He shrugged. “Maybe not, but I didn’t see us working, so I backed away. I never forgot you, but I was doing all right. Until you seduced me and took my sanity from me.”

God, she’d had no idea he’d given them even half that much thought. Mystery slumped her shoulders, looking around for a chair. There really wasn’t one close to Axel. She needed to curl up, think this through, maybe have a righteous little cry about how badly she’d screwed this up.

“Wherever you think you’re going, no. Come closer.” He waved her near.

She owed it to him to comply. After all, she’d royally muffed everything.

As she closed the distance between them, Axel wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “For the record, if you’d approached me as yourself today, I would have jumped all over you. See, what you felt back then—the breathless attraction, the inexplicable pull, the undeniable attachment—I felt them, too. If you’d come to me today and asked me to be your friend, your lover, your whatever, I would have said yes. Even with the disguise, I was already fascinated by you. I was already thinking beyond the sex. The man in me didn’t like that you’d deceived me or run out.”

“I know.” God, she felt stupid and small. “I’m sorry.”

He put a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze back to him. “You understand what I’ve said?”

“Yes. I never meant to hurt you.”

He nodded. “Now that you understand how the man in me reacted, let’s talk about what you don’t understand. Let’s discuss how the Dom in me reacted.” He pointed to his thighs. “Put yourself over my lap. Now.”

Chapter Ten

SOON he’d take this choking chain off its leash. Now he’d find out if all the submissive signals Mystery had been putting out were real. Nearly everything else about her fit him perfectly. Damn it if he didn’t want their kinks to match, too.

“What?” She blinked at him, her stare bouncing from his face to his thighs and back.

“Did you not hear me?”

“I think I did, but—”

“Is there any part of the instruction you don’t understand?”

Her stare fell to his lap again, and she couldn’t possibly miss the eyeful of hard cock there under his jeans. He adjusted himself, trying to find a position that didn’t strangle his erection, then patted his thigh.

She frowned. “Like lie across . . .”

“Face down, ass in the air. Yes.”

“Oh.” Still, she hesitated, as if she tried to make sense of his command in her head.

“Questions? Problems?”

“I don’t know.” She shifted nervously. “I’ve never done this.”

But Axel suspected the idea turned her on. She sounded breathless. She fidgeted. Her nipples looked hard again. She stared, lips parted, sucking in a raspy draught of air.

His cock stiffened even more.

“There’s a first time for everything, Mystery. Somehow, I doubt it will be our last. You’ve got three seconds, or I’m adding a count of ten.”

Which wouldn’t hurt his feelings in the least. He knew exactly how beautiful her ass was. Having the opportunity to touch it again, this time to spank and discipline it? Fuck, yeah.

Mystery scrambled toward him, casting another uncertain gaze his way, before she lowered herself awkwardly over his thighs. She towered over an average girl by six inches or so, but he still dwarfed her. Axel appreciated that folding long legs in an unfamiliar position wasn’t easy, but he was beyond impatient to get this punishment rolling so they could get back to pleasure.

She wriggled and scooted, bracing herself to slide this way or that over his lap. Again and again, she brushed his sensitive cock. His body tightened, and he’d love to just fuck her every which way. But if he wanted any future with her, he had to set the expectation now.

Finally, he palmed her hips and stilled her, dragging in a long breath before he moved her body up a fraction, sending her long braid spilling, ends brushing the floor. “Don’t move.”

“A-all right.”

“Nope. I expect a polite ‘Yes, Axel’ or ‘Yes, Sir.’ Either is acceptable.” Later, he’d be more exacting, because if this relationship went where he wanted it to, she’d be calling him Master. For now, he simply waited, reaching down to give a gentle tug on her braid.

“Yes, Axel,” she gasped.

“Better.” He cast his gaze over her body, still except for her harsh breathing. The yoga pants she’d tossed on just before they’d left the hotel hugged the curves of her ass and lovingly outlined her thighs. Not a line or a bump marred the black cotton surface.

“You’re not wearing underwear,” he observed.

“No, Axel.”

“Perfect.” He dragged his fingers up the crease between her cheeks, and the fabric clung inside the crevice, stretching even tighter across her ass, further defining its shape. “Beautiful.”

As Mystery splayed over his lap, he felt the rise and fall of her body, heard her long shuddering sigh. She lifted her butt to him, seeking more.

He smiled, then trailed his fingers from the crease of her backside toward her pussy. With barely a brush of his fingers over her cotton-covered folds, he realized she was damp. No, soaking wet. The longer he rubbed lazy circles over the mound of her cunt, the more her moisture wet his palm.

Mystery Mullins liked submitting. To him. That realization jacked up his desire, and Axel had to leash his need to fuck her, at least until he made a few things clear.

When she began to whimper and press her hips toward his playful fingers, he pulled away. “Does my touch feel good?”

“Yes, Axel.” Her words were high-pitched, spoken somewhere on the cusp of orgasm.

“Good.” He intended to have fun with her now. “Pull your pants down to the tops of your thighs.”

Without hesitation, Mystery complied, loosening the tie at her waist and wriggling as she shoved the garment over her hips. When the waistband fell, exposing her gorgeous, perfect ass, Axel couldn’t keep his hands off her. He palmed it instantly, kneading, pinching, and gripping it. She gasped and raised her butt, seeking more of his touch.

Oh, she was about to get it.

Axel raised his arm and slammed it down, hitting her bare ass with an unforgiving smack. “One.”

She yelped, froze, then gasped and struggled to get away.

He pinned her with a heavy arm across her body. “Stay still.”

“What are you doing?”

“You’ve heard of punishment, I presume.” He rubbed his wide palm over her bronze backside, the same sun-kissed shade as her back. Knowing she sunbathed in the nude just turned him on more.

She moaned as he spread the heat under her skin. “Yes.”

“To start, I’m going to make sure you understand I won’t tolerate any more lies. I expect you to be honest with me from now on. Do you understand?”

“I didn’t know how else to get close to you,” she replied.

“So, in order to protect your feelings, you decided mine didn’t matter?”

The starch went right out of her spine. “No.”

“What I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me?” he challenged.

“I guess I thought if you never knew . . . yeah.” The contrite posture, without an ounce of fight, told him that she now grasped his point.

“I understand why you were afraid and uncertain. You could have tried to e-mail or call. I even have a Facebook account. Did it cross your mind to open a conversation, ask me if I was interested, and see what happened? I’m going to guess no because you’d already decided what my answer would be. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Axel.” She sobbed the words.

Sometimes, Mystery had so much moxie, he forgot she could be fragile. She’d been raised with privilege, but she’d also been through way more than her peers. He had to tread carefully as he reached her. She would only associate the pain of a harsh spanking with rejection. As soon as he’d finished making his point, he would start rebuilding her again.