but you, you’re something different. Unique. I think you’re perfect.”
“My mother and older sister would argue that point,” she scoffed. “They would be the first to tell you I’m an utter failure.”
“I doubt that,” he laughed. “A challenge, perhaps, but certainly not a failure.”
“It’s the truth,” she insisted. “You come to one of our monthly family dinners, and I promise you, the dinner won’t end before at least one of them has reminded me that I should get a real job, buy a real car, and grow up.”
“Well in that case, fuck their opinions,” he spat, and the steel in his voice sent a delicious shiver up her spine. “Being different does not make you a failure. As far as I’m concerned, it makes you exciting.” He reached out to cup her chin, turning her face to meet his intense gaze. The heat rising in her cheeks seemed reflected in the cool blue depths of his eyes, and she felt herself melt against his palm. It felt strange to be so at ease with him, and she felt none of the embarrassment she normally did around men she found attractive. The strange sense of security was almost intoxicating.
“I knew when I saw you this afternoon that you would be mine. You felt it too,” he added. His thumb gently teased her lips, then slipped between them. Instinctively her tongue darted forward, tasting his warm skin as she tried to suck his thumb into her hungry mouth. A knowing look passed over his face, and he leaned back, taking his thumb with him.
Abby was shocked to hear a frustrated whimper slip from her lips. Struggling to regain her composure, she tried to steer the conversation to something safe.
“Where do we go from here?” she asked, wincing at the noticeable tremble in her voice. She wanted nothing more than to project a cool demeanor, but her body seemed determined to betray her at every turn. “Mr. Green said there’d be a contract between us, and if I didn’t do everything you said, I’d be punished. What’s up with that?”
“Not as draconian as he makes it out to be, though I’m sure with some people it is.” He rested an arm across the back of the couch and caught one of her ponytails. The black strands cascaded between his fingers like a dark river, telegraphing his touch through their roots clear down the side of her sensitive neck. “I’m pretty easy going, but I do have some rules I expect you to follow without question, the first of which is no more smoking. It’s a disgusting habit and one you will end immediately if we agree to move forward.”
No smoking? Abby felt her jaw clench. She’d been smoking for nearly twelve years, had tried to stop a few times and failed miserably. How could he expect her to quit cold turkey?
“What if I can’t just quit like that? What if I have to have one every now and then?” The tremor had returned to her voice.
“Then you’ll find yourself bent over my knee, with that pretty skirt flipped up, and my hand blistering your bare bottom.”
Abby’s eyes widened. Of all the things she’d imagined, spanking had never occurred to her. Spanking had always been a last resort for punishment in the Willis household. The majority of her childhood punishments had involved writing out her crimes and apologies on paper until her wrist threatened to spasm, or sitting quietly in corners, or being forced to go ignored by the entire family for however long her mother felt was necessary. The handful of times when she’d been spanked had been extremely unpleasant and extremely painful.
At last the nature of the arrangement became crystal clear. She’d known from the start it wasn’t Match.com she’d signed up for, but it wasn’t until that moment that she truly understood. Her face flushed as she imagined herself sprawled across his lap with her bare ass in the air, being spanked like a naughty child. For a moment she thought of ending the whole thing, saying no and leaving as fast as her feet could carry her to the front