“I do understand, Gabi.” His lips curved. “I’d guess only about half of your bratty behavior was an act.”

She blinked. He knew? “Then why are you here?”

“I discovered I like matching wits with you. I like your honesty. I like seeing you struggle to submit, and sometimes winning and sometimes losing.” He tugged on her blue lock of hair.

Everything in her body started to turn to mush. But this couldn’t be right. He had to be confused. “No.”

“Oh yes.” He frowned. “But I want you in Tampa. Or me in Miami. And you in my house.”

She remembered how Vance had mentioned he could get her transferred to Tampa. No. Leaving now.

His lips curved. “If I wake up needing to beat on a little sub in the morning, I want her bottom available.”

The glint in his eyes said he was joking—mostly—but not all. She swallowed hard, imagining his hand spanking her butt. The flash of heat bunched her nipples into jutting peaks.

He glanced at her breasts and raised his eyebrows. God, that smile of his. “I reckon you like the idea of a morning beating,” he murmured.

“No, I don’t.” Hope and fear fought, drowning her in churning emotions. I can’t think. She clung to the one fact—he needed to understand it couldn’t work. “I won’t cooperate. Not always, and then you won’t like me.”

“You’ve set your teeth into that notion, haven’t you?” He pulled a huge wrist cuff from his bag and a roll of gauze. “Best we test it, then.”

Wait. “No. We’re not going to do this.”

Ignoring her struggles, he pinned her with his weight, captured one hand, and held it securely. She couldn’t fight him and chance hurting his shoulder, but trying to yank her arm out of his grip got her nowhere. After he wrapped gauze over the abrasions on her left wrist, he buckled the cuff on. “Nolan happened to own an extra wide set of cuffs,” he commented. He lifted her arm and snapped the cuff to a rope attached to the headboard.

How could she not have spotted the restraints? But nooooo, she’d been too busy staring at him.

He did her other wrist and patted her hand. “These shouldn’t rub on your arms where you’re still sore.” He snapped the right cuff to another rope and sat back.

He’d restrained her wrists against the headboard on each side of her head. She tugged at them and winced when the movement pulled on her ribs. “I can’t believe you!”

“Oh, I’m not done yet, sweetheart.” The big corner post of the headboard had a rope wound around the wood…and a cuff attached.

“You set everything up. You planned this.”

“Darlin’, I wasn’t just a Boy Scout, I was an Eagle Scout.” He proceeded to attach the cuff to her ankle. He did the same on the other side. “I do like how flexible you are, but you let me know if this hurts your ribs.” He watched her closely as he tightened the ropes, forcing her legs upward toward the corner posts on the headboard.

“After you’re all healed up and we’re home, I’ll have your feet almost to your head,” he said. At the thought of being tied up in his bed, desire edged beneath her frustration.

He tied off the restraints. “I reckon this will do for today.” She was slouched against the headboard, wrists on each side of her head. Her legs were pulled up and widely separated, and her feet high in the air halfway between her hips and her shoulders. She tugged on her legs, unable to even make the board wiggle—solidly made bed—and realized he was watching her with a faint smile on his face. His pleasure at seeing her bound showed clearly.

And knowing he was aroused by her helplessness heated her blood.

He ran his hands down the insides of her thighs, pausing on either side of her pussy. “I do like seeing you so spread and exposed.” He touched her clit, the merest brush of his fingers, sending a burn through her, a growing need for so, so much more. “And havin' your feet waving in the air tilts that pink Li’ll pussy up so I can play with it.” His gaze on her seemed as warm as his fingers as he touched her, teasing between her folds. “Seems you’re a tad excited.”

“I’m n—”

A gentle swat right on her open pussy sent fire stinging down her nerve endings. She gasped.

“Don’t lie to me, Gabrielle.” His eyes were firm. “That’s not the same as defying me. We will be honest with each other. Am I clear?”

“I’ll try. I don’t lie, unless sometimes… But I can’t talk about…“ Her words tangled.

His smile showed his approval, warming her deep inside. “I understand, Darlin’. You haven’t lied unless you’re being a brat. And you have trouble sharing your thoughts. We’ll work on that one.”

