All five of us step out of the elevator and into the apartment. Mikey and Liam each give me a kiss on the cheek before they head off to bed while Conor keeps my hand firmly grasped in his. He squeezes, and the goosebumps prickle along my forearm. Ever since we danced to that hot song about three hours earlier, I knew that I’d be spending the night in his bed.
The club was amazing. I haven’t had that much fun, well ever! I danced all night. Mostly on my own, but up there in the booth with the boys’ eyes on me the entire time.
“Night,” Shane growls as he steps out of the elevator and stalks down the hall towards his office.
I stare after him. He has been watching me like a hawk all night, but for the last hour he has barely spoken to me. I know I didn’t put a foot wrong and I wonder if I will ever understand his mood swings.
“What’s crawled up his ass tonight?” I whisper.
Conor laughs softly. “You don’t know?”
I turn and look up at him. “No.”
He cups my chin in his hand and narrows his eyes at me. “He’s pissed because his sexy little hacker was very well behaved, and so no-one got even the tiniest glimpse of her panties.”
“So?”
“So, he’s got no reason to drag you into his office and spank your ass!” He arches an eyebrow at me and I feel an unexpected rush of wet heat between my thighs as I recall what he said before we left for the club.
I bite on my lower lip as I stifle the groan that threatens to escape my lips at the idea of Shane Ryan spanking me.
Conor frowns as he leans his head closer to me. He brushes the pad of his thumb along my jawline before dipping his head lower and pressing his lips against mine. I push up onto my tiptoes as I kiss him back, but just as I deepen our kiss, he pulls away.
“Go on,” he nods his head towards Shane’s office. “Go to him.”
“What?” I blink. “But I’m staying with you tonight.”
He sighs softly as he stares at me with those dreamy, dark brown eyes. “I’m not sure I can give you what you’re looking for tonight. Angel.”
“You can always give me what I want,” I breathe.
“Yeah. And I can give you what you need too. That’s why I know what you need isn’t me. Not right now. You’re looking for some pain to take the edge off. And I get that. But I can’t do that with you.” He drops his hand.
“But, Conor,” I start to say. The last thing I want to do is hurt him.
“And that’s okay,” he adds with a smile. “I don’t want to be that for you, Angel. Maybe one day, but not now.”
I stretch up, placing my hand on his jaw and running my fingertips over his beard. “How do you understand me so well?” I ask softly.
“Because we’re the same, Angel,” he whispers. “Now, go get yourself some punishment and I’ll see you in the morning.”
I smile at him and I almost say the words, but for some reason, they stick in my throat. Telling Conor Ryan that I love him is the last brick in the wall. Once I do that, my last line of defense is gone.
“Thank you,” I whisper instead as I push my body against his and pull his face to mine. I kiss him softly and he groans into my mouth. “Go, Jessie, before I change my mind and carry you to bed.”
I pull back, rolling my lips over my teeth as I savor the taste of him. “Night, big guy.” I say before I walk down the hallway to Shane’s office.
When I reach the door to Shane’s office, it’s open, and I step inside. He’s sitting at his desk staring at his computer even though it’s clear that it’s not switched on.
“Everything okay?” I ask him.
He looks up at me and blinks. “I assumed you were with Conor?”
“I was. But then I remembered something, and I thought I should tell you about it,” I say as I walk towards his desk.
“What’s that?”
“You remember when I was dancing earlier?” I step closer.
“Yes?”
“And Mikey dropped his little pocket-knife, and I bent to pick it up for him?”
“Yeah,” he scowls at me as he runs a hand over the dark stubble on his jaw.
“I think that one of your bouncers might have seen my panties,” I breathe.
His eyes darken in an instant and his eyes roam over my body, making my nipples pebble beneath the fabric of my bra.
“Hacker,” he growls as he holds out his hand. I take it and he pulls me towards him. “You think? You’d better be sure because if I punish you, it will hurt!” I know that it will but my pussy clenches in anticipation anyway. “Not to mention that my bouncer is fired!” he adds.
“What? You can’t fire someone because he got a glimpse of my panties!” I say. Shit! I hadn’t considered that.
“I can, and I will, Hacker,” he scowls at me.
“Then maybe I got it wrong. He didn’t see them. Please don’t fire him, Shane.”
“So, you just came in here and straight up lied to me?” He arches one eyebrow.
