Delicate Revenge: Breaking Belles

His tone had changed completely, as if he were a lawyer discussing clauses in a business meeting. “If there’s anything you’re absolutely unwilling to do, sexually or otherwise, we talk through it and negotiate. You’ll have a safeword that will stop all play if you feel things have gone too far beyond your comfort zone. But in this situation, and unlike a true BDSM dynamic, using your safeword will mean exiting the mansion and leaving the Trials early, thus failing.”

I could only sit there blinking for several moments.

“Why would you make the Trials harder than they already are? Don’t you want to pass and become a member of the Silver Ghost?”

Emmett just shrugged. “Yes, I do. But I want it on my terms. Part of signing a contract like this is building trust with my submissive. I should never push you so hard you’d ever have to use your safeword. But I will push you. I intend to show the Elders that I am all they’re looking for in an Initiate and more. And I will demonstrate that through you.”

I let out a heavy breath. Good Lord, what had I gotten myself into?

But before I could think much more about it, Emmett stood up, naked as the day he was born and, I had to grudgingly admit, as gloriously handsome as a god—all hard muscle and tight ass.

I yanked my eyes away before he caught me staring. Soon, he returned to bed, and he had actual paperwork. He wasn’t kidding about the contract.

It wasn’t just a page or two either. It was a bound packet. With a table of contents.

I was wide-eyed as Emmett sat down beside me and started flipping through the contents and reading over it in the same lawyer voice as before.

Terms. Goals. The Rights and Responsibilities of the Master.

But it was when we got to the Responsibilities and Availability of the Slave that things really got interesting. The slave was always to be available to the Master in the arrangement Emmett was proposing—a twenty-four seven power exchange. I gulped even at the thought. Could I do it? Give over control of my life, every minute of it, for three months?

It was basically what I thought I was signing up for anyway; I just assumed I’d have some time to myself in the room. A little downtime here and there.

But maybe this way would be better. Wouldn’t it be… interesting, if not a little refreshing, to not have to worry about anything for three months? To have someone else making all the decisions and taking on all the responsibilities for a while.

Then I narrowed my eyes at Emmett.

Who continued to read through the list of sexual positions, toys, and kinks—some of which made my eyes pop open.

I immediately struck through the idea of fisting. No, no thank you. Moving on.

He rolled his eyes but didn’t press the point. Good Lord, did he actually—

Nope, not going to think about it. Moving on, moving on.

I had to ask him about several other terms, each more eye-opening than the last. I’d always thought myself a fairly open person when it came to sex, but compared to the things he was describing, I felt like the naive small-town girl I was.

I didn’t like it.

And I certainly didn’t like it when we got to the section labeled Punishment.

“Um, excuse me?” I asked. “Punishment? I’m not a child.”

He just arched an eyebrow. “Submissives who exhibit bratty behavior get punished.”

“Bratty behav—” I cut off, already feeling the heat rise in my cheeks.

“Talking back. Not obeying quickly enough. Trying my patience. Failing to live up to my exacting standards.”

I rolled my eyes at him, and he reached forward, grabbing me tight by the nape of my neck so that I was forced to look at him eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose. “Rolling your eyes,” he said in a low growl that for some ridiculous reason made my nipples harden.

I wanted to shove him away, but I didn’t. I just clenched my jaw and asked through my teeth, “And what will these punishments entail?”

A truly wicked grin crossed his face at the question. “Oh, you’ll see, princess. You’ll see. Now are you signing the contract or walking out the door right now?” He held out a pen he’d magically produced from somewhere.

I swallowed and then breathed out as quietly as I could.

I had no choice.

I grabbed the pen out of his hand and signed the line on the last page beside where he’d written out my name in neat script.

Why did I have the feeling that I’d just signed my life, dignity, and entire future away?

3

EMMETT

I’ve always been a sucker for a submissive in bed in the morning. Tousled hair, smeared makeup, and the distant smell of sex from the night before were my addictive drug. But not this morning. I kept my hands off Bellamy… for now. We’d have plenty of time to make up for it tonight, no doubt, but this morning was more about watching, learning, studying every move she made so I’d know just how to handle her in the future.