Read Caught by Menace for Free Online Page B

precious. How can
    we be partners if you’re my master?”
    “I want to be your master when we’re in here or in my
    — our —bedroom. The rest of our relationship would be
    equal.”
    She rubbed her cheek and shook her head. “I don’t
    understand, Menace. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
    understand, Menace. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
    “It’s because we’re from two vastly different cultures.”
    His gaze skipped around the playroom as he tried to
    think of a way to explain this to her. Noticing the way she
    rubbed her upper arms, he unbuttoned his uniform shirt
    and slipped it off his shoulders. “Here. Take this. You’re
    cold.”
    She eyed the offered shirt for a distrusting moment
    before finaly taking it. “Don’t think this is winning you
    any favors.”
    He chuckled softly. “Believe me, Naya. I’m starting to
    understand just how hard I’m going to have to work to
    earn your trust.”
    “Good luck,” she said grumpily and slipped into his
    shirt. “That extra appendage between your legs has
    automaticaly put you on my shit list.”
    He grimaced. “Could we maybe tone down the
    language a bit?”
    She blinked at him. “You have a problem with
    cursing?”
    “I do.”
    “But you’re a soldier. You’re, like, a souless kiling
    machine. You hunted me down like a rabbit and dragged
    machine. You hunted me down like a rabbit and dragged
    me back to your ship like a prize. I’m supposed to
    believe someone cold enough to do that to me doesn’t
    like to hear a good fuck you once in a while?”
    He gritted his teeth at her description of him. “I am not
    a souless kiling machine. Every single life I’ve taken in
    battle has stayed with me.” He tapped his chest. “I carry
    the horror of war with me every day. It’s not a game to
    me, Naya.”
    Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she
    finished buttoning the shirt. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have
    said that.”
    He sighed and slashed his hand through the air. “It’s
    fine. It’s forgotten. I’m sure you’ve spent most of your
    life hearing awful things about my people.”
    She nodded. “So far most of them have proven true.”
    He folowed her gaze to the wal of impact-play
    implements. Remembering her earlier statement, he
    clarified, “This isn’t a torture chamber. This is a
    playroom.”
    “Playroom?” She laughed. “I think words may not
    have the same meaning in your culture as they do in mine.
    A playroom is where kids keep their toys.”
    “Wel, this is a playroom for adults. These are our
    toys.”
    “Your toys, maybe,” she replied hotly. Pointing at the
    wal, she said, “I am brutaly aware of what those felt like
    on my bare ass. I assure you there was nothing playful
    about it, Menace.”
    His gaze moved to the thin, snappy cane. “You’ve
    been caned?”
    “Yep.”
    “By a lover?”
    She snorted. “By a principal and a teacher.” She
    pointed out a long leather strap. “My mother was rather
    fond of one of those.”
    He was taken aback by the idea she’d been struck by
    her mother and in school. “Your teachers hit you?”
    She stared at him as if he were the dumbest man in the
    universe. “Wel, yeah. It’s caled corporal punishment,
    Menace. You know, that thing you want to do to me.”
    “No,” he said quickly. “I don’t want to beat you as
    punishment. What adults do in the privacy of their
    playrooms is in no way comparable to a grown adult
    beating on an innocent child.”
    “To be fair, I wasn’t always innocent.”
    “To be fair, I wasn’t always innocent.”
    Menace grunted in irritation. “It doesn’t matter. We
    don’t strike children in my culture.”
    “But you go to military school at like, five, right? You
    honestly expect me to believe no one at the academy
    ever knocked you around?”
    He shook his head. “Never. Not once.”
    “You were obviously luckier than me.”
    He was beginning to see that. Her obstinate behavior
    made more sense. “Why did your