Page 42 of Hideaway

“Do not make me ask again, Kara. Here. Now,”Cade almost shouted, loudly tapping his index finger on the desk for emphasis.

Kara didn’t move an inch, locking her arms over her chest in a blatant stance of defiance as she stared at Cade with unshakable fortitude. Cade mirrored her posture, crossing his own arms as he attempted to glare her into submission. Both were equally matched in obstinacy. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them wavered. They were at an impasse, each of them willing to stand there all night if that was what it took to prove a point.

Cade broke first.

“Fine, you insufferable woman! If you won’t own your mistakes and pay the price, I’ll have to use a substitute.”

“What exactly does that mean?”Kara asked, worried by his cryptic suggestion.

“It means, Kara, that since you do not accept responsibility for your actions today, I will have to find another to carry the blame in your stead.”

“Who could you possibly find guilt with other than me?”

“I believe Declan was tasked with making sure you didn’t leave the manor,”Cade continued, his eyebrow raised with a hint of a challenge.

Kara’s face drained of color, her heart twisting as she began to understand Cade’s intentions.“It isn’t Declan’s fault that I disregarded your orders. You have no justification for taking out your anger on him. My decisions were mine alone,”Kara pleaded, confused to find herself defending the boy who merely an hour before had been standing guard at her locked door, enforcing her imprisonment.

“You’re right, it was you, not Declan, who recklessly ignored my orders and carelessly endangered everyone involved. However, since the guilty individual refuses to submit to the consequences, my punishment must fall on someone else,”Cade shouted back, seething with frustration.

Cade thrust his fingers through his dark locks in irritation, desperately striving to find the serenity with which he had entered the room. Kara, in her infuriatingly characteristic belligerence, had taken a battle axe to his composure, and he was struggling to gather the pieces. Slowly, painstakingly, Cade centered himself once again, turning to Kara with sternness, but not anger.

“You have the next ten seconds to get your arse over here, bend over the desk, and accept the punishment you’ve rightfully earned. Or, I’ll march downstairs, drag Declan out of bed, and have him thrashed in front of you and everyone else in the house.”He wasn’t bluffing. Cade had every intention of dragging the kid out into the courtyard and beating him senseless if it meant Kara would take a hard look at how her need to challenge the rules put herself and others in danger.

Kara shifted anxiously, faced with two excruciating choices. She couldn’t fathom consensually allowing anyone to beat her, least of all a man she had willingly allowed into her bed. The perilousness of her current situation certainly had her reconsidering all of her recent life choices. She had fucked her captor, even developed some sort of murky feelings for him. Now, in punishment for the single sensible judgment she’d made in weeks, the Neanderthal was threatening to hit her with a belt. Every survival inclined instinct within her body screamed for her to run. And she longed desperately to obey. But Cade wasn’t playing fair. In a very underhanded move, he had brought Declan into a matter that should have been settled between the two of them. Regardless of her fear and humiliation, she couldn’t allow Declan to be used as a whipping boy for her mistakes.

“Time is up, Miss Caine. What is your decision?”

“I’ll take the whipping,”Kara answered quietly, her voice quivering with dread.

“Good,”Cade said as a smug smile spread across his face.“Thank you for finally being sensible.”He patted the top of the desk cheerfully, welcoming her to join him and looking more like he was inviting her to tea rather than a beating.

“It’s not like you gave me much of a choice,”Kara responded bitterly as she walked toward him.

“I believe a choice is exactly what I gave you.”

“Let’s just get this absurdity over with. I’ll remember you get off on beating women the next time I feel even remotely tempted to get into your bed again.”

Cade captured her wrist and gently pulled her toward him. Warm breath caressed her neck as he wrapped his fingers lightly around her throat and leaned down to press the softest kiss in the hollow behind her ear.“Careful love, you might enjoy it too,”he whispered seductively.

“Not a chance in hell, you depraved bastard,”she replied venomously and tried to pull away from his touch.

“Harsh words, love. Let’s see if I can soften you up a little. Face me,”he commanded.

Reluctantly, Kara obeyed, turning to meet his appraising gaze. The glitter of amusement had left his eyes, and he wore a steady mask of determination.

“Why are you being punished, Kara?”Cade asked, capturing her chin in his hand to keep her from shying away from the question or his attention.

“I broke my promise and I ran and I put everyone at risk,”she answered, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he left her feeling like a scolded child.

“And what, Kara, are the consequences of your behavior?”

Her eyes begged him not to demand further degradation. She had already submitted her body for his castigation. He could at least leave her dignity intact.

“Answer the question,”he demanded coldly.

“You are going to hit me with your belt,”she replied as she nearly choked on the words, strangled with mortification.

“Precisely. Now, apologize and request your punishment.”

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