CHAPTER ONE #2
“You’re not the one who should be apologizing,” she said, lingering near the door.
“I’m not apologizing. You are.” I opened the cover of the tablet’s case and pulled the stylus free. “I came up with this last night. It’s a contract.”
“A contract?” Her brow wrinkled and she headed over to me, peering over my arm at the screen. “Like, a sexy BDSM contract?”
“No. Like an if-you-want-me-to-trust-you-again-you’ll-sign-this contract.
” I scrolled to the top of the document.
“I drew this up. It’s running through legitimate document signing software.
You’ll read it, initial every page, sign the bottom, and put your email address in so you can receive a copy. ”
“Are you…” She took the tablet from me. “Oh my god, you’re not kidding.”
“No, I am not.”
She read aloud, “‘…referred to as the participant,’ Matt, what the hell is this?”
“It’s a contract, outlining the terms of me continuing a relationship with you.” I was pretty proud of myself for figuring it out.
“‘The participant agrees that she will receive psychological treatment from a licensed therapist, frequency to be determined by the aforementioned therapist.’ This is truly bizarre.” She flicked her finger across the screen.
“‘The participant agrees that she won’t hide complicated feelings from her boyfriend?’”
“Initial at the bottom of the page,” I instructed.
She looked up from the screen. “This gets specific. I mean, there’s stuff in here about what flavor of Skittles I’m supposed to buy you.”
“That was a trick, to make sure you read the whole thing. I don’t like Skittles.” I tapped the underside of the tablet. “There’s nothing in here that you haven’t already promised to me. You’re going to get therapy, you’re not going to run off at a moment’s notice, you agree to talk to me—”
“I don’t think this is legally enforceable.” She arched a doubtful brow.
“Does it have to be?” I folded my arms over my chest and nodded at the tablet. “I signed some pretty hefty paperwork for you, didn’t I?”
The corner of her mouth quirked, and she shook her head fondly. “You’re right. I don’t plan to ‘be weird about spending her boyfriend’s money,’ anyway.” She looked up as she scribbled the stylus across the screen. “Thirty billion?”
“Or more.”
She snorted. “You might as well be a cartoon character.”
“That’s not nice. And I’m pretty sure that’s covered by the ‘not being weird’ clause.” I took the tablet from her and put it on my nightstand, then sat on the edge of the bed. “Now, part two.”
“What’s part two?”
I patted my lap.
A slow smile spread across her mouth as she sauntered toward me. It faded when she tried to sit on my lap and instead, I said, “Drop ‘em.”
She frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Take your shorts off and get over my lap.”
“You’re going to spank me as punishment and not as a sex thing?” She was incredulous but wriggled her shorts down anyway.
“I assure you; it’s going to be a sex thing.” I shot my hand out and grabbed her ass cheek, sinking my fingers in hard. “Panties, too.”
“Yes, my dragon.” She giggled and slid them down.
“Standard rules and signals apply.” I pulled her over my lap and helped her position her upper body on the bed for support. “Time for a story.”
“Is it about a princess?” she asked.
“No talking.” I smoothed my hand over her skin, skated my fingers down the cleft of her ass.
“But yes. It’s about a princess. A beautiful princess, watched over in her tower by the dragon who loved her very much.
But one day, the princess ran away. And although she returned to the dragon, he was still hurt and… afraid.”
That was the right word. Afraid.
“He had never been so frightened in his entire life as he was the moment he thought he’d lost the princess forever.
So, when she returned to the tower, the dragon was angry.
He was grateful to have her back, more than he could ever express in words.
The only way he could make her understand was by punishing her. ”
I spanked her hard .
She let out a whoop of surprise.
“And into this punishment, he poured all of his frustration—”
I gave her another, equally hard smack.
“—all of his fear—”
The next two landed in quick succession on her already red cheeks and she shouted.
“—and all of his love into every lash.”
Four more, one after another, and this time when she cried, she cried. But she didn’t use her safe word. She didn’t beg for “mercy.”
“And when her punishment was over, the dragon made her a promise.” I leaned down and placed a kiss on her burning skin. “That he would give her whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, if only she never ran away from him again.”
“She won’t,” Charlotte whimpered.
I helped her sit up. She winced when I situated her in my lap.
“What does my princess want?” I wiped a tear from her face.
Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip and she wound her arms around my neck. “I want my dragon to fuck me until I don’t remember leaving here in the first place.”
“I think the dragon can accommodate that request.”