“We talked about this on the way to Malibu. About why I ran. About what I was running from. You’re the one who said it. Bondage. Kink. Toys. That’s what you promised me. And you were right.”

“That was before—”

“Before I told you the full story?”

I see the affirmation in his eyes. “I don’t want to push too hard,” he says.

“I want you to push,” I counter. “I want you to push harder and farther. I want you to take me as far as you want, as far as you need. You’re holding back because you think I need you to. Reining in what you want. Who you are. Control and power, remember? That’s what you told me you are.”

He says nothing, so I rush on.

“You said you could anchor me. That I get off on being used, but only by someone I trust. That you like control. That it makes you hot and hard.” I take a breath and try to slow down. “You told me you wanted me to submit to you. Do you still want that?”

“Desperately.” The word sounds as though it’s been ripped from him. “But I’ll tell you again what I said before. Not if the price is breaking you.”

“You won’t. You can’t.” I slide my arms around his waist and tilt my head back so that I can look at him. At this man who is strong enough to hold back so that he doesn’t hurt me. “You’re my glue, Jackson. My glue, my knight, my hero.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility.”

I narrow my eyes and grin, because I’ve finally heard the acquiescence in his voice. “Can you handle it?”

“I think I can struggle through.”

“Then we start slow,” I say. “But we go large.”

He takes a step back so that he can see all of me with just a flick of his gaze, from my heels all the way up to my eyes. “What do you have on under my shirt?”

“Nothing.”

His eyes darken with the kind of passionate promise that makes my sex clench in anticipation. He walks around me slowly, and though I don’t move, I can feel his eyes upon me, and every inch of my body tingles with awareness.

He moves to the bed and retrieves the paddle he’d thrown there only moments before. “You have been naughty. But I don’t want this.”

I’m surprised by the wave of disappointment that crashes over me. I’m not sure how I can miss something I haven’t yet experienced, but I cannot deny that I want it. Like a tattoo, I want Jackson to mark me, and I am about to confess that to him when he steps up behind me and bends his mouth to my ear. “When I spank you, sweetheart, it will be my palm on your ass. Not leather. Not a tool. Nothing at all between you and me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you been bad?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I should have trusted you.”

“Do you trust me now?”

I turn, because I need to see him. “Completely.”

My answer seems to spark something in him, because he grabs my shoulders and pulls me close, as if he is going to kiss me. He doesn’t, though, and the anticipation leaves me breathless. When he backs away to sit on the storage bench at the foot of the bed, I am left gasping from the force of my rising desire.

“Here,” he says. “Over my knee.”

I do as he says, positioning myself across his lap so that my rear end is right there for him. And, I realize with interest, I can feel his erection beneath the towel as it presses against me—and right now he is fully aroused, as turned on by this as I am.

Gently, he pushes up the shirt to reveal my ass. He keeps one hand on my back, but with the other, he strokes the curve of my rear, and just that simple motion makes me squirm.

“Still,” he says, and I obey immediately. Or I try to, because his movements have changed. They’re slower. More sensual. And when he slides his finger down to find how wet I am, I can’t help but wiggle with pleasure. “You like this,” he says. “Let’s see if we can’t make you like it more.”

He lifts his hand, then brings his palm down on me. The sting is local at first, then seems to spread, a million tiny sparks that start out hot and then fade to a pleasurable glow. He repeats it, and this time a moan of pure pleasure is wrenched from me.

“That’s it, baby,” he says as he dips his finger lower to explore my drenched and ready sex. “Oh, yes, you definitely like that.”

He lands another spank, then another, then soothes my ass with gentle strokes as fire seems to fill me, making me burn with a wild need.