Page 91 of A Secret and a Lie

“Answer me this, Ford. Are you even a Dom at all?” I counter.How much of this was real for you?

He takes several steps toward me, his chest expanding with measured breaths, and the urge to drop to the floor claws at my mind.

We could’ve had something dynamic and earth-shattering, but he threw that away when he arrested me. Now, all that’s left holding us together is the tragic knowledge that we had something once, a lifetime ago.

“Well, I think that’s my cue to get the fuck out of here,” Drake mutters, but I don’t spare him a glance, my gaze fixed on Ford, even as I hear the elevator ding.

Moving with the fluid grace of an apex predator, he slips past me and drags out a chair at the kitchen table, turning it to face me and taking a seat. He spreads his legs, and if the stance didn’t look undeniably authoritative and powerful, I’d call him a tool.

“Come here.”

My eyebrows scrunch, and I waver as I try to make sense of what the fuck he’s getting at. “Why?”

“Because I said so, and well-behaved dolls follow their Dominants instructions.”

“You cannot be serious.” But even as I say the words, my body flashes hot, my nipples tightening.I should not be into this after everything that’s happened with him.

“I can assure you, I’m quite sincere.Come here.” His expression is firm, his eyes glinting with the prospect of punishment should I decide not to do as I’m told.

Okay, so pushing himmayhave held a risk I hadn’t entirely considered. I find my legs moving of their own accord, my body desperate to do exactly as he requests.

Ford

She appears confident, but there’s a reservation in her gait that tells me she’s wary of me, and maybe a little unsure of herself and whether doing what I say will end in handcuffs at her back again.

“Bend over my knee,” I order when she stands before me. My cock is stiffening in my pants at the sheer prospect of having her in my space, on my lap, her scent on my clothes, her voice echoing through the kitchen.

“No, absolutely not.” She recoils as though I’ve slapped her. When she moves to back away, I grip her by the wrist, and she whirls back to face me. I’ve had enough of this attitude of hers.

I won’t force her, but I think she needs this as much as I do. She needs to understand that this is fundamentally me, not a role I was playing for my job.

“Do it,” I implore her, ice cold and commanding. “Lay over my lap with your ass in the air.”

We have a silent stand-off for several moments before she slips out of my grasp, tentatively complying as she drapes herself over my thighs, her ass pointed at the ceiling.

“Grab my ankle with one hand and the chair leg with the other. If this gets to be too much, you have a safe word that I’ll honor. Say it. Say the safe word so I know you understand.”

The answering breath she gives me is ragged, but her voice is strong as she snarls,“Liar.”

Is she calling me a liar?That shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, since it’s technically true.

She stretches her fingers around the supports I offered her, and my hand glides up the backs of her thighs, coasting over the fabric of her trousers, following the natural curvature of her body. I keep my touch light, with only a hint of pressure that will signal what’s to come.

“Do you understand why you’re bent over my lap?” I ask, my voice rough. The prospect of punishing her isn’t nearly as appealing as gifting her with pleasure, but I need her to grasp my seriousness.

I have a lot to hate the FBI for, but assigning me that op is something that I can’t find myself angry about now. It reacquainted me with Genevieve, and she unlocked a hidden side of myself that I never want to lose. I couldn’t go back to the old version of myself. I’m not interested in dominating anyone who isn’t Gen either, not when she’s living undermyroof, wearingmyring, usingmyname.

“I challenged you.”

“‘I challenged you,Sir,’” I correct, squeezing her ass. “I’ll let that slide, but only once. I’m going to spank you, and you’ll audibly keep count for each of these and thank me at the end. Make as much noise as you’d like, but any words other than numbers or ‘thank you, Sir,’ are not permitted, unless I ask you a direct question. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir,” she grits out.

Without further preamble, I bring my open palm down on the fullest part of her ass, and she grunts softly. I ensured that it was hard, but not unmanageable. I don’t know how much pain she can take since we’ve never really had the chance to be together in the way I crave.

There’s time.

“One.”