Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(106)

He left her panties tangled in her legs, holding her thighs together. “You thought you could keep me away from this? Away from your body? It belongs to me, Mia. Only to me. I’ll teach you never to think to keep us apart again.”

The words were for play, to heighten the sensation, but the underlying meaning was there.

I need you. I can’t be whole without you. Don’t ever leave me again.

He brought his hand down, smacking her ass hard once, twice, and then again. He got to five, her flesh already pink, before he stopped to let her breathe.

Mia squirmed, though it was obvious she wasn’t trying to get away. Her fingers had laced together, squeezing tight. “I was so mad at you, so hurt. I couldn’t see past it, Sir. I’m so sorry. I wasted so much time.”

He wasn’t sure it had been wasted. They’d worked through some things they’d needed to work through. She’d written and found her footing back in that world again and he’d been forced to face what life without her would truly be like.

Did Ian love Charlotte more because he’d lost her? Had that made finding her again all the sweeter? Did Sean understand the depths of his love for Grace because she’d nearly died once?

Losing Theo had made Erin understand how hollow the world was without him.

He spanked her again because Mia was never satisfied with a couple of smacks. She needed more. He let himself go. Six through ten were quick, but he slowed and took his time getting to twenty, letting his hand hold the heat against her skin. “Nothing was wasted. What did you call it? This is our story and it played out the way it needed to. You needed to be free for a while longer. I needed to miss you. I needed to figure out you’re not someone I play with and then put up so you can’t get broken.” Another smack, this one on her left cheek. “You’re my partner. I need you in my life. I need you by my side. Even when it gets dangerous.”

She was precious to him, but keeping her in a box would kill her. He wanted Mia just the way she was.

Another set of smacks and he could hear her. She was crying, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Hell, he was starting to think he might cry, too. Mia wasn’t crying because she was sad. She cried because she felt so f*cking much and couldn’t let it out until it was safe. He gave her a place to release that storm of emotion.

He was her safety and he would never let her down again. He kept it up, but more to keep their connection going now. He smacked her pretty ass, held his hand against her and told her over and over again how much he’d missed her. How much he loved her. How nothing had been real without her.

Gradually her body stilled and she seemed to relax against him. “Thank you. It’s been so long. I haven’t…”

He breathed in the sweet smell of her arousal. The spanking had done more than allow her to cry. It had brought out all of Mia’s deep emotions. Her love and her lust. He craved them both. He tugged the panties all the way down and gently parted her legs so he could brush her core, feel the arousal there. “Haven’t what, princess? Haven’t cried? Haven’t come?”

Her body tensed slightly and then her hips tilted up, giving him access. “Haven’t cried. I didn’t even cry when I left. I couldn’t. If I’d started I wouldn’t have been able to stop.”

Such a beautiful ass. He couldn’t take his eyes off it. Her cheeks were a deep pink. He shifted her so he could see her * peeking from between her legs. Her * was a deep coral, glistening with arousal. He knew just what he wanted to do with all that cream. “I think the rest of this conversation is best done on the bed.”

She shuddered and sighed. “I agree. I want to hold you, Case.”

He was sure she did. The trouble was, he’d caught the part of his question she hadn’t answered. “Eventually. For now I’m going to play because I haven’t played with anyone in six months, but I don’t think you can say the same. Can you?”

She hadn’t replied about not coming.

He easily lifted her and tossed her on his bed. Where she f*cking belonged. Her eyes had gone wide, as though she’d just realized the precarious nature of her situation.

“I didn’t sleep with anyone.”

He hadn’t thought she had. “I know that. How about masturbation?”

Now those pretty eyes rolled. “Of course. I went out the day after we broke up and bought a big old Hitachi wand and named it Ike. That sucker is so powerful it requires a plug. But I thought about you every time I used it.”

That’s what he suspected. Mia liked her toys. Unfortunately, he’d banned her from using them. “I think you require a plug.”

Her face went as pink as her backside. “Case, you can’t punish me for masturbating. It’s not like you didn’t…please tell me you did.”

“Not even once, even though I was desperate to. I told you. I belong to you so that rule applied to me, too.” It hadn’t hurt that he’d been so tired most days from training her brothers and then sitting up with a newborn that he couldn’t have worked up the will to yank his own dick, but he wasn’t going to point it out to her. She’d been wandering the globe in first class with a giant vibrating wand and he’d been mourning her, taking her brothers’ shit and getting covered in baby spit up. And when he could have pleasured himself all he could think about was Mia and the fact that sex was now meaningless without her. She hadn’t felt the same way. He could totally forgive her, but he was going to have fun tonight. “Flip over and put that pretty ass in the air because you’re getting plugged tonight.”