Page 28 of Cartel Rose (Jorge)

You saw him on your run. You didn’t imagine it. He wasn’t in a suit then.

His gaze dips to my lips, and I think he might kiss me. I shouldn’t want him to. I’ve been around other attractive men since I met Bastian. None of them have tempted me. Jorge does.

When he lowers his head, I’m ready to tilt mine back. Before I can, his hand draws back and spanks me.

“Ow!”

I attempt to jerk away, but his arm is a steel band. Completely inflexible. My next strategy is to pull my arms up between us and push, but I can’t move them in time. He expectsthat and pins both arms to my side. He widens his stance before I can stomp on his foot. I try to lift my leg to knee him in the balls, but he spins me around. Then I’m lifted off my feet as he carries me to the sofa.

I struggle against him, trying to headbutt him and kicking my legs as he walks. But it isn’t enough. He’s sitting, and I’m across his lap as I continue to fight. His hand lands across my ass again, and it burns like I just stuck it in an oven. His broad hand finds a new spot with each swat.

“Jorge, stop! Stop! I didn’t agree to this.”

“I warned you in your office. You came with me. You consented.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t think you were serious.”

“What made you think I would jest during a situation like this?”

“I…”

Nothing about him or this is humorous. I told him I wasn’t a child when he threatened to spank me, but I didn’t refuse. The idea even intrigued me, but that was before he lit my ass on fire.

“Stop! I agreed to come with you. You scared me.”

“Because I offered you a cheeseburger.”

He nails one across my horizontal crack, pushing me forward on his lap. My clit rubs against his thigh, and my body has an entirely different—but not entirely unexpected, to be honest—reaction. I bite my lip to keep from gasping. He’ll know it isn’t from the pain since I haven’t done that. Panted, yes. Gasped, no.

I catch myself not fighting as hard. I don’t want him to know this isn’t such a horrible punishment after all. I stomp my feet and kick. He slaps the backs of my thighs, and it stings. I try to pull my hands free, but he manacled my wrists with his hand, pressing them against my lower back. I squirm, but it’s to gain relief from the ache he ignited in my pussy. It’s to rub my clit against him again.

He abruptly stops and helps me to my feet. His expression tells me he guessed what I was doing. But he still wipes the tears away that I couldn’t stop. When his arm wraps around me, it’s no longer to pin me in place. It’s holding me up.

“You know how I know you enjoy cheeseburgers and fries. You did nothing to confront me or call me out about it. You may fear the things I do, but you don’t fear me, Liesel. You wouldn’t let me call you that if you did. You wouldn’t have come with me. You’d be screaming the house down if you feared me. There are any number of people you could’ve called, but you called me. You may loathe me right now, but you trust me. You need to let me protect you. If I tell you not to do something, it’s for your safety. I don’t know who this is or what they’re capable of and willing to do. Don’t stand in front of the window again. Do you want a soda to go with your food?”

He punctuates his sermon with a kiss on my forehead as he lets go of me. I’m dumbfounded. Everything he said is true. I agreed to all of that because I trust him. I don’t understand what’s going on. I’m way out of my depth with this. I may have been unprepared for his punishment, but I deserved it. I think my mini freak out was justified, but I didn’t need to endanger myself while having it.

My ass hurts like a motherfucker, and my pussy’s less than thrilled with me too. It wanted things my head’s forbidding. I want to cling to him and beg him for relief. I wouldn’t say no if he rubbed lotion on my ass right now. But I wanted him to kiss me earlier. I wanted him to do it again a moment ago. I want some part of him to ease the need that pulses between my thighs. I’m a fucking horrible girlfriend—to another man.

I watch as he walks to the hotel phone and presses a button.

“Ich hätte gerne einen Cheeseburger mit Pommes, bitte.” I’d like a cheeseburger with fries, please.

His German is perfect. Despite his Spanish accent that flavors his English, he sounds like a near native German speaker. I figured he knew some, but I didn’t expect him to be fluent. Yet another surprise I’m not sure how to handle.

He turns to me and raises his eyebrows.

“Eine Cola light, bitte.” A Diet Coke, please.

I wait for him to order something for himself, but he doesn’t. Instead, he hangs up.

“I need to make some calls. Get comfortable. One of my guards will let the waitstaff in.”

Chapter Eight

Jorge

I rub my palm after I shut the bedroom door. I made my hand hurt from spanking Liesel. Or maybe it’s touching her that burned. But once I started, I couldn’t stop.