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“You don’t need to be back on the boat until Monday. Stay here with me.” I hear the words drop from my lips, and I immediately want to take them back. Only the ingrained poker face, which I perfected before I took my first step, keeps my expression neutral, even as my inner voice snarls,What the fuck is wrong with you?

Her face, fresh and make-up free from the shower we took after our sweaty session in the kitchen, twists with indecision. Ninety-five per cent of me hopes she says no. That insane five per cent leans forward eagerly, awaiting her answer.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I have a lot of work to do before Monday. Besides, I don’t have a toothbrush, or a change of clothes.”

I listen to the words, and I want to laugh at the pathetic excuses. The cruel freak inside wants to do just that. It wants to taunt, jibe. It doesn’t like the idea of herno. Hell, it rejects the idea of her leaving, period.

I silence the freak, say nothing and just watch her.

She stops eating the grilled turbot I had delivered and puts her fork down. “Why do you do that?”

“What do you mean?”

A flash of irritation crosses her face. “You know what I mean. Thosesilences.”

“What silences?” I let the taunt monster out a little, and I feel a touch juvenile, but what the hell…

“Don’t fuck with me, Mason?—”

Her eyes widen at the slip, and another dark, cruel feeling curls through me. Silence and the expectation of retribution pulses in the air. She licks her lips and stares at me across the breakfast bar. “Dammit, you can’t drive me to the point of exasperation and then—” She stops and blinks those incredible eyes. “Are you going to give me a pass?” she asks.

“No.”

Her face twists. “Mason?—”

“No.”

She worries her lip, then straightens her shoulders. “You know what… I’m a grown-ass woman. I don’t have to take this shit punishment.”

“But you will.”

“Even if it tips the balance of my staying here to a no rather than a yes?”

“I won’t be negotiated with. Not when it comes to this.”

“Why is it so important to you?”

“Because outside of the bedroom, you’re better than crude words.”

She studies me for a few seconds, although she knows by now that I won’t change my mind. She’s a quick study like that. My cock still throbs from having her go down on me in the bathroom. She learned very quickly what pleases me and gave double what I demanded.

Three orgasms in three hours, and I’m still nowhere near ready to call it a night. Quite the opposite. I want to pound her, hard and relentlessly, until one of us breaks.

Slowly, she stands and walks round to my side. She’s wearing my T-shirt, which covers her from neck to knee, but she’s naked underneath. My gaze stays on her face, and I read anger in her eyes. But there’s also anticipation. I see it in the flush of her cheeks, her soft pants and the tiny twitches in her fingers.

I smile inwardly. “You do enjoy being spanked.”

Her mouth twists. “Um, that would be a definitenoto that, sir.”

My breath strangles in my lungs, but I maintain my expression and pat the surface of the counter next to my plate.

She pulls the T-shirt over her head and slides onto the cold granite top. The chill makes her nipples pucker, and my mouth waters at the sight. The edge of my hunger is as feral and insane as ever, and the urge to rip into her overwhelms me.

I stay seated as she curls her knees beneath her and positions herself on all fours, her eyes on mine and her mouth open on a noiseless pant. My heart picks up its beat and races. Thick, pulsing blood rushes through my veins, sending a roar to my head. Tingles jerk through my fingers in anticipation of contact with her firm, supple flesh. My cock doesn’t seem to care that it’s in danger of falling off from overuse. It’s eager and hard and rearing to go.

The stool slides back as I rise and smooth my hand down her soft, graceful back. Her skin feels like warm silk and when she trembles beneath my touch, I swallow against the pressure that climbs into my head. “You take my breath away. You’re so strong, so fierce.” My fingers slowly trace her spine, testing the ridges down to the small of her back. “But you’re also so fragile. Breakable.”

She tenses and I blink, pull myself back from the edge. “Mason?”