Chapter Eighteen
What She Deserved
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M AGNIFICENT.
There was no other word for the woman who’d caught Lawes in her web and drawn him in with such inexplicable ease.
Standing there with her flushed cheeks and her smooth body, she probably thought she had a vague idea of what she did to him, of how her submission impacted and elevated him.
Certainly, the hand that had grazed his throbbing dick had given her some insight, but despite her enthralling subservience and gasping, breathy mewls, he knew she didn’t really understand.
How could she?
She couldn’t feel what he felt, so she didn’t recognize the sense of repletion cascading over him.
He needed to make her comprehend.
Placing down the razor, he ran his finger lightly over the smooth surface of her underarm, trying not to evoke the same ticklish reaction he’d inspired with his prior exploration.
Evidently, it hadn’t been too long since she’d last shaved—an act she’d probably undertaken to impress the imaginary Saul—but he’d carried out the final grooming task with the same precision and finesse he brought to every action.
Hannah, for her part, had been still and silent throughout, but not, he suspected, because she was worried about him nicking her delicate skin.
He’d already rid her fabulous pussy of hair—a far more sensitive place than her armpits—so he doubted the process was causing the alarm he saw gleaming in her eyes.
More likely, he thought, that emotion was due to the lingering familiarity growing between them.
He’d sensed the tug of that fractious affection mushroom when he’d slid his thumb between her soft lips, and he reckoned that she, too, was envisaging how it would have been if his cock had replaced that digit, and the plump lips he penetrated belonged to her sex and not her mouth.
Certainly, that was where his mind had flown when he probed her.
“You can put your arms down.” For now. He bit back on the end of that sentence, knowing what was coming next. He’d allow her the respite because he understood it wouldn’t last long. “Now, you’re perfect.”
Lowering her arms, she sighed, her focus rising to watch him as he tidied the towels. The question on her lips was obvious, though she had the good sense not to articulate it.
What comes next?
“Do you remember what happens now?” He tackled her unspoken query head-on, relishing her minute facial reactions as she processed his question.
“No, Mr. Lawes, sir.”
He was sure that was a lie. There was no way a woman as clever as Hannah would have forgotten the most pertinent part of his plans—her punishment. He’d wager that was the section she recalled the most vividly.
“Let me remind you, then.” Moving beside her, he pressed a hand on the small of her back and guided her in the direction of the door. She stumbled forward, permitting him to steer her, even as her breath increased in pace. “Now, you get what you’re owed.”
“Owed?” She glanced around, her gaze nervous as she met his eyes.
“Mmmm.” He had the sense she remembered his earlier threats then, even if she had the temerity to forget them in the interim. “That punishment you’ve earned.”
“Sir, I...” Dread had seeped its way into her voice as her feet shuffled forward at his insistence. “Please. I didn’t mean to upset you earlier. I—”
“Have said enough.” His harder tone seemed to settle her, her body sagging as he pushed her gently toward the back of the door. “Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of everything.”
Stepping in front of her as they approached the door, he grabbed the chain between her cuffs and hoisted her arms back into the air. He’d given her a minute to rest her shoulders.
It was time to play.
“Mr. Lawes?”
She yanked against the cuffs as he drew her helpless body closer to the large, metal hook waiting on the back of the door, likely already realizing what he had in mind.
It was too late, though. She never stood a chance, and with his intent set on hiking the chain running between her bound hands over the hook, there was only ever going to be one outcome when he reached for her.
As the chain slid over the hook, forcing her arms up above her head, Hannah found herself held in place, facing the door.
He took a step back to glory in the look of her.
There she was, his captive, his antagonist—his everything—and, thanks to her current predicament, she was entirely powerless. Already on her tiptoes, there was no way she was tall enough to reach up and detach herself from the hook. In fact, without his help, she wouldn’t be going anywhere.
His balls tightened at the electrifying prospect. Hannah would stay attached to the back of that door until he decided otherwise.
