Page 101 of Jewel of the Assassin

My pulse slams through my veins. My fists clench.My jaw ticks. She’s agoddamn prodigy. A natural. And worse, sheknowsit.

“Smiley face?”I growl.“Smiley face, my ass.”

I launch forward. She squeals with delight, and I haul her up, one hard arm around her thighs, slinging her over my shoulder like the little brat she is. I don’t stop. She’s laughing too loud to resist, breathless and wild, until I reach the cruciform target.

That’s when I shove off the velvet wrap dress, reveling in her shriek. It spills like blue blood down her back, puddling at my feet. All that’s left is her black lace bra, her bare shoulders, her thong. Her soft skin glowing under the low amber lights. She’s still panting from laughter, from victory.

“Sore loser,” she croons, flipping her hair like a princess and biting her bottom lip.

“?????.” I slap her ass hard, and she yelps. “You are too smug. Too dangerous. And too fucking good with a gun.”

She blows a raspberry. And gets me hard and all the harder to punish her. I growl something darker in Russian, pressing my body to hers, pinning her wrists to the cruciform. Her giggle turns to a whimper, her eyes going wide as if she understands I’m not fucking around.

I kiss her neck like a punishment.

I willruinher for that smiley face.

“What are you doing?” she gasps, trembling, as I stride toward the corner of the room—where my tool chest waits like an altar. Of course, I keep it well-stocked.

I return with more than just rope. Chains. Cold, heavy, and absolute.

“Your body listens better than your mouth,” I mutter, aggravated even though she’s done nothing wrong but be her beautiful, breathtaking self. “Maybe now…you’ll finally hold your tongue while you hold still.”

I shackle her wrists first—rough iron against soft skin—then her ankles. But it’s not enough. I need hercompletelyimmobile. Ineed her to feel it. To know I will protect her with everything in my being.

I fit the collar around her throat. She stiffens, breath catching. The chain connected to it snakes upward to the ceiling, taut and unyielding. She can’t kneel. Can’t run. Can barely breathe without my permission.

Perfect.

I step back, pulse a wildfire in my veins, and admire her. “I need you immobile,” I say. “Let us see how far you can obey in this position. No shuddering. No trembling. Not so much as a shiver.”

“Roman, what are you—” She gulps as I retrieve something else from my chest. “You’ve got to be fucking me.”

“That will come soon.” For now, I coat the instrument with lube and insert it into her anus. “Not just an electro-shock plug this time, moy zhena. It’s a spreader.”

She lurches as it slides in, tears burning her eyes from the pressure. I rub my fingers along her center and whisper sweet praises in her ear as she takes the electro-spreader like such a good girl until it’s fully inserted, stretching her, preparing her for my cock. More pressure, more pain than any other plug I’ve used.

“What is that?!” she asks, horrified at my next instruments.

“The pump and clit sucker will have your lovely pussy enlarged and red for me by the time I’m ready to fuck you,” I say while attaching the pump. “You will thank me for the high of an orgasm I will give you.”

“Nipples, too?!” she gasps as I fix them to her stiff buds.

“Naturally.” I smirk, remembering the dungeon when she was asleep. “This time, you will be awake.”

I return to the starting point. I turn each instrument to its lowest setting. The gentle buzz of the pump toys against her core and nipples mingles with the soft pulses of the spreader inside her pretty ass. She gulps once but doesn’t flinch. Not so much as a shiver. Notyet.

“Eyes on me, Valya,” I command, my voice low and unyielding.

Her tear-streaked gaze locks with mine—wide, vulnerable, but stubborn.

I take a slow breath, steady my hand, and raise my gun. The first shot rings out sharp and clear.

It thuds into the target—a clean hit—directly between her thighs, so close to her center I know the sting will echo deep inside her. She gasps.

The second shot hums through the air, and I nail the target just to the right side of her neck. Her eyes flutter, pain and surprise warring behind her mask of control.

The third bullet fires, landing just left of her neck. Her chest rises, but she keeps still, body locked tight.