Captive Heart (Club Risqué Book 6)

Chapter 29

Micah sucked in a breath, his mind reeling. He’d made promises and assurances which would have catastrophic consequences if he went back on them.

Not only would he risk undermining Melody”s own self-belief, which he’d been working so hard to encourage, but he would destroy her faith in him and the value of his words, causing everything to spiral backward into a damaging web of uncertainty and insecurity which would jeopardise everything he’d built so far.

And yet the thought of providing discipline to a woman who had been so badly misused and mistreated turned Micah’s stomach until his entire body was rigidly tensed at the prospect.

Jesus Christ! He had to pull himself together and get his head in the game before he did more harm than good.

And the first thing he needed to do was to re-evaluate his own misconceptions.

Micah drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes and re-centred himself.

It was fairly straightforward. Melody was asking for a spanking. That was certainly something Micah could provide.

Not only that, but her perceptions of why she needed discipline were nothing to do with her mistreatment. They were a relatively objective motivation of cause and effect, guilt and forgiveness. It was a way for her to absolve herself of the guilt she felt over taking something that wasn”t hers, even though it was necessary to save her life. Even though Micah had promised to correct the situation, this was Melody”s own proactive way toward forgiving herself. And Micah knew just how important that was.

He’d known that something was eating at her and had encouraged her to talk about it and ask for what she needed.

Now it was up to him to put his money where his mouth was.

It would be okay. He could make this into a learning experience. He needed to trust Melody to understand her own needs, as he’d been encouraging her to do.

She was strong, he already knew that, and he had to support that she knew her own mind, otherwise, any insight he offered her was worthless or, worse, detrimental to what he was trying to achieve.

But he did need to consider his own feelings in this scenario. For his own peace of mind, he had to ensure he kept this as far away from any of the negatives she had endured as he could. He wished he knew more about the specifics of both her previous relationships, so he could steer clear of anything which might provide a trigger. He guessed Daddy was less of an issue, since there was clearly some affection there.

But V…Micah didn”t want anything he did to have resonance there.

Adopting a calm composure, Micah met Melody”s tearful gaze with an assurance he was far from feeling. ”Okay.” He nodded his assent. ”That is something I can help you with, but it will be on my terms, understand?”

Melody nodded enthusiastically, a little spark of something akin to joy lighting her features, which at least went some way to easing Micah”s misgivings.

As he tried not to feel like he was winging it, Micah catalogued most likely scenarios alongside what he knew about Melody”s prior treatment. He knew from her injuries that V had used a whip and the type of bondage that had caused abrasions and laceration to her wrists and ankles, so he”d be avoiding all those things.

Plus, the man had kept her naked, so he wasn”t going to go there, either. But Melody still needed to believe he was taking this seriously and not just patronising her.

”Lay over my knee, Melody.” Micah patted his thigh, injecting the necessary command into his voice.

Melody’s breath shuddered in anticipation, and she bit her lip. Micah quirked a single eyebrow, which had her scrambling to do his bidding. He swallowed his amusement and concentrated on being what she needed him to be.

Since she’d alluded to the use of a hairbrush paddle and a spanking bench with Daddy, Micah was going to avoid those, even though she’d inferred something close to affection for them. He wanted this experience to be exclusive to the pair of them, though it was likely she”d received an over-knee, bare hand spanking as part of her dynamic with her daddy.

Micah, however, was not going to be treating her as a little.

Right on the heels of that thought, he found himself surprised at how awkward she was in placing herself over his knee.

”Have you never been over a man”s knee before?” he couldn”t help asking as she toppled forward and tried to balance herself with her hands on the floor.

”No, Sir,” she panted. ”Daddy had arthritis in his knees and couldn”t bear my weight.”

Micah tried to ignore the little stab of satisfaction that rippled through him at that piece of information, but he didn”t entirely succeed. It was only because it played into his desire to keep this separate from her other experiences, he told himself stubbornly, even while a certain contentment blossomed in his chest.

“Micah,” he reminded her as he shoved the sensation aside and firmed his lips. ”Well, this is how I”m going to give you a spanking,” he informed her, settling her into position and using one of his powerful legs to pinion her own, immobilising her at the same time as providing support. ”You will count each one, and if you miss, we”ll start again from the beginning. Understand?”

”Yes, Si - Micah!” It was no more than a whisper, but Micah could have sworn he picked up an undercurrent of excitement in her voice.

Or was that just his own wishful thinking in order to justify these actions to his burdened mind?

Micah stretched his hand across the far side of Melody”s body, wrapping his fingers around her slender waist to hold her in place while he pushed the stretchy fabric of her leggings down to bare her backside with a broad sweep of his hand. He felt the indrawn breath she failed to curtail along with her surprise, and that was good. Micah fully intended that his brand of discipline was going to be unlike any other she’d ever encountered.

