Page 54

I shake my head to clear it, then slide my hand to her ass. “Let’s agree on something, okay?”

Unease lingers in her eyes. “Okay.”

“No half-truths. I prefer silence to lies.”

“I don’t lie.”

“You said you don’t enjoy being spanked.” My fingers glide between her ass cheeks and her wetness coats my fingers.

Her moan is jagged, as if she doesn’t want to give it full life. “I don’t… but I like what comes after… when you soothe me.”

“Ah.” I play with her clit and stop myself from diving in between her legs and gorging myself on her. “I’ll always soothe you. That’s a promise.”

“Thank you. And Mason?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll always tell you the truth, because that silence thing? It doesn’t work for me.”

“Understood.”

She nods in return, then nudges her ass against my fingers. I suppress another smile, right before I bring my hand down hard, once on each cheek.

She jerks and almost lands on my plate. I toy with the idea of punishing her,theneating my dinner off her stomach, but I catch her around the waist and ease her to the ground before I cup her flesh and rub the sting away. She blinks rapidly and breathes hard for a full minute, then her eyes defiantly meet mine.

“Are you done?”

“I’m done. You okay?” I ask.

A single nod. “Yes.”

She returns to her seat, and we resume eating. When I’m done with my steak, I carry my plate to the sink. “You didn’t answer me about staying over.” I still want her to sayno, take the matter out of my hands.

“I’ll stay if you answer my question. Why do you use your silences like that?”

I turn and lean against the sink with my arms folded. I debate the pros and cons of granting her this morsel and mentally shrug.

“My mother once told me when I was about four that children were meant to be seen and not heard. She was annoyed with me for some slight or other. I took the suggestion a step further and hid in our mansion’s attic for a week. When they found me, she was out of her mind with worry. I was somewhat appeased, but I still wanted her to pay, especially when she sealed the attic off so I couldn’t hide there again. With that hiding place no longer an option, and not really efficient in the long term, I adopted silence as my recourse. I would go days at a stretch without speaking to her and I found that, in those times, she was nicer to me.”

Keely’s face is a picture of confused wariness. “So you’re saying you were deliberately cruel so she would be nice?”

“Yes.”

“And it worked for you then, so you’ve carried that trait into adulthood?”

“Yes.”

She places her cutlery carefully on her plate before she pushes it away. “Did she… hurt you in other ways?”

This time, I don’t stop my amusement from showing. “Are you trying to explain away my asshole-ness, Keely?”

“I’m trying to understand why you chose cruelty instead of, say… rebellion or the occasional brattish behavior.”

“I found it more effective.”

Sharp green eyes stare back at me. “Did you kick puppies too?”

“No. My puppy grew into a cherished companion who died fat, happy and of old age.”