seeking more.
He smiled, then trailed his fingers from the crease of her backside toward her pussy. With barely a brush of his fingers over her cotton-covered folds, he realized she was damp. No, soaking wet. The longer he rubbed lazy circles over the mound of her cunt, the more her moisture wet his palm.
Mystery Mullins liked submitting. To him. That realization jacked up his desire, and Axel had to leash his need to fuck her, at least until he made a few things clear.
When she began to whimper and press her hips toward his playful fingers, he pulled away. “Does my touch feel good?”
“Yes, Axel.” Her words were high-pitched, spoken somewhere on the cusp of orgasm.
“Good.” He intended to have fun with her now. “Pull your pants down to the tops of your thighs.”
Without hesitation, Mystery complied, loosening the tie at her waist and wriggling as she shoved the garment over her hips. When the waistband fell, exposing her gorgeous, perfect ass, Axel couldn’t keep his hands off her. He palmed it instantly, kneading, pinching, and gripping it. She gasped and raised her butt, seeking more of his touch.
Oh, she was about to get it.
Axel raised his arm and slammed it down, hitting her bare ass with an unforgiving smack. “One.”
She yelped, froze, then gasped and struggled to get away.
He pinned her with a heavy arm across her body. “Stay still.”
“What are you doing?”
“You’ve heard of punishment, I presume.” He rubbed his wide palm over her bronze backside, the same sun-kissed shade as her back. Knowing she sunbathed in the nude just turned him on more.
She moaned as he spread the heat under her skin. “Yes.”
“To start, I’m going to make sure you understand I won’t tolerate any more lies. I expect you to be honest with me from now on. Do you understand?”
“I didn’t know how else to get close to you,” she replied.
“So, in order to protect your feelings, you decided mine didn’t matter?”
The starch went right out of her spine. “No.”
“What I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me?” he challenged.
“I guess I thought if you never knew . . . yeah.” The contrite posture, without an ounce of fight, told him that she now grasped his point.
“I understand why you were afraid and uncertain. You could have tried to e-mail or call. I even have a Facebook account. Did it cross your mind to open a conversation, ask me if I was interested, and see what happened? I’m going to guess no because you’d already decided what my answer would be. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, Axel.” She sobbed the words.
Sometimes, Mystery had so much moxie, he forgot she could be fragile. She’d been raised with privilege, but she’d also been through way more than her peers. He had to tread carefully as he reached her. She would only associate the pain of a harsh spanking with rejection. As soon as he’d finished making his point, he would start rebuilding her again.
Axel lifted his palm and struck her backside once more, watching her flesh give and bounce with his touch. More red bloomed across her cheeks, and he rubbed her skin to distribute the heat even more. “Two.”
As she moaned, he smacked her again, more to keep her attention and awaken the submissive inside her than to cause pain. “Three.”
She squirmed on his lap. “That feels . . .”
“I know,” he crooned. “Hold still, Mystery. No more manipulation. You will communicate openly and tell me even the painful truths.” He spanked her other cheek. “Four.” Then he waited for the impact to sink in.
She whimpered. “Axel . . .”
“Yes. I can give you more of that—and so many other sensations that will send your body soaring. I want to introduce you to a whole new realm of pleasure. You want that?” He stroked her from nape to ass, following the sleek line of her spine.
“More than anything,” she rasped out.
“I want to give it to you. God knows, I’ve wanted to for years. I even hate to admit how long and how often I’ve taken a temporary withdrawal of you from my spank bank.” He let his fingers drift between her thighs.
Despite the waistband, she managed to spread a bit wider, and he appreciated her effort to open herself for him by caressing her slick folds and skating his fingertips over her hard clit.
“That’s so good,” she gasped out.
“The way I’m touching you?”
“Yes.” She grabbed his shin and rubbed her face against his calf, despite his jeans, as if she needed to touch him. “But also knowing you stroked yourself while thinking about me turns me on so much. I—I touched myself thinking about you, too.”
He circled her clit again, bringing her closer to the edge of ecstasy. “That was beautifully honest. Let’s have more of that between us, not lies or topping from the bottom.”
Mystery didn’t answer him. Her body language told Axel that desire rumbled through her body, thundered in her head, and clouded her hearing. He removed his fingers.
“No,” she protested breathlessly.
“Yes. We’re not done talking.” He swatted her ass softly, delivering a blow that should sting sweetly. “That’s five.”
She jolted, but the whack did its job, bringing her back to attention.
Now he could say his piece. “You trying to force me to give you your way, removing my choices? That’s unacceptable. I’m the Dom, so I’m in control. I can’t be in any sort of relationship with someone who can’t respect my needs. I’ll always do my best to respect yours. I know right off the top of my head that you need affection, attention, and understanding. I’m sure you require more, and I’ll find out what as we get to know each other more. I will always do my damnedest to satisfy you. But if you try to manipulate me like that again, it’s a deal breaker. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Axel.” She sounded almost solemn, and he hoped he’d actually reached her.
“Good.” He helped her rise on unsteady legs between his feet and gripped her thighs to balance her. When he looked into her slightly dazed eyes, so yearning for approval, his heart clutched. “Kneel here.”
He helped her down, and she wasn’t graceful—not that he gave a shit now. She was willing and open and wanted more. Nothing else mattered.
Axel cupped her face and leaned in to kiss her, a gentle clasp of lips at first. But damn it, Mystery was so fucking sweet, and he’d been fantasizing of having her—as her—for way too long to hold back.
He parted her lips with a nudge of his own, and she acquiesced instantly, rolling out the welcome mat with an enthusiastic passion that made his desire skyrocket and tilted his world on end.
Jerking away, Axel looked down at her, his stare following the trail of her body, her rosy lips, the little bites on her neck, the T-shirt stretched just a bit too tight across her breasts, then the pants banding around her thighs with that sweet bare pussy almost hidden between.
He grabbed her chin and looked right into her eyes. “I’m going to fuck you.”
His words made her jerk as if they’d impacted her chest. “Yes, Axel.”