As he rubbed his palm across the globes of her buttocks, he prepared her skin to prevent it from bruising. Whatever happened, he wasn”t adding that to his conscience.

”Right, nice and loud with an appropriate thank you after each one,” Micah ordered, pulling his palm away from her warm skin and delivering the first swat.

”One. Thank you, Micah,” Melody replied dutifully.

Micah kept the first five light, intending to build up his cadence until he could judge her pain threshold but, already, he could feel the frustration bubbling in the tone of her voice, telling him she didn”t think he was doing his job sufficiently.

Well, he knew how to deal with that.

The next two slaps landed hard on the fleshiest part of each individual buttock. He’d taken her by surprise with the significant raise in intensity, and a little squeal slipped out ahead of her subsequent count. Micah tried hard not to chuckle but allowed himself to grin since she couldn”t see his face.

He rained down a quick flurry of equally potent swats, turning her butt a rosy pink and bringing a breathless quality to Melody’s voice, which he enjoyed far too much.

”Nine, ten, eleven. Thank you,” she squealed, but the sound held no distress.

The next four smacks, he delivered directly to her sit spot, two on each side. This time, there was a waver to her voice as she counted, and he knew they were getting there.

He targeted the whole of her rear, and the next two brought her to the edge, so Micah knew Melody was finally in a place where she could let go of the guilt and find the solace she so desperately needed.

And now that had been delivered, she was going to get a reward that she wasn”t expecting. As she hiccupped over the previous two swats, Micah landed the final harsh spanks.

“Let it all go, Melody,” he encouraged. He knew the spanking had done its job when her shoulders quavered and shook with silent sobs.

Immediately, he gentled his hand against her ass cheeks, feeling the heat enveloping his palm and rubbing it gently away.

“There now. You’ve taken your punishment like a good girl. It’s time to forgive yourself.”

“Yes, Micah,” she sniffled, lifting a hand to wipe at her face. She wriggled as if to move, but Micah wasn’t quite finished yet.

He heard the surprised little moan which slipped past her lips as he allowed his hand to wander down and stroke the tops of her thighs, gently manoeuvring them so they parted slightly. Without warning, he used the tips of his fingers to lightly slap at the newly exposed area, his aim landing directly across her puffy pussy lips. Melody gurgled on a choked, indrawn breath and Micah landed another to the same place.

”Number!” he demanded sternly.

”Eighteen. Nineteen, thank you,” she panted out breathlessly.

He wasn”t sure she was even aware of the way she ground her clit against his leg as she dry-humped the coarse denim of his jeans in an attempt to ease the fire he’d built. But he could smell her arousal and was sure Melody must be able to feel his own, as his cock pressed painfully against his fly, which, in turn, was pressed against the softness of her belly.

Or maybe she was too lost in the unexpected enjoyment to notice, he thought with a smile.

Micah deliberately dragged his hand across the swell of her ass and down the juncture of her thighs. His fingers grazed over the hot, wet folds of her labia, skimming her lightly but enough to have her whimpering and thrusting her bottom back to try to maintain the contact.

Micah moved his hand away, and Melody mewled in stark disappointment at the loss.

Micah couldn”t contain the chuckle this time. ”Greedy kitten,” he chided. ”Do you want more?”

”Yes!” she gasped. ”Please!”

Micah brought the broad plane of his whole hand down across both buttocks as well as her sex, and this time, she bucked and arched beneath his palm.

”Twenty! Thank you,” she moaned, writhing beneath his palm as he cupped her dripping sex.

”Oh God! Please, Micah, please!” she entreated. She seized his ankles, squeezing in her frustration. ”Help me!” she sobbed out on a broken whisper.

Micah plunged his fingers into her sodden core, pushing her legs wider apart and thrusting, once, twice, then withdrawing to swirl his dampened fingers around her clit.

Small, fragmented sobs wrenched from Melody’s throat and her hips writhed and undulated beneath his ministrations. He sank two fingers back into her core and crooked them at an angle, seeking out and finding her G-spot, caressing it with bold, deliberate strokes until her back arched and a thready, high-pitched wail split the vaulted silence of the cavernous dungeon and echoed off the walls as she shattered beneath his touch.

Micah rode her through the orgasm, amazed at its strength as her core continued to flutter around his fingers.

Finally, he withdrew and palmed her heated buttocks, petting her as she regained her equilibrium.

And then she stunned him completely by bursting into tears, huge, noisy sobs which ripped through Micah”s satisfaction and tore at his heart, hurtling his short-lived contentment down into his boots and squeezing his chest painfully.

Fuck! What the hell had he done wrong?