“Ten,” he declared.
There was no escaping now. Nowhere to run or hide. He pinned her down, shifted her feet farther apart and circled her bottom hole with lubricant. Mason wasn’t rushing; he’d dealt with Callo and obviously could afford to take his time to prepare her for the inflatable plug. Jade had time to ponder her predicament. How she’d come to be bent over and punished. Would any other man have her so positioned and subjugated? She had to believe it was the man himself, not his role as a law enforcer, because she still couldn’t think of herself as a criminal or even a smuggler. She was an idealistic bringer of aid.
“Now, relax, or else this will hurt,” said Mason.
The tip of the plug nudged against her anus and she shuttered her legs together, trying to pretend it wasn’t happening. She liked anal sex, she liked the way it made her feel, but not like this. If only… she dismissed the fantasy as inappropriate and totally ridiculous.
“Open up, Jade.” He wriggled the apex against her bud and it gradually slid into her oiled entrance. “There,” he said with satisfaction. “In.”
She bunched her hands into fists and drummed them on the table as the plug sank inside her bottom. She heard the little puffs as he worked the balloon pump—one, two, three. The sense of intrusion grew, stretching her passage as the air filled the plug.
“Another ten.”
Mason was right. This she would never forget. It was utterly humiliating, especially in combination with the spanking. Her tight asshole pushed open by the plug, expanding outward and at the same time, his hand ricocheting off her raised bottom. She bleated a few times, then gritted her teeth. Let him have his fun, if that’s what it takes.
He sta
rted to speak quietly, peppering his sentences with his slaps. “I am your keeper.” Smack! “I have a duty of care for my prisoners.” Another swat, slightly higher and the plug, although flexible, seemed to jar inside her. “You risked your life and nearly cost me mine.”
She had? “When I…” The clash of his palm against her bottom ended her sentence.
“It’s a huge risk going onto a fugitive’s vessel without backup. I took it, but your little antics upset the balance. It would have been much worse for you if he’d won that battle.” Mason squeezed the pump again, and the sense of fullness intensified. “With me out of the way, he could take you. Do you know what Callo does to women he doesn’t like?”
“No,” she answered breathlessly, fighting with a rising sense of guilt at her thoughtlessness. If she’d followed the boot-up protocols, she’d have known there was another ship in proximity and that the tractor beam was engaged.
“Best you don’t.”
“I’m sorry. I am, truly. I didn’t mean to interfere with his capture…” she sniffed, feeling a tear trickle down her nose onto the table and releasing a low wretched cry. Dammit, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. What a mess she’d have been in if Mason had been killed.
“Apology accepted. You sound sincere. I’m going to leave this plug in and you’re going to stand up, walk over to the wall, and face it. You’re going to stay there with your legs apart, hands on your head and make damn sure you think hard about what you did. Okay?” He detached the pump.
“Yes, sir,” she murmured.
What next? How to move on from her disastrous attempt at escaping Mason? She wanted to make it good between them, not just because she risked his life and hers, but because he said things that made her realize something she needed from him—a duty of care. Nobody had cared for her, not since she’d grown up and left her family home. Men had used her, and not in a way that really made her feel safe or happy. She’d bartered her body in return for favors or opportunities to leave Malimor. She wasn’t going to sell her body to Mason, no matter how much she fancied him. There was something else she could offer though.
“Sir,” she said, still facing the wall. “Please, may I assist you?”
“In what?”
Jade jumped slightly. He was closer than she thought—she could almost feel his breath on her bare back.
“I can fix the security system, then you can lock me up again.” She turned to look over her shoulder. Mason’s lips were pursed together. “And anything else that’s broke, or near broke,” she added.
“Be my mechanic?” He ran his forefinger along his lips, thinking on her suggestion. “Why? Why would you help me?”
She felt the familiar fluttering in her stomach. It shouldn’t be there, because her backside was blazing, her bottom hole stretched by an inflated butt plug and her nipples stiffened with embarrassment and yet, through all this, she was somewhat taken by Mason. He’d not tricked her, lied to her, or done anything mean. His punishments weren’t exactly unfair, and he carried them out judiciously.
“I just do,” she said lamely, the heat rushing to her face.
“I’ll take that plug out now. Lean forward, hands on the wall. I’ll deflate it real slow and it should pop out.” He stroked her back, letting his fingertips drift down her spine. She waited, feeling the fullness dissipate and the plug ease away. It hadn’t been a horrendous punishment, but she wouldn’t want it repeated like that, though the plug itself intrigued her. What would it feel like in tandem to a good fucking? Her cheeks were heating up again and she dismissed the thought.
“Thank you, sir,” she said graciously.
“I’m going to take up your offer, Jade,” Mason finally said after he’d cleaned up the room. Jade stood hovering, still naked and a little confused by her emotions.
“I’ll do whatever you ask—”
“I need to be sure you’ll not get up to mischief—”