Page 26 of With this Ring

“The more she gets, the more she wants. Which is why I’m glad she is paired with Master Dimitri. He will set limits where she would not. He knows what she can endure better than she does.”

After several more strokes, the belt clattered onto the table next to the ruler.

The Top—Master Dimitri—crossed to the wall and returned with a long, thin strip of rattan.

A cane?

Half a dozen times, he bounced it off her flesh like he had with the ruler, lightly teasing, taunting.

Through the door, the whoosh from the implement knocked the air from Sasha’s lungs.

“That’s okay here?” she asked Gregorio around the knot in her throat.

“I’m watching. They’ve been coming here for a very long time.” He paused. “Too extreme for you?”

“Some of this looks interesting. But this…?” She shuddered.

“Guessing you’re not a pain slut?”

That much, she was certain of. “Absolutely not.”

Methodically, the Top marked the bottom, starting just above the backs of her knees and working his way up.

A few times, the woman moaned. But she continually pressed her hips back. Asking for an orgasm? For harder strokes?

Gregorio might be right. This wasn’t a place she belonged.

As if reading her thoughts, he asked, “I’ll repeat myself a final time, Petal. Why are you here?”

“I was looking for you.”

Finally, he loosened his grip, and she turned to face him.

Breath left her body.

She thought she’d been prepared to see him. After all, the wedding reception had been a very long time ago, long enough to get over her physical reaction to him.

But the truth was, a lifetime wouldn’t be long enough.

As always, he was dressed in his signature all black clothes, but he seemed different…broader, more muscular.

His normally sun-kissed skin was darker than she remembered, as if he’d spent time beneath the torturous sun. Up here in the mountains? Or somewhere else?

He was as shockingly gorgeous as always—maybe even more so—with his single diamond earring catching the light.

At one time, he’d worn a veneer of civility, but it was gone, and she barely recognized him as the brother-in-law he’d once been.

As she looked closer, she noticed his cheekbones were even more finely chiseled, and his jawline seemed sharper. Subtle lines were grooved next to his dark, wary eyes. Their depths appeared haunted, as if he’d seen something awful in the intervening years.

What happened to you, Gregorio?

And why did she ache to soothe the pain from his features?

“Petal?”

His hands were still on her, but the way he lifted one eyebrow penetrated the haze he’d wrapped her in. “I need help.”

Tightly, he nodded. “You’ve got it.”

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