“Julie?”

“Yes, sir. I’m fine.”

Those intense eyes crinkled up at the corners as a smile covered his face. “Just fine? Answer, please.”

She found herself smiling back. “Slightly better than just fine.”

“Just slightly? Answer, please.”

Who knew a Dom could be such a tease?

Surely she could tease, too. “Well, if you must know, I’m slightly disappointed you’re the only one who’s half- naked.”

“All in good time, my sweet. Trust me.”

She realized at his words that she did, she did trust him. It was both scary and reassuring at the same time. How was that possible?

“Are you thinking of something other than me again?” At his firm voice, her thoughts fled.

Her mouth opened and a “No, sir” almost slipped out before she realized he hadn’t explicitly told her to answer. She tightened her lips into a line.

He gave a husky chuckle. “Smart girl. Although for a minute there I thought you’d make a mistake, and I was looking forward to turning you over my knee and spanking your ass until it turned a beautiful shade of pink.”

No one had ever spanked her before. She wouldn’t have thought she’d have liked it, but his words left such an image in her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like.

“Would you like that?” He took a step toward her and circled her, like a lion teasing his prey. “Me putting you over my knee?”

He unbuttoned her shirt, and she shivered as he pushed it off her shoulders. “Spanking you?” He deftly unsnapped her bra and ran his thumbs over her nipples. “I don’t even need you to answer, your body tells me all I need to know.” Two steps and he was behind her, whispering, “I bet you’re wet already, just at the thought of it.” A strong hand cupped her ass. “Imagine me doing it.”

She almost moaned, because suddenly, she wanted it. Wanted to feel his hand spanking her.

He remained behind her, his hands traveling across her shoulders, down her chest, gently cupping her br**sts, and dipping to her waist before moving up her body and back down again. All the while his whispers were wicked. “I think I’d sit on the bed and watch you strip for me, but I’d keep my clothes on the entire time. That way when I commanded you to position yourself across my lap, you’d feel the roughness of my clothing against your bare skin.”

One of his hands slid between her still-clothed legs and cupped her, his thumb pressed against her clit. She rocked into him.

He nibbled her earlobe and continued. “I’d play with your pu**y while I situated you just so. Tease you, never quite giving you what you craved. All the time reminding you what a naughty, naughty girl you’d been. How naughty, naughty girls deserved to be punished.”

She was practically at the point of begging him to take her. To do something. Please.

She let out a gasp when he landed a soft swat to her backside.

He chuckled. “I’d start slowly. Gentle pats to warm your skin. Make you sensitive. Gradually, I’d get harder and harder. Maybe spank your pu**y a few times. Even better, I’d f**k you with my fingers. You’d like that.”

Oh, hell, yes. She most certainly would. She wanted it right then and there.

But he wasn’t ready to give it to her yet. “I’d spank that beautiful ass just up until you’re about to come from my hand and fingers alone. And do you know what I’d do then? Answer me!”

Her voice trembled with need. “No, sir.”

He moved to stand before her, made sure she was looking at him. “I’d put you on your back, so you could feel the sting of my spanking while I spread your legs and f**ked you senseless.”

She exhaled in a ragged gasp.

“You would like that, wouldn’t you? Answer please.”

“Yes, sir.”

She would like it a lot. Guilt flooded her.

She dipped her head, but he wouldn’t allow it. With one finger he lifted her chin.

“Look at me, Julie.”

She could do nothing else.

“There’s no shame in anything we’ll ever do together.” He traced her lips with his finger. “If we both agree to it and we enjoy it, there is no room for guilt. Understand? Answer me, please.”

Anything resembling guilt or shame faded with his touch. “Yes, sir.”

“Say it again.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Louder.”

“Yes, sir.”

His hand dropped to his side. “Don’t ever feel badly for admitting what you need.”

She stood, waiting for him to say or do something, and watching as he stripped his sweater off. He was just as breathtaking as he’d been the previous weekend. Maybe more so, because she knew more now.

“Your turn,” he said. “Take the jeans off.”

While she’d undressed in front of men before, somehow doing so under Daniel’s watchful gaze made every step of the act one hundred times more intense.

“What lovely panties,” he said when she’d stepped out of her jeans. “Did you wear them especially for me?”

“Yes, sir.”

For several seconds the words hung in the air between them. Daniel tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

Damn it.

His voice was soft, but firm. “Did I ask you to speak? Answer me.”

“No, sir.”

Her heart pounded in her throat. What was he going to do? Laugh and say she was a sorry excuse for a submissive?

“And after I finished telling you what I’d do if you spoke. It’s almost as if you want me to spank you.”

She trembled with excitement, dread, and anticipation.

He walked to the bed and sat down. “Take the panties off and come sit down beside me.”

Her jaw nearly hit the floor. Was he going to spank her or not? And how strange would it be to just sit on the bed with both of them naked?

“Now.”

