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She took the piece of bread, threw it in the trash, and spent the next ten minutes hitting me with the wooden spoon.

Yeah, I don’t think I want to be punished.

The bed dips, and when I blink next, Orion is hovering over me, his hand cupping my cheek. “Hey, where’d you go?” The worry lacing his voice has my brows tugging together. It’s so foreign to me, having someone that gives a shit about me, and I don’t know what to do with the feeling.

“What kind of punishment?” My voice wobbles, and the worry in his dark eyes only seems to deepen.

“Ember—”

“I don’t want to be hit with anything,” I say quickly.

“Hit with—” He cuts off the question as his muscles bunch in his shoulders. “Who hurt you, Ember?” There’s a hint of menace in his voice that makes my stomach roll, but not because I’m scared. No, for some reason, a protective Orion has me desperate to slip my hand between us and bring myself to the edge.

I shake my head. “It was a long time ago. I don’t even remember her name. I just…I don’t want to be spanked with any kind of wooden object. Is that okay?”

God, I sound so fucking weak. It’s a wonder he hasn’t decided I’m too damaged, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Orion stares down at me for long seconds. I can’t tell if he’s considering leaving or what he’s doing. I wouldn’t blame him. That’s for damn sure.

His thumb brushes along my cheek as he dips his head and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. “I will never hurt you in anger, Ember. I need you to know that. I need you to know that if youtell me no, I will stop. I will never harm you in a way that I don’t think you’ll enjoy.” He presses another soft kiss to my lips. “And I will always protect you from anything and anyone that thinks about hurting you.”

The declaration has my heart beating hard in my chest, the fear from the memory of my childhood falling away as easily as it appeared.

How does he do that?

How does he settle the storm inside me without even knowing it was raging?

“Okay,” I murmur. It feels a lot like admitting defeat, and maybe it is, because the longer I spend with Orion, the less I believe I’ll actually be able to escape him.

His lips crash down on mine, stealing the breath straight from my lungs as he devours me. Handing over power to someone like this doesn’t come naturally to me, but for some reason, obeying his commands is as easy as breathing.

He nips at my bottom lip so hard I hiss out a breath as pleasure shoots straight to my aching core. God, if you’d told me I would like pain with my pleasure, I would have thought you had lost your mind. But here we are.

“Such a good girl for me, Ember,” he whispers against my lips. “But that doesn’t mean you’re escaping your punishment. Even good girls can be bad sometimes.”

I open my mouth to argue, but my protests die on my tongue as he trails kisses down my body. Even after such a short amount of time together, he knows every spot that makes me gasp.

“What are you going to do?” I ask as he reaches my aching sex.

“I thought we might start with a touch of denial before introducing you to the world of ruined orgasms.”

My mouth drops open. “That sounds…painful.”

He chuckles and presses a chaste kiss to my throbbing clit. “Oh, it is. But it’s a delicious kind of pain that’ll leave you aching and desperate for me.”

“You say that like you have experience.” I challenge.

“You think I’d do something to you that I wasn’t willing to do to myself, Little Flame?” He raises a brow at me, and the shock renders me speechless.

Orion drags his tongue along the length of my core, and I barely bite back the cry that tries to escape my throat. Oh fuck.

“Hold on tight, Ember.” He nods to where my hands are fisted in the pillows above my head. “Every time you let go, I’m adding ten minutes to your punishment.”

I grasp the soft bedding tighter and will myself to obey. He’s going to ruin me, destroy me, obliterate me, and I’m going to beg for more.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

ORION