The same thing had happened on their first meeting. He’d known she was playing him, offering to suck his cock to keep him from sounding the alarm that she’d escaped. He’d been ready to wrap a fist in her thick copper hair and tell her to smarten up. That he couldn’t be so easily manipulated. That he might not return her to her owner, but she’d sure as veck have to barter something to keep him from turning her in.
Except he?
?d caught her scent. Watched those full lips part. Drowned in the depths of moss green eyes. And then he just had to let her barter the skill she had obviously perfected.
And it had cost him his ship.
Yes, he certainly planned to thoroughly punish the little human for the trouble she’d caused, and he’d let her think he planned to turn her into the Ocretions because she deserved a little stress. But she had family yearning to see her. A younger sister who spoke like a Venusian and a wistful mother, still beautiful despite what had obviously been a hard life.
Her sister’s beauty had not affected him like this. What was it about Lily that made her impossible to resist?
He guided her to his sleeping platform and pressed a hand between her shoulder blades, forcing her to fold at the waist and present her delectable little ass to him. It was skinnier than he’d like to see it. Perhaps on their twenty-six planet rotation journey to Ocretia she would add a little roundness to her elegant curves.
He wound a leather band around her wrists, tying a knot so could not escape. He slapped a second leather band against his palm, measuring its sting.
Not horrible. He slapped it against his leg. Yes, it would do.
“I’m going to whip you, Lily.” He thought it only fair he explain what her punishment would entail. “It will be a hard punishment. You stole my ship and left me and my crew stranded for weeks on an abandoned planet.”
In her vulnerable position, folded naked over his bed, hands bound, she appeared pale and penitent. But he wasn’t fooled.
“This won’t be your last punishment for your crimes. I intend to exact revenge in a variety of ways during our trip to Ocretia.” He ran his large palm over her lovely ass, drawing a measured breath to still the surge of lust touching her incited.
The muscles in her back bunched up at that. Yes, he’d let her believe he planned to turn her in. She should be worried for her life. He stroked up her back, soothing her before he caused her pain. He liked her nervous, not terrified.
He brought the leather strap down across her buttocks, holding her wrists to contain her lurch of pain.
She cried out then ducked her face into the bedcovers.
“This punishment”—he brought the strap down again, making a second puffy red line below the first one—“will probably be the most severe, unless you anger me again on the trip.”
Her muffled cry sounded from the covers.
He held her hip and applied the strap, whipping her over and over again. He liked hurting females, especially if they enjoyed it, but this time he didn’t intend to play. He’d whip her thoroughly and get the rancor out of his system. A true punishment for a real crime. After that, he’d let himself enjoy having her at his mercy. That had been his initial plan, anyway. Of course, he’d already diverged from that course and vecked her, not waiting more than two minutes after he’d cleared Jeselian airspace and set the controls on autopilot.
Well, this should set things straight between them.
He snapped the thick leather strap across her lower buttocks.
She screamed.
He leathered her shapely ass from the top of the crack down to her thighs and back up again.
She didn’t beg or plead, but she did make plenty of noise, yelping each time the strap slapped her flesh.
He whipped her, watching her pale skin turn a deep shade of red, then continuing for another ten strokes.
By the time he finished, her back shook with sobs. He steeled himself against the pang the sound produced in his chest.
He worked the knot on her bonds and freed her hands. Her little fists curled under her body, face still pressed in the bedcovers. He sat beside her and ran his hand over her slender back, admiring the delicate lines of muscle, her narrow waist, and, of course, her beautiful welted ass.
“That’s over with. Now, we can move forward.”
Her back continued to heave with ragged breath.
He slid his fingertips into her thick hair and massaged the back of her head, her neck, one shoulder.
She turned her face to look at him, and he was surprised to find her eyes dry and a questioning expression on her face.