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“Put her hand on my forehead to see if I was warm. Sometimes she'd use her cheek. She said it was more accurate.”

She gives me a sidelong glance. “Don't get any ideas. There's no need to put your cheek on my forehead.”

I roll my eyes. “You know, you're nothing like you come across online.”

“What do you know about how I come across online?”

Fuck. I said too much. She didn't need to know that. Why am I having conversations like this with her at all?

“Might’ve checked your socials before I came. See who I was dealing with.”

“Interesting,” she says. “Social media’s just a curated version of somebody's world.”

“Right. Easy to forget that.”

“I’m curious. What kind of version did you have of me in your head?”

“Docile,” I say. “Easygoing.”

She giggles again. It’s adorable.

“You’re nothing like that. Good thing I’m the one in charge.”

“Oh, are you?” Her eyes spark defiance at me.

“You know I am. Admit it.”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “Make me.”

Oh, so that’s how we’re playing it? She's decided, and a woman who's decided is a different problem from a woman who's afraid.

My cock throbs.

I lean in, close enough that she has to either hold her ground or give in.

“If you don't,” I say quietly, “I'll punish you. I told you that spanking was only a taste of what I'll do to you. You’ve been punished a few times now, haven’t you?”

She's trembling. Good. She should be.

“Says the guy who made me come on his lap.”

I go still. I did, didn’t I? She’s playing with fire.

“Is that right, lass?” It comes out low.

“Do you want me to tell you the other ways I can punish you? I know how to punish a woman in ways that will never even leave a mark.”

Her chin lifts, and her eyes spark. “Ooh, look at me, a monster of a man, threatening to punish a woman half his size.”

I look at her for a long moment and think, You mad, brave girl. Do you have any idea what you're doing?

And then I think, Yes, she does.

She's not reckless. She's calculating, and that calculation has landed her here, chin up, pulse hammering, practically daring me to make her fucking hurt.

Something dark and erotic stirs. I've been starving it for years.

“Aren't you courageous?” The words come out dark at the edges. “I wondered if you were turned on when I spanked you. Maybe I should check. Right now. Slide my fingers into those knickers. Do you like when someone dominates you?”