Panting, I cursed the heat igniting between my thighs and pressed them together, waiting for the next strike.

“Don’t hide from me. Spread your legs.”

I groaned but did as instructed, certain my arousal was on full display, despite the cloak of shadows from nighttime. He shifted, pushing a draft of cool air toward my core, and trailed the belt down my back, tickling my spine. Gooseflesh broke out on my skin, and shivers wracked my body as he dragged the leather between my ass cheeks.

“Do you want more?”

“Yes.”

“I won’t strike you again until you tell me what you’re getting from this.”

I opened my mouth but couldn’t find an explanation. The silence, along with the loss of each second, coalesced into a standoff. “Please, Rafe.”

“You can beg all you want.” His finger slid through my wetness, dragging it to my clit, and I groaned. “I’m not giving you more until you tell me why pain does this to you.”

“It’s not just the pain. It’s…” I clenched my teeth, despising myself for being so weak as I moved against his finger. “It’s the loss of control. It’s knowing you’ll take care of me, even if it’s all on your terms. The pain…is a painkiller.”

Inserting a finger inside me, he brushed his lips at the small of my back, and his need for me puffed out in hot breaths that moistened my skin. He slipped another finger in, eliciting a moan, and increased the tempo. My hips bucked recklessly, my cries escalating with each forceful plunder. I arched my back, on the verge of convulsing around his fingers.

Abruptly, he stepped back, and the cruel bite of his belt stole my breath. I gasped, air suspended in my lungs, legs trembling. I closed my thighs again, and he blasted the leather even harder on my ass.

“Wide open, sweetheart.”

The endearment hit the most vulnerable part of my being, and I cried out something unintelligible. Holy hell, I was burning.

“More?” he asked, his voice a low growl.

“More,” I groaned.

Crack!

I wailed louder with each lashing, and something inside me finally broke free. He hit me until my eyes willingly bled the pain from my soul, until I could breathe again without the pressure crushing my heart.

“That’s it, baby. Just let it out.”

He placed the belt on the bed then gathered my wrists in his huge hand. He caged me with his body, his chest rubbing my skin, the heat of his thighs irritating my stinging ass. He wound my hair around a fist and tilted my face toward his. And he just kissed me. Long and slow, with the kind of patience I didn’t share because the throb between my legs was the most unbearable type of pain possible.

“I need you,” I said.