“I bet you’re
completely regretting saying yes to this now.”
She shook her
head. “I shouldn’t have.”
“Yes, you
shouldn’t have.” She’d backed herself into a wall and Balthazar reached her in
two steps. She flinched when Balthazar
spread one hand on the wall beside her head. He shifted his weight there as he
leaned over her and whispered, “You smell like roses.”
“I-i-it’s the bath
water. They used rose oil,” she stammered. Having Balthazar so close frazzled
her brain. He seemed bigger somehow. Like he’d grown ten feet since she'd last
seen him. And so broad too. When did his shoulders and chest get so broad?
Balthazar touched
the tip of his nose to the base of her neck and traced a line up to her jaw,
inhaling as he went. The move sent Arianne slumping against the wall for
support, her knees threatening to give way beneath her. She raised her shackled
hands until they spread over the center of his chest. She clutched at the
buckles there, the cool metal digging in to her palms. Balthazar tsked after
he’d pulled away far enough to stare into her eyes—eyes now lined with kohl.
She found herself shaking her head along with him.
“You shouldn’t
have spoken over me the way you did,” he said with the softest threat. The kind
that sent tingles down her spine.
“I didn’t.” At
least she didn’t stammer anymore. Instead, her voice sounded breathy, which
seemed so much worse.
He touched her
lips with the tip of his finger. “Oh, but you did. I'd pretty much convinced
Solara that you didn’t need to change for the Underball, but you had to go and
ruin it by agreeing without my consent. Not that I’m complaining.” He raked his
gaze over her body again. Like a bomb exploding, Arianne felt all her blood
rise to the surface. “But something has to be done about this master/slave
relationship we have here.”
“W-w-what do you
mean?” Great, the stammering returned. The muscles in her abdomen quivered in
the most delicious way. Arianne tried to ignore it and focus, but her body
betrayed her more and more the longer Balthazar stood this close to her. She
only noticed now, so close to him, that he smelled like sandalwood. The spicy
earth scent brought her back to the time her mother burned incense around the
house. She went through a whole New Age-y phase before Carrie got sick.
Standing a nose away from Balthazar sent a sense of comfort surging through her
body with a hint of something more. A feeling Arianne didn’t care to
acknowledge. Hot. Drugging. Dangerous. She knew if she let herself cross the
line she wouldn’t find her way back.
Balthazar moved
his hand from the wall to her cheek. Arianne fought against leaning in to the
touch. Even with the fingerless gloves, she could feel the warmth of his hand.
The calluses on his exposed skin didn’t feel rough on her face at all.
“You put us both
in danger if you don’t act like an obedient slave, Ari.” He whispered her name
like the sweetest candy on the tongue. A part of her wished he’d say it again.
The other part of her struggled to continue the conversation.
“I won’t disobey
you. I promise.” And she meant it too.
“Remember when I
said you shouldn’t force me into teaching you a lesson about what it means to
have a master?”
She nodded. They’d
had that conversation right before they entered the Voyeur mansion. Balthazar
had warned her, yet she’d forgotten all about it the second Solara came into
the room with her demons. Arianne thought she’d done something good by
agreeing. Unfortunately, her good deed backfired in the most frightening yet
insanely delicious way.
She hardly
recognized the guy standing before her. The sarcasm and gruff nature had
disappeared, leaving behind someone who oozed sex appeal like some cologne he’d
sprayed on. Heat pooled inside her stomach, causing every muscle below it to
clench. If Balthazar didn’t step away now, she’d find herself flat on the
floor.
“You know what
happens now, don’t you?” His eyes locked with hers again. His voice grew even
softer.
She shook her head
into his touch.
“I punish you.”
The way he said
punish blew the last of her knees’ power to support her body weight. The second
she began to slide down the wall, Balthazar’s other arm snaked around her waist
and pulled her forward until her body fused against his. Every buckle that
touched her skin made her shiver.
She looked up and
Balthazar’s lips descended.
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