Free ReclaimedSurrender by Riley Murphy

reclaim his
sanity.
    He had to maintain control, no matter how tempting she was.
This was imperative if they were going to find some balance with the problems
they faced. Losing it now would ruin the great opportunity he had to prove to
her she could trust him.
    He took a deep breath and straightened. Now that he
understood what the stumbling blocks were he was ready to annihilate them. She
needed to be reminded that they had certain boundaries in their relationship
and he needed to impress upon her that he was totally prepared to hold her to
them.
    “Mmm…” She flexed her hips upward and dragged a seductive
hand down her rib cage, over her belly to her center. When she pressed her
fingers in and shivered with excitement a controlled calm came over him.
    Sure, most men would be pleased by such an erotic display,
but the truth of the matter was he wasn’t. Alexis knew better. The fact that
she was brazen enough to try to pull a stunt like this now only reaffirmed his
suspicions. She needed to be taken in hand.
    Disciplined.
    “Sit up.”
    She wasn’t listening and took too long to do as he told her
so he swooped down and scooped her up off the desk. With a couple of
none-too-gentle jostles he had her slung over his shoulder.
    “Rene!”
    Whack!
    “Rene!”
    “Do you want another one, Alex?”
    “Put me down!”
    She pulled on his shirt. He ignored her. She pushed against
his back. He shrugged it off. She kicked her legs in frustration and even added
a huff and a few puffs for good measure. He grinned while he exited his study
and stalked down the hall. It wasn’t until she yanked on a good hunk of his
hair that he smacked her ass again. Harder this time.
    She gasped, “Let me go.”
    “No.”
    She tried to bite him. The stubborn little brat. Whack!
    “Owww.”
    “Keep it up, Alex. I’ve been dying to tan your ass for
months.” He took the stairs two at a time and was sorry that she settled down
so quickly. She probably thought he was going to toss her on the bed and fuck
her brains out until she couldn’t stand up. Lord knows they’d done this kind of
thing before, but unlike those times, this time he wasn’t playing with her.
    He kicked open their bedroom door and wasn’t surprised when
he bypassed the bed and she instantly started struggling again.
    “Rene?”
    “Quiet, Alex.”
    He went into the bathroom, grabbed a towel off the rack and
snapped it open before dropping it on the floor. He spread it out with his foot
and then put her down, making sure her feet were solidly placed on the
terrycloth. “Stay put.”
    He didn’t waste any time. He popped open the stand-up shower
door, leaned in and cranked on the water. When he was satisfied with the
temperature he turned on her.
    “Take it off.”
    “I— What did I do? I only—”
    “We both know what you only tried to do.” His tone
was patient, but firm. “They’ll be no more attempts of you trying to hijack the
control between us. Got it?”
    “I…”
    He didn’t move. All he did was stare down at her for a few
charged seconds. Long enough to cause the denial poised on her lips to die and
her gaze to drop to the floor. This was the first unprompted submissive thing
she’d done for him in quite some time. It made his voice soften. “Good girl.
Now the lace, hand it over.”
    Oh her eyes may have been downcast, but unwisely that was
the only part of her that deferred to him. “I’m not sorry,” she grumbled.
    “You will be.”
    She shot a look up and he did nothing to hide the intensity
of his gaze. He purposely allowed her to feel the full force of it. “I told
you, Alex. You don’t get to have me again until you beg. And with each little
defiance the humbling experience I have planned for you will be expanded. So,
do as you’re told and take off the lace.”
    Here again, her chin may have dropped as if she couldn’t
look him in the eyes, but there was nothing subservient about her tone. It was
filled with vehement promise.