5. Christine
PresentDay
“Don’t you dare threaten me.” My voice quivers in stark contrast to my confidence. “I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I don’t have to ask for your permission. I’m an adult.”
Niccolosnorts in amusement. “If you have to tell people you”re an adult, are you really an adult?” He asks with a teasing lilt before growing serious again. ”If you take my car without permission, I’ll call the cops. I don’t care if you’re my stepdaughter; I’ll turn you in so fast you won’t even make it out of the neighborhood.”
Ihate him. He makes me so angry that I burn from the inside out. My rage controls my thoughts, forcing me to act out. “I can’t wait until I’m out of this house,” I roar at him. “You can’t tell me what to do when I’m at Blackmore.”
“Newsflash, dolcezza, you”re going to be my student. I’m going to be your professor. I can still tell you what to do.”
He’sso infuriating. How is it that he and my mother ever got along? “You’re my professor for one semester,” I remind him. “After that, I never have to see you again.”
Heraises an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling with mischief before his handsome face wrinkles into a grin. “If that’s what you want, then by all means. Never see me again.” Niccolo turns and leaves, each footstep swallowing up sound as he walks away from me. Finally, only the hollow thud silence echoes off the walls.
Ishould feel victorious, but instead, I feel defeated. I deflate with disappointment and return to my place on the couch. WhileI clean up the mess of popcorn left in my wake, I try to make sense of it all.
Niccolopushes my buttons more than anyone ever has. He has a tendency of getting under my skin. I can never seem to win against him, no matter how hard I try. AndI can”t shake the feeling that he enjoys putting me in my place.
Afew months ago, when he turned me over the foot of the bed and spanked me, I left his room wishing I”d gone to KansasCity with Giovanni after my mother”s death. But as the minutes passed to hours and hours became days, I found myself conflicted by the discipline.
Icouldn”t quite put my finger on it, but something about being under his control made my body tingle with excitement. Maybe it was because he was the first person to ever truly hold me accountable for my actions. He saw through my facade of bravado and called me out on my bullshit. It was both terrifying and thrilling, and it made me wish he wasn”t my stepfather.
It’sone thing to enjoy being spanked by a lover; it’s something else entirely to enjoy being spanked by someone who was once married to your mother.