Strange or not, it’s what he requested and she wasn’t nearly ready for the evening to be over yet. Slowly, she reached down and stripped her panties off, all the while aware of his intense stare. She would have expected to be self-conscious, but she wasn’t. She felt empowered.

She dropped the panties to the floor, walked to the bed, and sat down. He placed a hand on her upper thigh and squeezed.

“In a power play scene, there are rules. For example, tonight I indicated you weren’t to speak out of turn. When rules are broken, there are consequences. I’m going to spank you for speaking, unless you want to stop. Which I will do, no explanation needed.”

He was offering her a way out. She knew she could say “red” and he would stop, but he was telling her that wasn’t even needed. She looked at him, met his gaze: calm, controlled, and filled with heat.

“You can speak freely now.”

She wanted to taste this world; she wasn’t about to stop now. Couldn’t stop now. She glanced to the floor. “I don’t want to stop, sir.”

“Look at me.”

The rough command of his voice caught her off guard. Was he angry? There didn’t appear to be any sort of ire in his expression.

“You don’t know how much hearing you say that pleases me. Never doubt that you’re a strong, brave woman.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The hand on her thigh caressed her roughly. “Now there’s the matter of your punishment.”

Hell, it shouldn’t turn her on so much when he said that.

“I want you to lie down over my knees. Wrap your arms around my calf. And lift your ass as much as possible.”

He kept his hands on her while she positioned herself, almost as if he knew his touch would calm her. Even so, her heart pounded wildly.

“Have you ever been spanked before?” he asked, running his hands over her backside. “Spread your legs a bit.”

She widened her stance and found doing so made her more stable. “No, sir.”

“You’re so brave. I’m proud of you.” He ran both hands over her, dipping one between her legs. She knew he found her wet and waiting. “It won’t be as hard as the spanking I’d give an experienced sub, but you’ll feel it. You can stop me at any point by saying what?”

“Red, sir.”

“Good girl.”

She was surprised by how good his words made her feel. She wrapped her arms around his lower legs, fingertips brushing the hard muscles there. His hands swept over her backside and she closed her eyes when he gave her butt a gentle slap.

He didn’t stop, but continued to rain light slaps over and over. It didn’t hurt, but rather made the lower half of her body feel warm and tingly. She hadn’t expected a spanking to feel so good but it really was turning her on.

There was a short break, and she wondered if that was all, when a sharp slap hit her backside and made her gasp. It stung, but then his hand covered the spot he’d struck and the heat melted into her body. She moaned.

“Like that?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

He chuckled. “You’re such a naughty girl.”

Another slap landed and again his hand covered the spot, allowing the sting to sweetly diffuse into need. A need for more, more of his touch, more of him. More.

He repeated the actions, following each swat with a gentle press of his hand. The spanks seemed to be getting harder, but the pain from them was somehow only intensifying her need for him.

“Your body is asking for more,” he said. “You’re lifting your ass up.”

Was she? She hadn’t realized.

His fingers drifted between her legs and brushed her. She jerked against him, trying to relieve the ache. He answered with a swift slap.

“Needy girl. You’ll have to wait, I’m not ready to f**k you yet. I’m still working on this ass.”

And work on it he did, raining swat after delicious swat on her backside. He didn’t cover them with his hand anymore, but kept up a steady tempo, sweeping a finger lightly over her cl*t once or twice. She had never felt so turned on in her life.

“Three more and you’re done. They’ll be harder. Can you handle them?”

Her body pulsed with the need to come and she desperately wanted his hands back on her.

She lifted herself toward him. “Yes, sir. Please.”

“So polite,” he mused. “Such a good girl.”

She gasped at the first slap, but didn’t have time to process the pain before the second came. She squeezed her eyes tight against the third. No sooner had it landed than she found herself pulled into his arms and gently placed on the bed. He lay down beside her, breathing heavily and keeping her tight in his arms.

“Are you okay?”

Outside of the need to have him inside her, like NOW? “Yes, sir. Please.”

“Please, what?”

She almost whined. He wouldn’t do it until she asked. “Please, sir. Fuck me.”

• • •

Daniel closed his eyes and forced himself to focus. It was taking all his considerable self-restraint not to bind her to his bed and do all sorts of wickedly perverse things. For all her insistence she had only wondered about BDSM, she was a sexual submissive through and through.

He just had to remind himself how new and inexperienced she was. He wanted to introduce her gently to the freedom to be found in submission, not scare the hell out of her. So, though he wanted her bent over his bed, blindfolded in his playroom, and offering herself to him in any way he wanted to take her, he wouldn’t give in. She trusted him and he wouldn’t give her reason to regret that trust.

She was on her side, looking at him with pleading eyes.

He pushed himself up to his knees, after donning a condom. “You remember what I said would happen after I spanked you.”

Her eyes grew wide, but the surprise in them couldn’t hide the desire behind her softly whispered, “Yes, sir.”