Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(51)

He gave her five sharp slaps, moving his hand over and around, peppering her flesh but not paying too much attention to one spot. Her cheeks immediately flushed to a nice pink.

“I don’t think I like the disciplinary part so much, Case,” she admitted.

“I didn’t like standing outside the cabin while that * held a gun on you.” Two more. “I didn’t like the fact that I nearly panicked when I should have been cool and precise.”

“I’m sorry.” The words were said on a little sob.

Now they were getting somewhere. She’d been so collected since that moment when the plane had tossed them to the floor. She’d been a damn near perfect partner, with the singular exception of placing herself in the line of fire. He’d been so very certain she would lose it on him after he’d been forced to murder the man who’d come after her, but she’d merely yelled at him for getting blood on the carpet. She’d been patient when he’d locked her in that tiny safe box, and as far he could tell she’d calmly walked into the killing zone and tried to negotiate for Michael and Hutch’s lives. To top it all off, she’d taken over flying the plane and gotten them where they needed to go.

But there was a soft place inside that competent woman. She was trying to hide it, trying to not show him how much the day had worn her down. He needed to blast past her bravado and give her a place to let it all loose.

“I’m sorry.” Her hands clutched at the bedspread, nails trying to find purchase. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things hard for you.”

He found a rhythm that still managed to keep her off balance. “Is that all you’re sorry for?”

Over and over he spanked her, heating her skin to a hot shade of pink.

“I’m sorry I kicked you in the balls.”

He’d almost forgotten about that in the horror of the day. It didn’t say much for his freaking life that getting his balls shoved into his body by his sub’s knee was the second worst thing to happen to him in a twenty-four-hour period. That deserved a nice smack and he laid it right between her cheeks.

Mia yelped and then a whimper came out of her mouth. “I’m really sorry, Case.”

He paused for a moment to let his hand slide down, brushing between her legs. There it was. He breathed a sigh of relief because her * was nice and wet, her labia puffy with arousal.

They would get where he needed them to go.

“I’ll take my punishment.” He let his hand play around her *, delving lightly and skimming the surface. “I was an ass and I would tell any female I know to do the same thing to a man who treated her that way. My fault, princess. You walked back in and I suddenly lost the ability to think with my brain. So I’m not going to demand anything for that. This is all about what happened when you walked into that cabin. You got Michael shot.”

“I didn’t.”

He hated pointing this out to her, but she needed to truly understand what had happened. He gave her another five. By his count she was almost at thirty. Such a stubborn girl, but he could be patient. “You did. Before you walked in, the mere threat was enough. Once they had you, they didn’t need Michael or Hutch. They would have taken them out very quickly. There were only two of them and three of you, two of whom are battle trained. Why keep them around when they could control me through you?”

There was the first sob. “I didn’t think about it. I just did it.”

“You followed your instincts.” He got it, but he had to make her understand that his training trumped her instinct. “They were wrong. I will follow you when it comes to solving a puzzle, but you will follow me when things get dangerous. That’s the only way this works.”

Her knees wobbled and then she started to crumble.

He caught her before she hit the floor. Case hauled her up as she began to sob, shifting her easily so he could cradle her.

“I’m sorry.” Her arms went around his neck as she finally broke.

“I am, too,” he whispered, hugging her tight. He sat down on the bed, cuddling her close. This was what he’d wanted, what he’d worked toward. She needed to let it out or she would be restless, unable to sleep. She needed to let out all the horrors of the day. “I’m so f*cking sorry about what happened today.”

She wrapped herself around him. There was not an ounce of self-consciousness he could find in the way she clung to him. Despite the ass he’d been before, she seemed to offer up all her warmth and trust in him now. She sobbed into his shoulder, her body shaking as she let it all out.

He held her close, comforting her in a way he’d never comforted a woman before. Only Mia. There was something deeply intimate about holding her that calmed him even as she wound down. He reveled in the way she curled on his lap, her whole body exposed. Her soul exposed.

He ran his hands over her, connecting them. “I’m sorry I wasted all that time.”

She looked up at him, her face blotchy and still so damn beautiful to him. “I’m sorry about that, too. You’re a very stubborn man.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “Do you feel better?”

“And a manipulative Dom.” She cuddled back down. “Yes. I do feel better. Today kind of sucked, Case. It sucked and it was also pretty awesome. I’m sorry about Michael. I’ll apologize to him tonight.”