Pennies (Dollar #1)(58)

My cock turned to stone.

Shaking my head, ridding the pressuring lust and focusing on my control and never-fading shame, I growled, “I’m going to let you go, but you’re going to do everything I tell you. Got it?”

Even now, I still expected a nod.

However, Pimlico merely stared at me offering no acknowledgement or refusal. My eyes dropped to her lips, following the cracked pink skin and fighting the sudden diabolical desire to kiss her.

I wanted so f*cking much to kiss her. To force her lips to move even if they wouldn’t speak.

But shit, that was way too personal.

I was allowed to sample one of everything. One gasp, one night, one orgasm.

But a kiss…I wouldn’t f*cking do it.

Trusting years of training by Alrik to force her to obey, I let her face go. The loose ponytail I’d formed with her hair fanned on the bed as she rolled completely onto her back and opened her legs a little farther.

“Good girl,” I murmured, tracing the bruises on her flesh, almost like roses in different stages of bloom. Some spread and mostly colourless with fading beauty and others as bright and tight as new buds.

Pressing a practically violent green one, I said, “Do you remember what each was caused by? Or do you prefer to forget?”

She stared at the ceiling as I followed the petals of another as it faded into ochres and browns. “The more I study you, the more you remind me of a mouse.”

The sharp intake of breath and sudden flinch was the most reaction I’d earned so far.

I latched onto the word that’d unravelled her silence. “You don’t like being called a mouse or was it something else I said?”

Her chin tilted. She shut down again.

Too late.

I’d unlocked something. I didn’t know what, but I’d find out.

“I think I’ll call you that from now on…little mouse. You’re a silent mouse tormented in a cage. However, no matter how small and vulnerable a mouse is, they have the power to wreak havoc if they accept who they truly are.”

“They also have incredibly sharp teeth.” Drifting my finger over her mouth, I inserted the tip past her lips to the warm wetness beyond. “Tell me, Pimlico, do you have sharp teeth?”

She didn’t open or let me run my finger beneath her canines. But her heart picked up, siphoning through the visible vein in her neck.

My silent one had become a silent mouse, and it suited her so f*cking much.

Her face snapped away as if a memory was too hard to handle.

Nudging her chin with my knuckles, I guided her back to me forcibly. “You don’t know me, but you do need to know that if you’re in bed with me, you focus on me and only f*cking me.”

She glowered.

I ran my hand down her right arm and looped my fingers with hers. “I trust you’re right-handed?” Glancing at her broken one, I smirked. “Because if you’re not, this isn’t going to go so well.”

Her eyebrow twitched but I didn’t catch her retort. Either way, she would do what I wanted. She would touch herself. I didn’t care if it took her all night.

Unthreading my fingers from hers, I wrapped them around her wrist, guiding her hand to her *.

She stiffened as I placed her palm over herself, hiding what I wanted to see. “Your turn.”

Propping my head into my palm, I stared down at her. “Go ahead. Touch yourself as you would when you’re alone. Let me see what you do, hear what you moan, watch you f*ck your fingers.”

She jerked, her hand flying from her * to clutch the bedding beneath her.

Temper masked my thoughts. “Don’t disobey a direct order, silent mouse. You have to do what I do, remember?” Taking her hand again, I guided it back into position.

Letting her go, I latched onto her knee, yanking her legs farther apart.

The moment I had a full view of her, I swallowed my groan. I’d seen many women in my travels; I’d sampled some and avoided others, but never seen one as pretty as Pimlico.

Could a woman be called pretty down there? Addictive and bare, yes, but pretty? I didn’t f*cking know, but Pim was. Everything about her was delicate and petite, tucked away as if terrified of yet more abuse but still womanly enough to hold a hint of sex.

Biting my lip, I curled my fist to stop myself from touching her. If I felt her…that would be it. There would be no tease or appetiser, just a f*cking banquet as I took her over and over again.

“Touch. Go on. I order you not to be shy.”

How could a sex slave be shy? Every part of her was owned by someone else. I didn’t understand the sudden terror on her features.

“Wait…” I paused. “You have come before, right?”

She froze.

Ah, f*ck.

“You’ve…never come?”

What was I supposed to do with that?

She squeezed her eyes, trembling as if preparing for a beating. Would Alrik hurt her for such a thing?

Would I?

I ran a hand over my face. “You’ve never orgasmed with another person? How about on your own in private?”

Her entire body shot pink with embarrassment.

Her answer was loud and f*cking clear.

Shit, how old is she?

How old was she when she was f*cked for the first time? Surely, at some point, a release would’ve found her? Or at the very least, curiosity would’ve forced her to find it on her own if not with another?