Page 79 of Dance of Thorns

One cheek. Then the other. Then back to the first. I cry out, squealing at each vicious smack. I spasm, shuddering when he roughly hits the inside of my thigh, forcing my legs a little wider apart as I lean across his desk. He stabs the mute button again, barking what sounds like orders into the phone.

The next second, his hand comes up between my thighs andslaps my fucking pussy again.

He hits the mute buttonjustin time to stop my broken, savage, fucked-up screams of pleasure from reaching the men on the other end of the call.

“Now tell me what the fuck you came in here for, little bird,” he rasps into my ear, sending a tremor down my spine.

I pant as my legs shake, my core turning molten. “I—the contract?—”

“What about it,” he murmurs right into the shell of my ear. His hand stays on my ass, softly stroking the red, smarting flesh.

“I…all the things I agreed to on the list…”

Bane starts to chuckle. “You’re wondering why I haven’tfucked youyet?”

I go still, not daring to contradict him.

Bane exhales slowly. His hand grips my bare ass tightly, and I shiver as I feel him lean over me, his lips brushing my ear.

“Don’t worry, little bird,” he rasps. “Iwillfuck you. But you and I both know it’s not asfunwithout an element of danger. Offear. Ofsurprise. So when I do fuck you, it’s going to be when you least expect it. I don’t want to beservedmy meal of you,” he continues. “I want your adrenalinescreaming through your systemwhen I force you to your knees to take my cock.”

Holy fuck.

I almost tell him my adrenaline is through the fucking roofright now. But I just keep trembling, the hard wood of the desk biting into my hipbones as he keeps me pinned prone across his desk.

“Now,” he growls. “Me not knocking on your door is because it’s my fucking house. That privilege doesn’t extend to you. This is my office, andthat”…he taps the side of his phone on the desk next to me…“is a very important call.”

I yelp, shuddering against the desk when his palm slaps my ass hard.

“So unless you want me to fuck you in the ass right now, bent over my desk while I take care of business on the phone, I’dleave.”

I shake all over when his big hand slips between my legs and his palm cups my leaking, embarrassingly wet pussy.

“Fly away while you can, little bird.”

He lets go of me and steps back. I’m shaking, my thoughts scattering in a million directions and my eyes unable to focus as I stand up and pull my panties and yoga pants back into place.

Then I’m gone, bolting from the office as quickly as I can.

Back in my room, I listen to him barking into his phone for a while, yelling about something. Eventually, that fades.

I end up spending the rest of the day unpacking my boxes, hanging my clothes in the walk-in closet, and otherwise setting up my room as best as I can.

It’s quiet later—so quiet that I assume Bane has left again. I creep through the penthouse, nervously glancing into every room, my adrenaline still pulsing through my veins. But the house is empty. No Bane. No Alfred.

Just me.

I’m heading back to my room with a bag of pretzels snagged from the kitchen when I notice the door at the end of the hallway.

It’s open.

I don’t think it was open before. Actually, I don’t think I evensawthis door before: I would have peeked inside looking for the monster of the house, whom I seem to both fear and gravitate to.

I chew on my lip, hesitating. Then I carefully approach the door.

It’s stairs, leading up into darkness. Common sense or at least basic survival instinct would tell me toleave this alone.

But then I prove just how fucking crazy I am and start to climb the staircase. When I open the door at the top, my breath catches.