“Oh God.” Heaving in air, she flexed her fingers above her head and shifted her weight. The chain ran right and left over the hook, but whatever she did, it wasn’t about to yield. “Please, sir. Don’t!”
He chuckled. “You don’t even know what I have in mind yet.”
Honestly, he shouldn’t have been indulging her willful pleas. He should have had her gagged already with her ass a rosy pink hue, but being there on the brink of enacting the fantasy he’d been playing out in his mind for weeks, he couldn’t resist taking a moment. He suddenly longed to spoil her.
“Mark.” Her eyes were as big as saucers as she whispered the name she had no permission to use, her expression revealing that she already knew the error of her ways. “Please.”
He moved like lightning, closing the gap between them with one step before bringing his hand crashing down on her vulnerable bottom. The impact thundered around the damp room, the sound ferocious even though he hadn’t smacked her hard.
“You do not use my fucking name.” Irritation flared, temporarily threatening to take control of him. She knew that rule. All his women had known that, yet still, she was pushing her luck.
Same old Hannah.
“I’m sorry!” She was struggling to catch her breath. “I just...” Her voice lagged to silence, her head leaning on the inside of her arm.
“You’ve forgotten your place, little girl.” Wrapping an arm around her, one of his hands trailed over her exposed breasts, enjoying the feel of their weight while she was reprimanded. “And I’m here to remind you where you belong.”
Swallowing back her emotion, she choked back a sob.
“You were rude and swore at me when I gagged you earlier.” Shifting his bodyweight, his other hand roamed over her ass, squeezing one then the other of her pert cheeks and sending a shot of desire to his frantic dick.
“And your delay in the kitchen meant that by the time I got to my plate, my food was cold.”
Her face was pale as she peered back at him. “I apologize, Mr. Lawes, sir.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” Waiting for her penance, she’d inevitably be full of sorrow and remorse. He knew the routine well. “But you’re not forgiven until I say you are.”
Her eyelids closed slowly as though she’d known what his response would be all along.
“Legs apart.” He kicked gently at the inside of one of her heels to reinforce the demand, his arousal swelling as she duly obeyed.
Her compliance had an air of resignation about it, as though she realized there was no getting away.
It was time for her to pay the piper. “You’re going to get a decent spanking, little girl. One that I suspect is well overdue.”
Her head fell forward, leaning against the painted door. “No one’s spanked me since you and Mr. Fuller, sir.”
She shivered, and he wondered whether the gesture was motivated by fear or excitement. His lips curled at the possibility it could be both.
“I’m not used to your punishments anymore.”
More’s the pity.
Stroking her soft flesh, he imagined an alternative life where Hannah had stuck around to remain used to his punishments.
It was an alluring thought. If she’d refused to take the stand, she could have chosen to stay with him.
They could have been together during those long, shitty years he’d spent at the Crown’s leisure, but instead, she’d testified and her evidence had helped to convict him.
However pitiful her appeals became, she deserved what was coming.
“Then brace yourself.” He patted her delicious rump. “Because you’re about to get used to it again, little girl.”
Lifting her head, her back arched, as if inviting him to punish her.
He smirked at that, taking her lead, and walloping both her cheeks.
She flinched at the strikes, her hands splaying as she absorbed the hurt.
He hadn’t put much effort into the blows, and there’d be a lot more to come, but he wasn’t a complete brute.
He wanted to give her time to acclimate.
She would suffer, but he knew how to make her soar.
“I want silence from you while you’re punished.” He rained a flurry of fast swats over her defenseless backside, increasing the intensity of each strike as he went. “If you can’t oblige me on this, Hannah, then I’ll be gagging you as well.”
He motioned to the open cupboard, smirking at the dental gag he knew was waiting in there, though he doubted she’d seen the gesture.
His old friends and colleagues had proved most helpful after he’d gotten out of jail, providing a host of unused dental equipment.
