Free To Master and Defend (The Dungeon Fantasy Club Book 2) by Anya Summers

his lap. In this position, her bare bottom lay over his thighs. Her breasts rubbed against the sofa fabric. The restraints afforded her enough movement to bend her arms so she could rest her forehead on her hands.
    "What are you doing?" She wriggled, attempting to escape his grasp, while a part of her purred in intoxicated delight.
    "Punishing you. I don't like liars, sweetness, nor will I take that level of disrespect from you."
    "What?" She screeched, bucking her hips as his palm connected with her backside and swatted her exposed flesh. "Are you insane? I will rip your balls off and serve them up fried if you don't let me go this instant!"
    "Keep it up, Lia, and you won't sit pretty for a week," he warned.
    Tobias's hand connected with her rump and burning pain jolted her system. He counted each stroke with methodical precision. Ophelia struggled, fighting against the onslaught as the fire in her ass ignited and was inflamed with each whack across her bottom. He smacked the left cheek, slapped the right, and then would land a swat that spanned both globes, grazing her sensitive pussy. Tears pricked her eyes as the pain of the spanking radiated throughout her entire being.
    When his hand stilled, rubbing the burning globes of her ass, the dam inside her broke and she sobbed. Great heaving cries, as the tumultuous ride her emotions had been on of late convalesced in this moment and burst forth. Tobias shifted her body, mindful of her bound hands, and cradled her in his arms with her head against his chest. Her bottom was engulfed in flames, throbbing from his sound spanking.
    He gently rubbed her arms, holding her close.
    "It's all over now, sweetness. Don't make me do that again. I didn't enjoy it, but I will not brook that type of blatant lying, not when your body is telling me otherwise. You can't deny the attraction between us, can you?"
    Sucking in a shuddering breath, she shook her head. "No, I can't. I'm sorry."
    "You're forgiven. Can I ask you why you ran that night?" he murmured, and she felt the resonance of his words inside her chest.
    "I don't know." She studied the rise and fall of his chest, evading an honest response. When he put it that way, it made her feel like a complete fool. He cupped her chin, drawing her gaze toward his liquid amber eyes that brooked her no quarter.
    "Ophelia, please don't lie to me. I cannot abide liars. Tell me why you left that night without even saying goodbye."
    Embarrassed at how badly she had bungled things, she closed her eyes to avoid his direct stare, which left her soul bared before him. "I left because I didn't want to be disappointed."
    "Disappointed over what? Clarify it for me." He rubbed his thumb over her lips in a bittersweet caress.
    "Because I've never had, never experienced, a night like that, and if I had stayed it would have ruined how wonderful it all had been between us," she finally admitted, feeling small and inept.
    One of the casualties of studying eighteenth century literature had been her dating life. Discovering that real flesh and blood men couldn't compare with fictional men had been a blow of mythic proportions. Call her crazy, but Ophelia wanted a man who not only understood the definition of honor, but exemplified it with his behavior.
    "You didn't think it could possibly be the start of something great, and decided to make the decision for both of us without even seeing what I wanted? You don't find that the least bit self-serving?" he asked.
    When he put it that way, she glanced at him and cringed. "I'm sorry, but I just didn't see the point. To be honest, I didn't think it would matter, or that you would have cared whether I stayed or not. In fact, I thought that you would have been more relieved than anything that you didn't have to pretend that you were going to call."
    "I cared."
    She'd hurt him. It didn't mean she was onboard with their relationship, but in an effort to lay salve over the wound she'd unintentionally created, she kissed him