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She was at the heart of the team? He was putting her on the same level as Zara and Finn? Staring at his shadow in the darkness, she didn’t know what to say.
After a moment, he got up first, switching on a light on his way to the small desk where his laptop was waiting. Dinner had arrived while she’d been sleeping. Several to-go containers were waiting for her on the table, but she wasn’t so much hungry as she was worried. Not about Fariq or what had happened today; she was good with a gun and had no problem using one to protect herself or any of her friends, for that matter. But if he was still mad at her… that didn’t just worry her. That scared her.
Afraid she’d been too quick to decide he’d forgiven her, she got out of bed. Following him, she quickly ensconced herself in his lap the moment he sat down to use his laptop.
He hugged her, but only briefly. “Go back to bed, Avery. I have a couple of things I need to do before I take care of that wanton, alley cat nature of yours.”
Was he regulating her into a secondary position that just didn’t matter anymore or was this just a matter of when Daddydidn’t need his toy she got put away? She didn’t know, but she felt dismissed and it wasn’t a feeling she liked.
“Wouldn’t want you to have to put yourself out, or God forbid I interfere with your work.” She jumped off his lap, three quick strides to where she’d left her clothes, putting some much-needed distance between them. She wasn’t prepared to have that distance hurt, but she’d be damned if she let it show. “I’ll see if they have room in any of the sleeping dormitories.”
His chair abruptly scraped back and before she could even shrug back into her guest robe, Thom had caught her. He grabbed her arm, hauling her first to the foot of the bed and then promptly over his knee the second he’d sat down. Knocking the terrycloth trail of her robe out of his way, the flat of his hand came cracking down full across the center of her bottom.
Kicking and bucking, Avery wrenched her arm back, fully intending to elbow him in the ribs. Whatever she had to do, she didn’t care, so long as she broke free.
“I don’t think so, little girl. You don’t get to flounce off and then fight me when I correct your behavior.”
“And you don’t get to treat me like I’m an afterthought!” she shot back. She couldn’t twist around far enough or she really would have elbowed him.
“Is that what you think I was doing?” he demanded, then laughed. It was a dangerous sound, one that made her shudder and that was even before he abruptly clamped his leg over the back of hers, nullifying her ability to kick. “Little girl, I am done playing with you.”
His open hand rained a fury of stinging swats all over her backside, none of which would have been half as bad as they now felt if only he hadn’t whipped her with his belt earlier. The welts were still there and she was beyond sore.
“That hurts,” she wailed.
She wasn’t lying or even exaggerating the level of pain he was creating. But worse than the pain was how the burning ache of each spank was affecting her emotionally. Physically, her body didn’t seem to care how unfair this was or how much it hurt. She was wet, and not just a little; she was soaked, the heated slickness of her natural lubricant gathering along her folds, tickling as it spilled from her.
Reaching between her legs, he found her dewy center. Mad as she was, all he had to do was stroke her lightly to win from her that first reluctant moan.
“Who’s my naughty, wet little kitten?” he crooned, tracing the five welts across her bottom with fingers made smooth and slippery by his fondling. “Do you want to be a good girl?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Breath hitching, Avery was helpless to bite back her own little girl’s voice as she whimpered, “I’ll behave, please, no more.”
She knew, in that moment, that she had truly surrendered to him in all ways—sexually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. As he reverently traced the weals his belt had made, her whole body quivered with need. But before she could say or do anything more, Thom swept her up in his arms and took her back to the bed.
“There’s more than one way for Daddy to make you sore, little girl,” he said, following her down onto the mattress. He lifted off her only long enough to unbutton his fly, releasing his hard cock, and pushing his jeans down past his buttocks. “And I plan to spend the rest of the night making sure you understand that.”
Thom was as good as his word, too. The next morning, Avery was aching and stiff from his use. She’d never been with a man of Thom’s virility or creativity. He had seemingly unending ways of making her climax. No matter how exhausted or sore she was, he took control of her orgasms, forcing her to come again andagain as many times as he liked until he was ready to seek his own release and, eventually, they both fell asleep.
Chapter
Nine
Thom was solicitous of Avery as he helped her into the corporate helicopter. The ride back was quiet and subdued. Her pride still stinging over being grounded, Avery offered to fly it, but Thom negated her request before Junior, who had already returned to Arizona with Baez, could take her up on it.
When they disembarked back at Wild Mustang’s headquarters, each man in the group had a firm grasp on the woman with whom he shared his life. Avery was watching. He saw her catching glances every time one of his co-workers took his lady’s hand or bent their heads together to share a private whisper. He hoped she was beginning to feel a kinship with them, although he knew her role would always be far more difficult than any of the others. She wanted and needed to submit to him, almost as much as he wanted and needed her to. But she also worked with the other men and he would always be very protective of her need for them to know without hesitation that they could always depend on her with both their safety and their lives. That alone put her in a unique juxtaposition between her submissive and her working self, but he was determined to help her come to grips with both roles.
Helping her into his truck, he walked around to the driver’s side to get in. “You’ve been awfully quiet this morning,” he said, as he pulled out. “What’s going on inside that beautiful brain of yours?”
“I feel random and confused.”
“How so? I can’t help, Avery, if you won’t share what you’re feeling.”
“I know. It’s just all a jumble. I’ve wanted to be with you for so long and when it’s just the two of us, I’m certain that I’m where I want to be. But flying home, I felt like I wasn’t part of the team. I was just one of the girls, which isn’t bad, per se. I really like and admire all of them. I just never thought getting what I always wanted would have such a high cost.”
“And you aren’t sure you’re willing to pay whatever price it is you think you have to pay?”
“That’s the problem… I’m not sure it isn’t. Ugh.” She broke off, shaking her head, and faced the window. “I’m botching this and making it all worse. Forget I said anything.”
