Page 17 of Taking Adalisa (Montgomery Syndicate #2)

ADALISA

I ’m sitting on the bed in Matthias’ guest room as he sits in front of me on an overstuffed chair. I don’t know how I got here. One second ago, I was in the car.

What does he mean by “punished?” Matthias is delusional if he thinks he can punish me. No one punishes me. Not him. Not my parents. And not anyone.

“You can’t hurt me,” I announce after several seconds of thinking.

I hate the silence, and I think Matthias knows that. We’ve been staring at each other for a few minutes. It feels like hours, but I know it hasn’t been hours as it’s still light outside.

“I can and I will,” he replies.

“Who gives you the authority to punish me?”

“I gave myself authority because you know you need it. Do not try to deny it, ” he points out. “And as for who says you need punishing, that would be me.”

“Why?” I shout, throwing my hands in the air.

He stares at me while I wait for him to answer. I have fantasized about someone taking me over their knee several times, but I’ve never been brave enough to ask anyone for it. Who would I ask anyway?

Matthias leans forward, gripping my chin with his fingers once again. I hate it when he does this.

“Why?” he slowly repeats my question. “Because you put yourself in danger. You walked into that facility looking for your friend and didn’t even think about your own safety.”

“H-how?—”

“How do I know? I know you, Adalisa. I know that you are trying to find Margery and you will do anything to find her,” he tells me. “I know that you will put your own safety on the back burner that is unacceptable.”

“I need to find her,” I whisper. “She is all I have left.”

“And now you know she is safe. When I am allowed to take you to her, I will, but right now you can’t see her.”

What does he mean when he is allowed to take me to her ?

“What you need to know is that putting yourself in danger is not okay. It will never be okay. If you think something is going to be dangerous, then you will contact me and I will decide what to do,” Matthias informs me. “When you walked up to the facility, did you feel okay about the situation?”

I keep my face neutral. He can’t know I had a bad feeling before, can he? I didn’t give anything away.

“Did you?” he asks again. “And do not think about lying to me. It will only add to your punishment.”

Sighing, I nod. “Yes,” I whisper.

“And yet you still decided to go in. At least you had the bracelet on.”

I wince at the mention of the bracelet. It’s almost like they singled me out because I had the bracelet on. It was like they took one look at my bracelet and heard me say Margery’s name, and that was it. There were no more arguments or hearing me out.

What if they hadn’t called Matthias?

“You need to be more careful,” Matthias says. “You can’t go walking into places you don’t know. That is dangerous, especially when you don’t know anything about the operations going on in there.”

“I know,” I mumble.

I have learned my lesson. Don’t walk into strange places.

Margery needs me.

“What you did was naughty, putting yourself into danger. So after a spanking all will be forgiven,” Matthias gently explains.

I stand and shake my head. “Yeah, no. I definitely don’t need a spanking.”

He raises an eyebrow, and it takes everything in me not to sit back down.

“Are you sure about that?” he asks. “I think, deep down, you know you need a spanking, but you don’t want to admit it.

You don’t want to say the words aloud because it becomes real.

But I think you do want this, and you’ve wanted it for a while. ”

“No.” My voice wavers, and I curse myself inside my head.

He caught me there. I do want a spanking, and I have for a while.

To feel the love and care that someone is looking out for you and holding you accountable?

It’s been a dream of mine. Not the whole spanking and pain aspect of it, though.

I don’t want that, but I want to feel like someone actually cares for me and wants what is best for me.

Matthias smiles as he looks at me. “Lies.”

I shake my head. Partial lies, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“That will get you into more trouble. It will add to your tally,” Matthias informs me.

I bite the inside of my cheek, not believing him. ? I’ve never heard of that before in the books I’ve read.

Matthias grabs hold of my chin, and I clench my jaw. What is his obsession with holding my chin?

“It makes you focus on me,” he tells me.

“Did I say that out loud?” I groan.

I need to get that under control. “I like it when you speak your mind,” Matthias honestly says. “It helps me know what you are really thinking. Don’t ever stop.”

That’s easy for him to say. He gets to hear all of my thoughts, but he isn’t the one actually saying it.

“I’m going to spank you and then you can have all the cuddles you want.” Matthias keeps hold of my chin.

It’s his favorite thing to do to me. Grab my chin and make sure I am looking at him as he talks. It makes me so mad every single time he does it because I have to pay attention to him even when I don’t want to.

“Take off your pants and underwear and then climb over my lap,” he instructs me.

“I’m not taking anything off.” I cross my arms over my chest and pull my chin out of his grip.

I am not about to be half-naked in front of him while he spanks me. No way.

“I don’t spank clothed bottoms,” Matthias says firmly, lifting an eyebrow.

“I don’t get spanked while naked.”

I don’t get spanked, period.

“Not even when you want it to be a fun spanking?” He tilts his head to the side. “So sad. I thought about giving your nice ass a love tap next time we have sex.”

My face grows bright red as he continues to talk. I love it when guys spank my ass as they fuck me, but I haven’t had it happen in a while. It’s completely different to what he is talking about right now.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it for fun, but this spanking isn’t going to be something I’m going to enjoy,” I point out.

“Punishment spankings aren’t fun, but they happen in the nude. You will not get around that.” Matthias’ voice is firm. “So, get out of your pants and underwear and lie over my lap.”

I stand still as I look at him. I’m not going to do that. He can’t make me.

“One.” Matthias looks calm. “Two.”

My hands scramble as I yank my pants and panties down and throw myself across his lap. Heaving in a breath, I try to calm my pulse but don’t succeed when his hand touches my bottom.

“Shh, you’re okay,” he whispers as he starts to rub my bottom. “Everything is going to be all right.”

I snort. “You’re about to spank me. Everything is not going to be all right. My bottom is going to be on fire soon.”

His body moves underneath me before I can hear the sweet sound of his chuckle. “True, but after the spanking you are going to be all right. You are going to thank me for spanking you and giving you the release you need. Getting rid of all the guilt.”

“I don’t know about that,” I mutter. “I don’t feel any guilt.”

More lies. I feel a little guilty, but that’s for failing Margery.

Matthias’ hand stills on my bottom. “You don’t feel any guilt about putting yourself in danger and getting caught up in a situation that could have been really dangerous?”

Okay, when he puts it like that, I do. Was he worried about me when he got the call? Should I have been more conscious about what I was about to do? Yes, I should have been, but how was I supposed to know that was going to go?

“I think you do, but you don’t want to admit it.

I think deep down, you are feeling the guilt of putting yourself in danger and causing me to worry when I got the call.

” Matthias starts to rub my bottom. “That’s okay, though, because this punishment is going to help get rid of all of it.

After this spanking, all is forgiven, and the slate is clean. ”

“Really?” I find myself asking.

“Yes, really. After this, I am going to hold you as you cry. Then we are going to snuggle as much as you want.” His voice is so tender and loving.

I still am not used to him sounding like that, but I am not mad about it either. It’s a side of him I don’t think a lot of people see, and I’m honored that I get to. Wait. I should not be thinking he is sweet. He wants to claim me.

He has stalked me. I should be trying to get away from him, yet I keep finding myself actively thinking about staying with him and being close to him.

What is wrong with me?

“Are you ready?” Matthias asks.