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“It is.” He glowered at me. “And will remain so as long as you can control that mouth of yours.”

His glare was simultaneously arousing and alarming.

A man like Eli would have turned my head if we’d met on the street, but in the intensity of the cabin, he’d taken on an amplified persona—the sexiest and most foreboding person I’d ever met.

“Your spanking might be over, but I want you bared.” He gestured to the wall beside the bed. “Go and stand over there with your nose to the wall.”

What?

I managed to hold the word in as I followed his finger with my gaze. He wanted me bared with my fucking nose to the wall. What was he, a sergeant major in the military, suddenly authorized to order me around at will?

“Is there something you don’t understand?”

His tone warned of greater repercussions if I didn’t comply, though I couldn’t imagine what those could be. In more than four decades on the planet, I’d never been dealt with so roughly or unfairly before. The sense of injustice was overwhelming.

“No, I...” I couldn’t bring myself to repeat his instructions.

“Then, why am I waiting?” He tapped his foot against the floor, reminding me that his feet were bare while mine were encased in the boots I’d borrowed from Chelle.

The contrast jarred, directing me back to his demand. He wanted me to stand against the wall.

Why?

I hoped my eyes screamed the question I was too afraid to ask, but the nervous energy furling inside me cautioned against hesitation. Pissing him off wouldn’t make anything any better for me. I had to move.

“Fine.” Murmuring the word, I shuffled from his grasp toward the wall, and with my leggings caught around my thighs, I really did have to ‘shuffle’.

Shame emanated through me as I moved, fresh tears pricking in my eyes as I reached my destination, but I adamantly refused to acknowledge them. I wasn’t fucking crying again. I wouldn’t give the asshole what he so obviously wanted.

“Are you in position?” His voice thundered from behind me.

“Yes.” My jaw clenched, knowing what I’d need to say next to appease the wanker. “Sir.”

“Is that pretty little nose grazing the wood the way I asked?”

My brow furrowed. I couldn’t remember anything about ‘grazing’ in his ludicrous command, but I shifted forward regardless, unwilling to get spiraled into a doomed conversation I’d never be able to win.

“Thank you.” He sighed as I moved into place, as though there was anything exasperating abouthissituation.

Hewasn’t the one with his ass exposed.

Hewasn’t the one who was crestfallen after being unceremoniously spanked.

Hehadn’t lost his friend and been overwhelmed by guilt and upset.

None of it was happening to him.

“I want you there while I light the fire, and while I’d love to trust you, little girl... I really don’t.”

I wanted to snort at that. After everything he’d just put me through, how could he be the one with trust issues?

“So, I’m afraid I’ll need to take some preventative measures.”

The sound of his feet padding against the floor resounded from behind me, rousing my already inflated suspicions. I considered glancing around to see what he was doing but accepted begrudgingly that I was too scared to risk his wrath if he caught me.

How pathetic is that?I swallowed at my reticence.I’m a grown woman and I’m too afraid to turn around.

The truth magnified in my chest until my head slipped lower, my forehead replacing my nose against the wall.