Page 40 of Hard Lessons

“If I ever get the chance to I’ll...”

He smacked her ass again, then again. The same fast but steady pace he’d used previously.

The pain intensified with each mortifying connection of his hand on her flesh. The burn so extreme it was as if she were on fire, as though flames were licking over her skin.

Her muscles tensed, more tears sprang from her eyes. She tasted the bitter flavor of fury. Luca would pay for this. He thought she deserved a punishment, well, so did he.

“Last twenty,” he said, pausing. “And then you can sleep.”

“Sleep. I want to fucking kill you, I...” She twisted and fought him.

“Stop.”

A set of hard spanks landed on the curve of her ass, between thigh and buttock.

She cried out and jolted forward. “Oh!”

He didn’t let up, spanking her buttocks randomly now, the left, the right, down low near her pussy.

She was wailing and struggling. It was too much. She needed it to end.

It did.

The room went silent. Her cries echoed in her ears, warring with the sound of her pulse. Her pussy was tightening and releasing, a low throb hummed in her clit.

His hand was on her ass, smoothing over the burning skin as if easing away the pain.

“Get off me,” she snarled. “Now.”

He didn’t speak, but he did pull her upright and onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

But Serena didn’t want his comfort. She wanted to escape him, get away; if she didn’t she might demand her take her hard and fast the way he used to. “No.” She pushed his chest.

He allowed her to stand but kept his hands on her waist as though concerned she might fall down.

“You,” she said, waggling her finger, “have made a big mistake.”

“In showing you that you’re mine, that there’s consequences to your actions.”

“There are consequences to yours, too.” She fought the dizziness fluttering through her brain. “You just wait and see.” She stooped, pulled up her panties with as much dignity as she could muster, then staggered across the room.

She passed a small dark kitchen, then opened the next door she came to. It was a bedroom, and she stepped in, slamming the door behind her.

Then the tears came again. They were tears of shame, anger, and sorrow. What had become of her and Luca? He’d always been wild and passionate, only just aware of his own strength. But this, taking her over his knee, it was a new thing. And why had it turned her on even as she’d been wailing in pain?

She wasn’t sure if she liked that about herself.

She toed off her shoes and pushed her hair from her damp brow and cheeks. She crawled onto the bed and slipped under the heavy covers. Her ass felt as though it had been stung by a swarm of wasps and the bed smelled musty.

Closing her eyes, she clasped her hands beneath her chin and held back the sobs that wanted to come. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing them if he was listening at the door.

* * *

Luca rested his hotpalms over his eyes and bent double on the chair. He’d been harsher than he’d planned. The spanks had had more power behind them than he’d intended and her skin had been scarlet after just the first few slaps.

But damn it, she’d deserved it. He’d given up a year of his life while he’d made sure she’d been a free woman and she hadn’t visited him once. How much would that have cost her, really? Nothing. That’s what. And on top of that his last memories were of her flirting with David Watson, putting on that lipstick, wriggling her ass... telling a room of men she was a whore.

Escort, whore... what was the difference? None in his mind.

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