“Grace, you have one more day left here on Saint Thomas and then you’re gone. So you’re wasting time.”

“Wait, you said you’d punish me when I was ready, implying we had lots of time to figure this out and now you’re in a rush?”

“Yes,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’m in a rush because I want to f**k you, woman. I want to f**k you bad. I’m dying right now because I’m all the way over here and you’re all the way over there, and all I want to be doing is f**king you. But instead I’m having this stupid conversation, convincing you, of all things, to let me pleasure you back if you pleasure me. But if you work out and you meet my needs, I might see you again. Some other place, some other time.”

“Then no.” I hang up the phone. Oh my God! I did it again! Where the hell are all these no’s coming from?

My phone buzzes in my hand but I ignore it.

A few minutes later I feel him walk up behind me. “May I join you on the beach?”

“It’s a free beach. Or is this one your personal property too? Am I just a beach to you? Something you own and enjoy at your leisure?”

“I don’t own you, Grace. Not yet. So I’m asking if I can join you so we can sort this out. And that’s one more spanking.”

“We’re never going to get to the spankings, Asher. You just admitted to it, so stop.”

He chuckles. “That’s it, isn’t it? You want the spankings and you’re afraid I’m not going to make good on my threats.”

Pfft. “You wish.”

He kneels down and then sits. “Grace?” I look over to him, annoyed, and as soon as I look him in the eyes, he grabs my arm and pulls me to his lap, forcing me to lie across his knees. “Would you like a taste and a promise?”

My heart is pounding in my chest. He pulls my dress up over my ass, leaving my ridiculous underwear exposed.

“Panties on or bare ass for your sample?”

OMG. I bite my lip.

“Answer me, dammit.”

“Bare, please,” I squeak out.

“Bare, please, what?” he asks, prodding for the word master.

I’m not in the mood to submit that far. But I will meet him halfway since he’s giving me a free sample. I almost snicker at that. “Bare, please, Mr. Asher.”

He huffs out an almost inaudible laugh and I know he’s smiling.

Chapter Thirteen

DirtyFilthyGirl

“YOUR disobedience is alarming, Grace. It makes me wonder if you really want to submit to me.”

“I do,” she says hurriedly.

And I know she does. She’s having a hard time following through, but she wants to submit, that’s clear. I hook my fingers under the waistband of her underwear and tug on it gently until one side slips over her hip bone. She draws in a breath, loud enough for me to know this is turning her on, and then she lets it out slowly. I slide the other side of her underwear down and leave them bunched up in the crease between her thigh and her ass.

This makes her squirm in anticipation.

“Have you ever been physically or sexually abused by a man, Grace?”

She hesitates for the slightest of seconds, perhaps wondering at my line of questioning. But then she says, “No.”

“Erotically punished?”

“No,” she says again. Her breathing is faster now.

“But you want to be, don’t you? You want to be spanked like a bad little girl. Like a dirty, filthy girl, don’t you?”

She tries to turn her head to look at me, but I push her back down into the sand and then slip my hand under her neck and palm her throat.

She swallows and my dick expands. God, I want her mouth on me. Right now. I want to f**k her mouth and come down her throat. But I want to make her beg for it and she’s not even close to begging for that.

“Answer me, Grace. You insist on making me wait and that will earn you a punishment.”

She grunts against my palm.

“Darling, I already have you figured out. You like the spankings. Or at least the thought of them. The erotic stimulation they will bring you. But there are many, many other ways to punish you. Ways that are not so appealing. So think before you speak.”

“Yes, Mr. Asher,” she replies.

OK, she’s not going to call me Master, so fine. We can play that game. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, Mr. Asher.”

I swat her bare bottom lightly with my hand and count out, “One,” for her.

She doesn’t even move.

And this makes me smile.

“How was that, Grace?”

“Um… well, what was that?” She turns her head, stretching her neck against my hand , and this time I let her look at me. “Was that it?”

“Did it not suit you?” I ask with a grin. “Was it not everything you expected?”

“Well, not really. I expected it to hurt. Or at least sting. But that—” She stops when she realizes I’m chuckling at her. “What’s so funny?” she growls at me.

“You. And your silly rebelliousness at my requests. If you want a proper smacking, Grace, then follow directions.” She squirms under my hold, like she wants to get up, but I place one hand over her neck and the other over the small of her back. “Hold still. You will stay like this until we come to terms.” Her body relaxes and I smile. “Good, girl.”

“I want you to call me Grace. And I’ll call you Mr. Asher, can we come to terms with that?”

“If you do not submit, I’ll get up, walk away, and never turn back. Your choice. The terms are clear, Grace,” I say her name with a little bit of contempt to hammer my point home. “You. Submit. To me. Not the other way around.”

I can almost feel her rolling her eyes and then she says, “Yes, Master,” and I chuckle. “Don’t laugh at me,” she says, growling again.

I smack her hard this time and she yelps, her body twisting to get away from it before she can stop her reaction. “I’ll do whatever the hell I please and you will shut your filthy mouth about it, do you understand?”

“Yes, Master,” comes out a lot easier this time.

“OK.” I put her underwear back in place and turn her over until she sits up. “Kneel right there,” I say as I open my legs and point to the space between them. She scrambles a little until she’s in front of me. We are eye to eye since she’s propped up on her knees. “Should I allow you to look me in the eye? Or should I forbid eye contact?”