When I'm with You (Because You Are Mine #2)(14)



“It’s very simple. You’re very beautiful. I want you. It would give me great pleasure to see you submit, for once in your life. You require discipline,” he said firmly, his mouth curving into a god-awful sexy smile. “Besides, if you are determined to stay in Chicago, I want you close.”

“So you can keep tabs on me? Keep me in line?” she asked, insulted.

“Yes, to be honest.”

Their eyes met and he sobered. “And if we are to see each other, I will be the one to call the shots. Do you agree to this? Can you give up control to me?”

She bit her lip uncertainly. “Will this be an exclusive arrangement?”

“Yes. I won’t be sexually involved with another woman for the time period we are together. I expect sexual fidelity from you as well. In fact, I demand it,” he said in a harder tone with a pointed glance.

Her heart seemed to have swelled past its typical confines and was pressing into her throat. “And just how do you plan on keeping me in line?” she managed sarcastically, still insulted by his insinuation that he wanted to engage in this relationship to control her while she was in Chicago.

“At the moment? I will spank you by hand.”

She noticed him studying her reaction closely and strained for a neutral expression. He heart gave up pretending, however, and started running a race in her chest cavity.

“As I said, even though you may not have been entirely aware of it, I believe that’s why you came here. I want you to know that I won’t put up with your manipulation. I will punish you every time you defy me in the future. I will punish you every time I see you engaging in impulsive or unsafe behaviors. I will discipline you every time you lie to me.”

Nothing could have prepared her for what he’d said. The word punishment took on layers of new meaning when uttered in Lucien’s low, sexy voice . . . dark, forbidden, exciting complexities. Part of her was shocked, and yet another part wasn’t surprised at all.

She laughed incredulously, even though panic started to rise in her as she observed his calm, unruffled manner.

“You’re flipping mad,” she breathed out, hiding her bewilderment.

He regarded her through a hooded gaze.

“Those are my terms. I have told you that I want you. But I won’t have you running amok in my life if you plan to live in Chicago. One, I don’t need the drama. Two, I couldn’t abide witnessing it.” Her breath caught when she heard the emotion ringing in his compelling voice. “If your spoiled, oversexed mother was too weak to teach you to control yourself, and your father was too self-involved to bother, then someone has to do it. When you strutted into this restaurant today like you owned the place, you made that someone me.

“Now unfasten your pants and lower them, then lean against my desk,” he continued, his matter-of-fact manner only amplifying the surreal sensation fogging her brain. He couldn’t be serious. He wanted to spank her? Lucien Sauvage? “You can go if you choose,” he said, not unkindly, when he noticed that she didn’t move and continued to stare at him in disbelief. “We won’t do this thing unless you are in full agreement.”

“That’s blackmail,” she whispered.

“No. You are not my employee, Elise. I have never offered you a job. I have never offered you anything but this relationship, which will be carried out by my rules, and mine alone. You pushed yourself in here. This isn’t about blackmail or harassment. This is about what you need; what I think you were asking for marching in here uninvited today. If you plan to live here in Chicago, if you are to be in my life, I will not allow you to manipulate and defy me. You will receive the discipline you require—and if I sense that you submit, there will be pleasure as well. If you can’t agree to that, then there’s the door.”

She didn’t move. She couldn’t.

He nodded once, seeing that she’d made her decision. Elise realized dazedly that she had, indeed, decided. He turned and walked over to a large antique cabinet. He opened one of the doors and she glimpsed an expensive stereo. Suddenly, the sounds of Beethoven’s rich, penetrating fifth symphony filled the air. She stared at Lucien stupidly as he returned to her.

“Do as I told you,” he said, not unkindly.

She glanced once at the door and back at him. His face was hard, but she saw something in his eyes—not gentleness, necessarily, but compassion . . . understanding that this was not an easy thing he was asking of her, but that he asked it anyway.

“I hate you, Lucien Sauvage,” she said as she began to unfasten her pants, the hissing sound of her voice barely rising above the swell of the music.

He nodded once matter-of-factly. “But you will still do as I say.”

She jerked down her pants as a defiant reply.

“Lean over the desk,” he said.

Her held breath burned in her lungs and blistered her throat as she did what he said. She’d never been punished before. She’d never voluntarily given up control to a man. This was an entirely new experience. She couldn’t believe she was allowing it to happen. What did it mean, that she was? Anger, bewilderment, and excitement twined in her and tightened around her lungs. Her breath hitched when Lucien stepped closer.

Something hot and forbidden surged through her *. She felt his hand at her hip. His long fingers slipped beneath the waistband of her underwear. A tendril of excitement flickered through her clit.

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