Page 61 of Hideaway

“Thank you,”she whispered into his chest as she nuzzled against him, allowing herself a momentary weakness for which she could berate herself to her heart’s content in the morning. Typically, Kara would have protested such a masculine gesture that left her feeling weak and helpless, but at the moment she was willing to accept any gallantry that would enable her to make it up the stairs and into her welcome bed without using her abused appendages or her last stores of energy. Bidding adieu to her last remnants of dignity, Kara snuggled into the warmth of Cade’s body, burying her cheek into his chest and welcoming the rhythmic beat of his heart against her.

“Are you tired, sweetheart?”Cade asked softly as he pressed his lips to Kara’s hair and inhaled the sweet scent of her.

Kara merely nodded against his chest, too physically and mentally worn to form the words of a response.

“Well then, let’s get you in bed.”

Kara hoped she was imagining the hidden meaning in his words, an insinuation that promised more than sleep.

Cade placed Kara gently on the bed.Having already deprived her of half her clothing downstairs, Cade stripped Kara of her knickers and unhooked and removed her bra, his pace languid and savoring. Reverently devouring the sight of her nakedness as though it wasn’t a view she afforded him on a daily basis, Cade brushed his fingertips over the curves of her breasts, claiming them as his own.“So beautiful,”he murmured to himself as though the merits of her body still astounded him. Because they did. Kara was, undeniably, the most tantalizing creature he’d ever entangled with, and he had every aim to keep her. Leaving her on the bed, Cade vanished into the adjoining bathroom.

“Don’t lay down yet,”he ordered with a raised voice from the other room.

Obediently, Kara sat on the edge of the bed and tried not to close her eyes. It was a difficult feat. Quickly, Cade returned from the bathroom with a cloth in hand. A makeup wipe, Kara noted with surprise.

“Close your eyes,”Cade commanded gently, smoothing the cloth over Kara’s features and starting to wipe her face clean.

Cade’s hands were skilled as though he’d taken care of a girl in this capacity before. He probably had, Kara noted with a flicker of irritation.

“You did so well tonight, love,”Cade commended as he stroked the cloth across her eyelids and removed the dark, heavy makeup.

“I-I did?”Kara stuttered in surprise, his words of praise catching her off guard. She’d only suffered through a night of his torture—a punishment that she’d earned—and not very graciously at that.

“You did. Such a good girl,”Cade answered, softly pressing a kiss against each eyelid.

Kara didn’t respond, but his words warmed her straight to her core. Embarrassingly, she felt the heat of arousal pooling between her clenched thighs as Cade stroked her face and called her agood girl. God, the man made her weak in every sense of the word.

“Lie down on your back,”Cade instructed as he went to dispose of the cloth and retrieve something else from the bathroom.

Kara obeyed hesitantly, excitement rapidly overcoming her fatigue as adrenaline coursed through her veins at the thought of what Cade might do next. Fear and anticipation battled for dominance as Kara lay on her back and stared at the ceiling, waiting for Cade’s return. After some minor clatter and sounds of rummaging, Cade walked into Kara’s bedroom entirely naked and holding a small bottle of oil. Kara shot Cade a dark look. There was no fucking way she was doingthattonight.

“It’s not what you think,”Cade said with a laugh as he correctly interpreted the source of Kara’s glare.“It’s massage oil.”

“Oh,”Kara answered blandly, her face awash with relief.“You want a massage?”She wasn’t exactly in the mood to be rubbing him down when all she wanted to do was sleep, but she’d happily accept it as an alternative to having anything shoved in her ass.

“No, the massage is for you,”Cade explained, sitting down on the bed, reaching for one of Kara’s sore feet, and laying it across his thighs.

“Why are you taking care of me?”Kara asked with a suspicious raise of her brow.“I thought I was being punished? Shouldn’t I be left to suffer the consequences of my disobedience or something?”

“You’ve already been disciplined, Kara. I’m not going to continue punishing you; I’m not a complete bastard. I told you before that aftercare is an important part of the process,”Cade explained as he poured a small amount of oil into his palm and warmed it between his hands.

“So really you get some sort of sick satisfaction out of breaking me just so that you can put me back together?”

“I suppose that’s one way to look at it,”Cade answered with a grin, unperturbed by her attempt to make him question or feel guilty about his methods. He knew he was perverse, and he was completely unencumbered by the knowledge.“Do you want the massage or not?”

Kara took a quick moment to weigh her pride versus the ache in her feet. Her choice was simple.“Yes, please,”she pleaded, closing her eyes in bliss with the first delicious stroke of Cade’s skilled thumbs across her heel.

Cade worked out the tension in her muscles dexterously, applying the perfect amount of pressure to have Kara moaning in ecstasy. After tending to her feet, Cade moved to her legs, deeply digging his palms into her calves, balancing on the edge of pleasure and pain. Kara writhed beneath him, the excruciating euphoria of his touch almost too much to bear. She couldn’t withhold a whimper of desire as Cade’s hands stroked and kneaded up her thighs and over her hips.

“Does thatfeel good, love?”Cade asked smugly, continuing to rub his fingers along her hips as he bent to place a kiss on her inner thigh.

“Uh-huh,”Kara agreed breathlessly, her eyes closed in rapture as she gave in to the sensations overwhelming her body.

“Spread your pussy for me,”Cade commanded softly, pressing another kiss higher up on her thigh.

“What?”Kara asked, confused and half-lucid thanks to his tantalizing attentions. A chastising slap landed directly on the sensitive spot between Kara’s thighs, eliciting a sharp shriek of surprise as she moved a hand to cover the tender, stinging flesh.

“I said: open your legs wide, spread apart your pussy lips, and let me see that needy, wet cunt like a good little slut,”Cade ordered, each word even and controlled as though he weren’t saying the dirtiest, most demoralizing words Kara had ever heard spoken aloud.

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