“Your business is my business.” He resumes his stroking, massaging the skin of my back until his fingers skate over the curve of my hip and then around the globe of my butt down to the back of my thighs, where a few more scars reside.

I don’t know how, but at some point, his endeavors to salve my inflamed skin turned into something else. Something more exploratory. Something darker and… more dangerous. When his thumb glides perilously close to my inner thigh, I draw in a sharp breath as a cascade of goose bumps breaks out all over my body, and my stomach clenches in anticipation.

I know he can’t. He won’t. I’m off-limits. That’s no-man’s-land until I’m married. It’s the rule for Society women, especially women in the upper echelon. No man has ever dared touch me there before, and I can’t imagine Judge testing the limits with Santiago’s wrath. If he ruins me, no man would ever marry me, and he would have to face the consequences that surely aren’t worth the trouble. It would be reckless and stupid, but a part of me also wonders if he wants to. That same deranged part of me is considering what it would feel like. Would he be rough, or would he be gentle as he is now? What would it feel like to have his hands all over my body? His mouth on my mouth. His cock deep inside me.

I shake away those horrifying thoughts, ashamed for even considering them.

“That’s good enough,” I choke out. “If I need more, I’ll apply it later.”

My words seem to bring him back to his senses too, and he drags his hand away, leaving me cold in the wake of the loss.

“You have an hour to rest,” he says quietly. “Then I want you to shower. Your clothes are in the closet. Dress as you’d like, but you aren’t to leave this room.”

“My clothes are here?” I glance at the closet, wondering when they got delivered. It must have been while I was sleeping.

He nods, moving to the door, and I call after him. “What about my phone?”

“No phone,” he replies, his face devoid of any emotion. “And no makeup.”

“I need my phone, Judge. You can’t just—”

“You’ll get it back when you tell me why you’re here. For now, you can use this time to think about that.” He reaches for the handle and pauses after he opens it. “The rules are very simple, Mercedes. Good behavior earns you privileges. Bad behavior earns you consequences.”

5

Mercedes