Total pages in book: 767
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
When she reversed course, trailing her finger up his tense thigh, Alexander grabbed her wrist, lifting her hand away.
“It’s time for your punishment.”
Alena hid a smile. “Yes, Sir.”
Chapter 7
“Up,” Alexander tapped one finger on the spanking bench. “Get in position.”
Alena stepped in close, hesitating for just a moment. This piece of equipment was better than the post as far as limiting the strain to her leg.
But it meant that her ass was most definitely getting spanked again, and she was still a little sore.
The spanking bench was well made, with the touches and details only someone familiar with the lifestyle would have bothered with, such as the way the torso support was angled, raising the ass slightly higher than the head.
The padded rails for the knees were spaced nearly half a meter apart. This was irrefutably a piece that not only allowed a sub to be strapped down, ass raised and perfectly positioned for punishment, but also kept her legs spread, her pussy exposed and accessible.
If she hadn’t amended her list, she doubted he’d have selected this particular piece, which gave him easy access to both sex and ass.
She couldn’t turn back now, even though apprehension and anticipation were making her stomach knot.
Alena slowly exhaled, then grabbed onto the angled top and put her right shin and knee on one padded knee piece. Shifting her weight to the right, she lifted her left leg, settling that knee in place, her legs spread wide.
As she got into position, the g-string shifted, drawing tight between her cheeks, rubbing her asshole. Her pussy lips spread along with her knees, and she was fairly certain that once she lay forward she’d be putting on a very lewd display—her labia spread on either side of the thong.
She was trying to decide if she should quickly adjust the g-string, as Alexander stepped forward to adjust the height of the torso support so it hit her just below crotch level.
He stood, and without glancing at her, said, “Down.”
Alena stared at him. He had not just—
Alexander turned to her, eyes narrowed. His fingers slid gently into her hair. Alena opened her mouth to explain that she would not respond to one-word commands.
Before she could speak, his fingers curled into a hard fist. She hissed, eyes squeezed tight as her scalp tingled with pain.
“Alena, obey.”
The tone of command was undeniable, but it didn’t change her mind.
She reached up and back, grabbing his hand, pressing it against her head so that she wouldn’t rip her own hair out at the roots as she turned to glare at him. “I’m a submissive, not a dog.”
“As a submissive, I expect you to be obedient.”
“Obedient? That’s a term you use for an animal.”
“English is not my first, or second, language. I am not using the colloquial meanings of words.”
He was right. She couldn’t assume he would know that dogs went to obedience school, or that he’d purposefully used the same commands dog owners did as deliberate dehumanization. However, even if that hadn’t been his intent, it had those connotations for her.
There were people who enjoyed the kink of being treated like animals. She wasn’t one of them.
“Saying up, down, calling me obedient… you might not have meant it that way, but it made me feel like an animal.”
Alexander examined her face, then his grip on her hair loosened. “You object to one-word commands, and any hint of puppy play.”
Alena looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Very much so.”
He released her hair but didn’t step back. He was close enough that she could feel the smooth leather of his pants against the side of her calf.
“I prefer to be…succinct.”
“My quiet man.” Before she thought better of it, Alena reached out and laid her hand on his cheek.
Alexander pressed his hand over hers, his eyes sliding closed for a moment.
And once again her heart lurched at the vulnerability she sensed in him.
Alena’s heart pounded in her chest, and her stomach fluttered, and once again the urge to pull back, to abandon the lies and manipulations pressed on her from within.
She couldn’t go on pretending she could have her cake and eat it too. No matter what mental hurdles she jumped, or Gordian justifications she came up with, there was no way to separate their relationship as sub and Dom from their relationship as investigator and target.
“Alexander—”
His eyes opened, and once more there was something in them, a darkness so wild it was almost feral. Those eyes were completely at odds with the tender way he held her hand against his face.
The rapacious look in his eyes made her wonder if she should have let him walk away earlier. Wondered if his talk of the dark, hard things he wanted to do to her was more literal than figurative.
Unsure what to do—which was an unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling—Alena lowered her hand from his cheek.