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him. At the same time, he found her submissiveness grating. She followed his
cues perfectly, but not knowing why she did irked him. Despite what she had
tried to make him believe the night before in the club, he knew she was no
submissive. That left him with a single reason for her actions. She wanted him
as much as he had wanted her all these years. Asking to be his sub had been her
way of getting into his bed.
    After they ate, Aric cleared away the food and dishes as she
sat at the table, eyes cast downward, the autumn sun spilling over her. He
opened the elevator and eyed the expensive padded spanking horse his club
manager Luke had sent him. The damned thing was a work of art.
    Last night he’d been way too wound up to have Ainsley to be
able to master her properly. Now that the initial excitement and lust had
subsided to a manageable level, it was time to up the kink. He rather thought
the rest of the day would be a lot of fun. Perhaps not quite as exciting as it
had been fucking Ainsley for the first time after fantasizing about her for
years, but what he had planned for the next twenty-four hours would definitely
be an event he would always remember.
    Aric set up the horse in the open area between his living
room and kitchen. He laid out the flogger, paddle and nipple clamps nearby.
Next, he retrieved a bottle of lube from the bedroom. He glanced out the glass
sliding door and found Ainsley with her eyes still downcast. Her hands fiddled
with the ties of the robe, however, giving away her nervousness. Aric smiled.
His Ainsley had never been one to back down from a challenge, but that didn’t
mean she had nerves of steel. Her composure the night before had been virtually
unflappable from the moment she’d walked into Insolence. He was the one who’d
been caught off guard and spun out of control. He’d regained his
self-possession, so now it was time for him to show her his dominant side,
especially since she finally seemed unnerved.
    He walked over to the sliding door. “Ainsley. Come here.”
    She got up and came to him without hesitation. When she
stopped in front of him, he drew her into the living room and untied the robe.
The silk dropped to her feet. Aric stepped back. He stared at her for a moment
before circling her, taking in every tiny detail of her body, all the things he
hadn’t noticed the night before. A scar near her ankle. One on her elbow. A
tiny mole on her hip. A fine dusting of pale-gold freckles on the tops of her
shoulders. The absence of tan lines.
    He came up behind her, sweeping aside her hair so he could
kiss her nape, and froze. At the base of her neck, just where her spine curved
and where it had been completely hidden by her hair, lay another tattoo.
Swirling, artistic lines formed an intertwined A and C. For a brief moment,
Aric thought she’d had herself marked as his with his initials. His heartbeat
picked up, beating wildly. Possessive pleasure streaked through him until he
remembered that they had the same initials.
    His pleasure subsided but he bent and placed a kiss on the
tattoo anyway, feeling a tremor go through her. Sliding his hands down her
arms, he picked up one hand and lifted it so he could kiss the inside of her
wrist. She shivered again.
    “Do you remember your safe word?” he whispered in her ear,
his tongue darting out to lick at the tiny red star.
    “Patience.” Her low tone held a thread of apprehension.
    “Good.” He spun away from her and went to the spanking
horse. “Come here.”
    She turned and came toward him. As the horse filled her vision,
her muscles tensed. Again he circled her, watching her reactions carefully.
    “Do you know what this is, Ainsley?”
    She swallowed hard. “A spanking horse, Sir.”
    He grinned. She’d been doing some homework before she came
to him. He liked that. “Correct. Kneel on the horse, Ainsley.”
    He indicated one side of the horse. Gingerly, she knelt on
the soft brown leather. Aric kissed her nape again. Then he