Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 456

She excited me in ways I could not control, and I hated it, and wanted it at the same time, and for one ridiculous moment I considered calling Dominic and asking him what a man did with a feeling he could not shoot, bury, or buy. I discarded the idea as soon as it came. Dominic had his own wars. This one was mine.

I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, and the bathroom was full of steam and the sound of my own breathing. I had just wrapped a towel around my waist and run a hand through my hair when I heard the knock at the bedroom door, soft and quick, like whoever it was did not want to be heard doing it.

I did not have to guess. There were only two women living in this house, and the other one was so shy her legs would never carry her through my door uninvited.

"Come in," I said.

The door opened, and I got the shock of my life, because it was not Scarlett. It was Tasha, my shy little bride, the girl who trembled in my presence and could not hold my gaze for more than a heartbeat.

After listening to everything she had to say, with her arms still around my neck, I asked her a question.

"Are you sure you want to be broken by me, Tasha?"

Her eyes lit up, bright and hungry, and she nodded, frantic, delighted that I was playing along. "Yes, yes. I am sure."

"You are convinced you can bear it?" I asked, and I let my voice drop, low and patient, the way you speak to an animal that is about to bolt.

I stopped beside her. She raised her head, and I registered the fear in her eyes, the kind no script could fake, and then I brought the whip down across her arm and shoulder. The crack of it filled the room, and the dress split where the leather kissed it, and a bright red line rose on her skin. She gasped, a sharp and broken sound, but she did not dare make a loud noise, and that interested me.

The whip came down a second time, across the back of her neck, and she jerked forward, her hand flying to the mark. A third time, across her back, and the thin fabric of the dress tore open and the lash bit into the skin beneath, and a sob tore out of her throat. A fourth time, across her arm, and she cried out, loud and raw, and the sound of it bounced off the walls.

"Stop!" she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Please, stop!"

I squatted down in front of her, bringing my face level with hers, and I watched her shiver, watched the tears spill down her cheeks and ruin the careful makeup she had spent time perfecting. "Stop?" I said, soft and almost kind. "But I am just getting started, Tasha. You said you could bear anything. You begged me to break you. Didn't you want this?"