“I was just trying to…” I don’t finish the sentence. But I don’t have to because he knows exactly what I was doing.
“You thought you’d come in here looking for some fun, looking for me to punish you? Which obviously I’m going to do now because you’ve just lied to me. But you could have cost a man his job.”
Well, shit! This escalated quickly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it like that.”
“What have I warned you about lying to me?” he snarls and goosebumps prickle over my entire body. Fear shivers along my spine, along with a tingle of excitement.
“Not to,” I whisper.
“You could have simply walked in here and asked me to spank you,” he says as he stands up from his chair.
“I know,” I breathe.
“And you must also know that the punishment for lying to me is going to be a damn sight worse than any I’d have given you for inadvertently flashing your panties?”
The heat throbs between my thighs at that realization. “Yes,” I almost whimper.
He nods. “Turn around.”
I do as he says until I’m facing his large mahogany desk. He places one hand on my hip and his other one between my shoulder blades, pressing me down against the cool wood. I lie there with my face against the mahogany, wondering how the hell I let this happen.
Shane is pissed – for real. His fingers trail down my ass and over my outer thighs until he reaches the edge of my minidress, skimming over my hot skin as he lifts it gently. He pushes it up over my ass until it’s bunched around my waist, and I suck in a deep breath as he grabs my panties in his powerful hands and tears them roughly over my skin.
My heart races and I’m hyper aware of my breathing becoming faster and heavier with each passing second. The metallic jangle of his buckle as he unfastens his belt reverberates around the room and my insides contract. The whisper of the soft leather sliding against the fabric of his suit pants makes my skin prickle with fear.
Shane Ryan is about to spank me with his belt! Fuck!
There is no warning. No prep spanking. Just the sound of leather cutting through the air before it lands on my ass with a loud, satisfying thwack.
It hurts like hell and I almost cry out, but I won’t give him the satisfaction. I suck in a breath and brace myself for the next one. It lands even harder than the first.
“Will you ever lie to me again, Hacker?” he growls before the third blow slices across my ass cheeks.
“No,” I say as I imagine the red welts that must be striping my ass right now.
“Your ass is a beautiful shade of pink, Hacker,” he says as though reading my mind.
“I barely even felt it.” I grind out the words and he draws in a sharp breath.
“Really?”
“Really!” I hiss.
“Well, it must be true because you just promised never to lie to me again. So,” he growls as he lands the fourth one even harder and the tears spring to my eyes. My skin burns like a million tiny, fiery needles are dancing over my ass, but the wet heat still rushes between my thighs. Because Conor was right. Sometimes, I need to feel the pain, so I can give myself permission to have the pleasure too. I focus on my breathing. I have dealt with much more intense pain than this before. It’s nothing really. My body is just not as used to it as it once was.
“You feel that?” he growls.
“Fuck you!” I snarl.
“Fuck me?” he hisses as he lands the fifth blow and now the tears are streaming down my cheeks.
Damn! I’m not crying, but the sting of his belt makes my eyes water like hell. I don’t want him to think he’s made me cry, though. He’s standing over me and he can’t fail to see, but it doesn’t make him falter and I love that. Because I would hate him to believe that I can’t take this. I need this from him.
Shane brings the belt down on my ass another seven times and by the last one, my skin is on fire and I start to get a slight queasy sensation in my stomach. I close my eyes as I prepare for the next one, but his belt drops to the floor as he breathes heavily. I lie still. Waiting to be dismissed, but then his firm hands run softly over the skin of my ass. I can’t help pressing myself back against him slightly as his touch soothes the fire burning through my flesh.
“You like pain, Hacker.”
It’s a statement rather than a question, but I answer anyway. “Sometimes.”
He slides one finger through my dripping folds and into my hot entrance.
“You must really like pain,” he groans. “Because you’re fucking soaking.”
The heat flushes through my chest and onto my cheeks and my pussy is throbbing along with my ass. It aches for him. But he pulls my dress down, smoothing it over my ass, before grabbing me by the elbow and pulling me up.
“Go to bed. Your own bed!”
Blinking up at him, I have to force myself not to cry for real. I want to call him an asshole, but I bite back the retort. I’m fed up of trying to second guess his moods or figure out what he wants from me.
I give up.
Shane Ryan can go fuck himself.