He hadn’t been sure how they’d react to his approaches at first, but most of them shared his proclivities and were happy to assist. “I have plenty of spare equipment here to help you.”
She inhaled sharply, the only answer he’d allow as the inside of his hand branded her delectable ass once more.
She was so perfect for him, the curve of her bottom filling the cup of his palm as though she’d literally been made to order.
After waiting for so many nights to finally have her back, nothing and no one was going to persuade him otherwise.
She was his.
Stifling a cry, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she tried to manage the pain.
“I said silence, little girl.” His tone was terser, but his hand paused, straying along her inner thigh. “Don’t test me on this.”
She twisted over her shoulder, and he saw the desperation flicker in her eyes—a thousand things she wanted to say, all sealed within her pursed lips.
“You can be good,” he assured her, allowing his other hand to settle on her hip before it roamed over the smooth skin he’d just shaved. “I know you can.”
Not that he yearned for her to be. He’d reward good behavior, but like a stiff drink when he needed it, he much preferred it when she was strong, undiluted, and undeniably bad.
She pulled in a shaky breath, apparently grateful for the reprieve he was offering, though, of course, she couldn’t tell him so.
“And you know, when you’re good, I can be good for you, too.”
The fingers trailing over her pussy lowered and teased her wet seam.
She panted at the gesture, her hips rolling forward to seek the thrill of the friction they offered, and he smiled at how predictable she was.
Hannah was good at protesting, but she was also a master at receiving whatever pleasure he bestowed.
Based on her helpless predicament, he reasoned she’d do just about anything to persuade him toward gratification.
The problem for Hannah was, he could be gratified by spanking and fucking her alone.
Her head fell backward when he dipped a finger inside her, his cock fit to burst at the warm and wet sensation that gripped his digit.
Slipping a second finger to join the first, he noticed she was doing an admirable job of keeping the volume of her guttural reactions to a minimum, but he had no intention of doing the same.
“Fuck, little girl.”
He whispered the words into the side of her head, one of his hands clawing at her punished ass while the fingers of the other reveled in her glorious wet heat.
Slowly, methodically, he eased his fingers out of her before fucking her with them again, and inevitably, despite his warning, the growing hedonism won out, teasing the first frantic mewl from her parted mouth.
“Oh, sir,” she whimpered, her head lolling in his direction.
He rebuked her wordlessly, employing the hand at the base of her backside into action as it rose and clipped the underside of her bare skin.
Over and over it struck her, ramping up the sensation as his fingers curled inside her and eased her leisurely toward ecstasy.
She screamed at the hurt, but her hips slid forward all the same, as though she was keen for the pain to amplify her already slick arousal.
Smiling at her outburst, he skimmed her clit with the heel of his hand, watching her eyes flutter shut while she gasped for air.
“You are so bad.” He whispered the words into her damp hair, knowing he should be gagging her, yet frankly unwilling to abandon the allure of her tight, hot body.
There would be time for his strict and stern persona, time to break her down and dehumanize her, but as it turned out, the punishment he’d craved had morphed into something else, something greater—something that had the potential to ratchet them both to heaven.
“And I’m going to make you pay for it,” he vowed.
“Fuuuck.”
She stretched the word into more than one syllable as his fingers picked up their pace. Brushing his lips over the glistening skin of her neck, he turned and reached for the hairbrush he’d left balancing on the edge of the tub.
Whimpering at his change of pace, she didn’t seem to have noticed what he’d collected. Grasping the handle in his fingers, he brought the plastic down onto her exposed skin.
“Fuck!” She hissed the profanity that time, her mouth gaping wide as she struggled to see what had hit her.
“Remember the hair brush?” Angling the plastic, he swatted her with it three more times, enjoying the pained dance she performed for him.
“Please!” She practically spat out the word. “Please, it’s too much!”
“You deserve it.” He ran the brush over her pink skin. “And you’ll take what’s coming to you.”