Buttons and Lace (Buttons 1)

“You will do that for a button.” He held my gaze, telling me defiance wouldn’t help in this situation. He was going to get what he wanted no matter how much I fought.

“No.” I wasn’t going to let him throw me around like a rag doll. Been there, done that.

“Yes. Your actions aren’t excusable.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have tried to kill you if you didn’t try to choke me last night.”

“And maybe I wouldn’t have had to do that if you just admitted you’re mine.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ll die before that happens.”

“Then I’ll kill you and bring you back to life.” The threat wasn’t idle. He stared at me like he meant every word.

Sometimes, I forgot he really was a psychopath. Not a psycho like Bones but mentally unstable nonetheless. “I’m not letting you beat me. Get over it.”

“I’m not going to beat you.”

“That’s what you just said.”

“I said I’m going to spank you. It’ll hurt a little bit, but it’ll feel so good you won’t even notice.”

“I’ve been slapped with a belt before. It doesn’t feel good—at all. Maybe you should let me slap you around and see how you like it.”

He didn’t respond to the sarcasm. “You’ll enjoy it.”

“Will not.”

“You’ll enjoy it with me. I can promise you that.”

“Nope.”

He leaned over the table, his elbows resting on the surface. “Button.”

I met his gaze without flinching. “Crow.”

He hated being defied, but he loved it at the same time. It was obvious in the intensity of his eyes. His arms shook in frustration. He held up two fingers. “Two buttons.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“Instead of one, I’ll give you two.”

I didn’t realize the cost of my actions was negotiable. “Nothing less than five.”

He stared at me with a calculating look.

I wasn’t going to go through that without serious compensation. Five buttons for one session was reasonable. That saved me five days of enslavement. That put me five days closer to freedom.

“Five is too many.”

“If you were the one being whipped, you would feel differently.”

“It won’t hurt, Button.”

“Easy for you to say. Five.” I wasn’t going to budge. I was worth more than two buttons.

He clenched his jaw as he considered the offer. His cock was hard in his jeans from thinking about the violence he was about to cause. He didn’t want to waste time bartering back and forth. He wanted to get down to the good stuff. “Four.”

“Five.”

He gripped the edge of the table before he gave in. “Five.”

***

He pushed me on the bed and tied my ankles together with the yellow lace he pulled out of his pocket. I was buck naked and on my stomach. He grabbed my wrists and tied them together behind my back, making it impossible for me to move.

He crawled on top of me and swept the hair off the back of my neck. He kissed the nape gently, following my spine all the way down to my ass. His lips found my entrance and he kissed it softly, making my spine curl in pleasure.

I forgot that I was tied up like a hog, and I just enjoyed it. He was a god with his mouth, and he knew how to bring me to life. He slipped his tongue into my slit then rubbed my clit vigorously.

My hatred for him ebbed away, replaced with the fire of longing in my belly. In the throes of passion, there was nothing but the two of us. There was no hesitance or second-guessing. We were together, and in that moment, we would always be together.

He crawled up my back, his chest pressed against me. He kissed each shoulder before he turned my face toward his and kissed me on the mouth. I could taste myself, but that drove my arousal higher.

He kept his mouth to mine but stopped kissing me. “Safe word is lace.”

The safe word scared me because this time it was necessary. But it also made me burn hotter that I had the option. All I had to do was say that word, and he would stop at once. It gave me power, the kind I never had with Bones.

“Say it.”

“Lace.”

He moved to his feet and grabbed the black belt from the table. He stood in his black boxers, his muscled thighs thick and strong. His stomach was chiseled and hard, his eight-pack defined, even in the darkness. His chest expanded with every excited breath. The darkness had descended in his eyes. “You tried to kill me in my own bed.” He raised the belt.

I closed my eyes and prepared for the slap. I’d been hit with a belt before, and while it wasn’t agonizing, it did hurt. But the anticipation of the pain was worse than the pain itself.

He slammed the belt on my left cheek, immediately slapping once it hit my skin.