Handcuffed by Her Hero by Angel Payne Page A

himself first.
    He proved that
as truth with the next words he gave, knowing and carnal and dark, as he moved
back in front of her.
    “Oh, yeah.
Dancing’s just fine with you, yeah? Just as long as the slippers are in shards
and the prince has a blade at your throat.” He lifted a hand exactly there,
bracing her neck from ear to ear with his hand. Slowly, masterfully, he began
to clamp down. Not so languidly, her pulse began to hammer her veins.
    “Mmmm,” she
mewled. Technically, it wasn’t a word. The sound was definitely more cat than
human now, the feral creature into which he was turning her as he squeezed a
little tighter…
    “Yeah…you’ll
fill the night with dancing, won’t you, Luna? Just as long as you keep
wondering if your next breath will be your last…then soaring on the high when
you realize it wasn’t. You’ll keep dancing, even when it hurts, because the
pain is the reminder that you’re alive.” He softened the hold. He cupped her
nape with his other hand, making her whimper again with need. “But it’s your
way out, too. It confirms you. Then it erases you.”
    For the first
time, she hated him for binding her like this, for opening her so wide to him.
It assured that he saw every inch of her reaction. The gratitude. The
adoration. The arousal. The truth in every last word he’d spoken. The craving
for all of it. She swallowed hard, swearing he wouldn’t get her tears, too. Nobody got those.
    Past taut lips,
she answered, “Thank you, Sir. Yes.”
    He studied her
for another long moment. The alloy in his eyes turned from bronze to gold. She
had no idea what he was probing for in her face, but his lips parted to reveal
teeth clenched in victory, as if he’d found it.
    Then he left
her.
    She was stunned
for a moment. And cold. The man was a walking radiator. The temperature drop
made her nipples pucker tighter, her skin turn to pebbled pathways. Her mind reeled
with trepidation, anticipation.
    She listened to
Z’s decisive steps, now behind her once more. But there was more movement than
him. Somebody shifted, as if readjusting themselves on leather furniture. Hell.
She’d forgotten about his buddy. The appointed kink police. What was his name again?
It didn’t matter. The timbre in his voice spoke for him, penetrating the depths
of her soul.
    “Christ. I
didn’t think she could get any more beautiful.”
    Zeke answered with
a deep chuff. “The fun’s just begun.”
    The guy gave an
angry groan. Luna sympathized. Every moment from here on was under Z’s complete
control. Though she’d begged Fate for this, the reality of it brought
exasperation along with the excitement. All her fantasies of this had played
out with her timing, her wants, the actions she created for him to carry out. The
hugest aspect of this, his domination, was simply impossible to create. Like it
or not, it filled the room now, claiming every throb of her heart, every awakening
every inch of her body.
    Her breaths
quickened as Z paced back over. She prepared herself for the whoosh of a crop,
perhaps the swish of a flogger. There’d been a few beautiful whips on his toy
table, too. Dear God, would he dare start the scene with one of them?
Her stomach wrenched in fear.
    Thwack.
    The crack of the
broad paddle ricocheted off the walls, ringing in her ears. Hell, that thing
sounded big. And painful. Really painful. She got a little concerned,
wondering if he’d tested it on his hand, hoping he hadn’t cracked a finger or
two by doing so—
    “Shhhiiit!”
    The scream
spilled out of her the same second the realization hit. He hadn’t indulged her
with the mind fuck of the “test smack.” Her ass was the test. In fiery, consuming
intensity.  
    He had the nerve
to press the damn thing to her skin again, tracing the edges of the burn with
the tip of the thick wood. Luna squirmed beneath his taunting touch. She
imagined him standing back there like a hammer that had grown muscles, now
flashing a cocky grin at