He kept assuming they’d be together…

“However, I will not accept lying even when you’re acting sassy. No lies. Anytime. Understood?” His fingers stroked the crease between her hip and thigh. Then he shot her a hard look. “Answer me.”

“Yes, Sir.”

She was beautiful, Marcus thought. Her big brown eyes were stormy with emotion, her breasts jiggled with her breathing, and her nipples had peaked tight from her excitement. I love this woman.

Too soon, Marcus would usually think, to be so certain, but he’d been involved with enough women to know when one felt exactly right. Seeing her chatting with his grandparents—and teasing Gramps—confirmed his belief. Gabi fit with them and him like a missing piece of the puzzle, snapping into place in a way that other women, even his ex-wife, never had.

“Marcus?”

He smiled down at her. Tied and quivering. So appealing. Her expression showed desire and trust…and worry, a mixture more stimulating to a dom than any aphrodisiac. Having him in control excited her, and although she trusted him not to hurt her, she knew he could and would push her out of her comfort zone. Especially today.

He did enjoy that smidgeon of worry in Gabi’s wide eyes.

“So sass me now, little sub,” he said.

She fired right up at his patronizing tone. “I sass when I want to, not at your command.”

“That’ll work,” he murmured and pushed a finger into her. Hot, wet tissues enfolded him, and damn, his cock wanted to be in her sweet little pussy. She arched, giving a shocked squeak. Talking’s over, little sub.

Lying down, shoulders between her legs, he started to rest on a forearm, winced at the stab of pain in his shoulder, and switched to the other arm. He inhaled. Oh yes. Her aroused female scent had overwhelmed the fragrance of soap. Still watching her face, he gently licked her clit.

The stifled gasp of shock and pleasure she gave made him smile. Did she have any idea of how cute she was?

Then she stiffened, starting to get a glimmer of his intent and how much he planned to take from her. “Marcus,” she whispered. “No.” She tugged frantically on the restraints and winced.

Her ribs. “Stop, Gabi.”

She didn’t—in fact—pulled harder, her teeth gritted.

Stubborn woman. He slapped her round little butt hard enough to sting, and she froze. Her startled eyes met his.

“Struggling will hurt your ribs. You will not continue.”

At his hard command, her pupils dilated. The muscles in her thighs relaxed, then her arms. She sighed.

Such sweet surrender. As he’d suspected, her brattiness was only superficial, her submissiveness went heart-deep. Unable to help himself, he nuzzled the line between her hip and thigh, fragile and soft. “I love you, Gabi, and we are going to remove these doubts of yours. Today.”

Her breathing increased when she realized she couldn’t stop him. Couldn’t even fight back.

And then he got right down to business, moving around to each of the hot spots he’d noted in previous encounters—the high sides of her clit, the firm area on top of the hood. He smiled as he felt the bundle of nerves harden. Pushing her right to the edge didn’t take long at all, considering she’d heated up the minute he’d cuffed her wrist.

Quivers ran through her body as he kept her on the pinnacle with teasing, leisurely licks and measured in-out movements of his finger. Soon she was trying to pull her hips up toward his mouth, despite the restraints.

“Say „I love you, Master."” His lips curved. She wasn’t blind with need yet, and he knew what would happen.

“You’re not my master. You’re an asshole is what you are. Stop teasing me,” she said in a hoarse voice.

“An asshole? Didn’t you have an anatomy class in college?” He reached into his toy bag and took out an anal plug, one larger than any he’d used on her before. “Let me show you what an asshole is. Considering I’ll be using yours one of these days, we might as well start getting you ready.”

“No. No, wait.”

With a quick squirt of lube between her cheeks and another onto the plug, Marcus ignored her squirming and pressed it against her back hole.

Oh, God. “You bastard.” Burning seared Gabi’s anus as the plug stretched the ring of muscle at the opening. Wide…wider. She wiggled uncontrollably. With an unheard plop, it slipped in. The pain eased, leaving her nerves tingling. “Damn you.”