Emily noticed they were not heading towards where she lived. She pointed that out angrily, “You’re going the wrong way.”
“I’m going the right way,” he assured her with a little tilt to his lips.
“Well, I don’t live on this side of town,” she infused her words with as much sarcasm as she could.
“I know,” he said matter-of-factly. “We’re going somewhere else.”
“Where is somewhere else?” She said on a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
“You wanted to have coffee, did you not?” He turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
“With Thomas, yeah,” she threw at him carelessly.
“That is not happening,” he told her stiffly, as he focused back on the road. “Not as long as I breathe.”
“Well, stop breathing already,” she muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” He asked pleasantly – almost too pleasantly.
Nevertheless, that brought goosebumps to her skin, and she flushed. “Nothing.”
There was some sort of menace behind that sentence of his, as if he had heard her, and she couldn’t help the way her panties went damp once again.
Great, Stockholm syndrome, here I come, she mused sarcastically as she clamped her legs shut together.
“Something wrong, dorogaya?” His words held taunting for some reason she couldn’t figure out.
“What’s that word supposed to mean?” She asked him instead.
“Dorogaya?” He echoed. She nodded. “It means darling.”
“I bet you tell that to all the girls,” she spat out, jealousy – unjustified jealousy – flaring within her.
He turned to her as he stopped the car. “No. I never did.”
“Right,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.
“Keep rolling your eyes at me, dorogaya, and you won’t like the consequences,” his eyes glinted with something akin to mischief. “Or maybe you will.”
Her legs trembled at the dark promise. “What kind of consequences?”
“Wouldn’t you like to find out?” He smirked at her smugly.
She couldn’t keep herself from rolling her eyes again at his overconfident statement.
“You did it again,” his chest all but rumbled the words out.
Oh shit, she thought to herself.
The next thing she knew, he had unbuckled her seat belt, and had gotten her sprawled on his lap, face to his window.
“Count for me,” was all the warning she got before his hand came down on her butt.
She inhaled deeply and tried to sit up right, but didn’t manage to do so. Her face flushed in embarrassment as she saw someone walk by the car and look fleetingly into her eyes.
“People are watching,” she squeaked out.
“They can’t see what’s inside,” came the soothing murmur as yet another blow landed to her other cheek.
She squirmed in his lap, and felt the evidence of his desire poking her belly, making her in turn even hornier if that was possible.
“Your punishment will last longer if you don’t count,” he warned right before the third spanking came.
“One,” she began counting. “Two.”
It went on until he had landed ten blows to her ass. By then, Emily had turned into an incoherent-sobbing-mumbling mess.
When he finished, he soothed the pain away by caressing her cheeks. She sniffled slightly at his kindness. Why did the man have mood swings?
“Are you okay, dorogaya? He asked in a worried tone.
She scrambled to get up, only to almost hit her head against the door – but his hand prevented that almost as if he was protective of her.
“I don’t know,” she said in a hushed tone. “I’ve never even been kissed, and yet… and yet, this happens.”
“Forewarned is forearmed,” he said softly as he helped her steady herself on his lap. He then stroked her hair gently. He didn’t seem like such a player at that particular moment. His gray eyes were deliciously tender, focused on her face, and she never felt so cherished for a moment there.
Then, she remembered how he had manhandled her, and she tried to slap him – keyword being tried. “You’re a brute,” she spat at him as he held her wrist in his hand.
“We’re doing insults now?” He teased, his eyes glinting with unmistakable amusement.
She saw red, and seeing as she couldn’t slap him, she head-butted him.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Spanking his sweet little mate had not been part of the plan. Theodore cursed his inner beast for taking over, as the smell of her arousal in the confines of the car drove him to the brink of insanity.
Admittedly, Neither he nor his beast liked insubordination. And although meek and timid at first glance, his mate was a little bit of a spitfire. He had not expected her to head-butt him.
He’d have to admit that the win went to her. And she deserved it.
He faked a little grimace while she cried out in pain.
“What is your head made of?” She let out in a whining tone.
Oh, how he wanted to ravish her. Already, he couldn’t wait for her to accept him. He just hoped his spanking her wouldn’t bring him too much trouble.
His only response was to hug her to him so that she’d be able to rest her head against his shoulder. Surprisingly, she did.
“You make me feel strange,” she told him in a whisper.
“A good kind of strange, I hope?” He stiffened as he waited for her response.
“I don’t know what to make of it as of right now,” she said in a tired tone.
“Be my lover, dorogaya,” he all but pleaded, wishing she’d put him out of his misery by saying yes. Sure, it had only been two days since he met her, but already he couldn’t picture life without her.
She tried to free herself at once.
“You are teasing me again,” she jabbed an accusing finger in his face.
“I am serious.”
“You only stay at the estate for one month, but once you’ll have me, will you even want me by your side?” Tears sprung to her eyes. “I am not a toy.”
“You are not,” he assured her, hoping she’d see the sincerity in his eyes.
“A player like you is hardly the ideal boyfriend material.”
His eyes narrowed slightly at that.
“I’ll be whatever you want me to be, dorogaya,” he said almost desperately.
“Is that right?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
He nodded.
“Then, how about we try to be friends for starters?” She suggested.
“Fine,” he let out almost exasperatedly.
But really, he shouldn’t be so annoyed. She was human, blissfully unaware of his kind’s traditions and customs. He was rushing her into things when he had vowed to himself that he would wait for her to be ready.
“I’ll wait for as long as necessary,” he told her softly.
“As if,” she scoffed in disbelief as she went back to the passenger seat.
He already missed her body against him, her weight above his lap.
“Shall we head inside?” He asked her instead of rising to the bait.
“I don’t want coffee,” she said in an endearingly childish manner of sorts.
“Well, you’re getting it nonetheless,” he stated as he unbuckled himself.
“I’m not getting off the car,” she told him stubbornly.
“Dark or sweet?” He asked, his hand on the handle, a small smile stretching his lips.
She turned to him with a glare. “I don’t want the damned coffee.”
“Okay, I hear you. I’ll get you one black but bring sugar with me.”
If she was going to be stubborn, he just needed to beat her at it.
“Fine,” she said on a sigh. “Suit yourself.”
He got off the car and went into the Starbucks for that coffee.
It had been years – literally years – since he had last gotten coffee at Starbucks.
Oh, the lengths he went to in order to satisfy his sweet little mate.