Redemption (A Dark Romance) (Fragile Ties Book 3)

by Jennifer Bene

  Lianna swallowed then nodded slowly, but when he let go of her, she seemed a lot calmer, if not a little dazed.

  He’d been able to get her to drink enough wine the night before to go to sleep, but as soon as their alarm went off that morning she’d been in a constant state of stress. Unable to stop moving, asking a thousand questions, most of them repeats, and although he had a very clear understanding of just how important the contents of Michael’s safety deposit box were to them, if she asked him about the damn box number or the process to get it one more time he was going to drag her out of the bank by her hair and make good on his promise to belt her ass.

  “Ms. Mercier?” the banker finally called, and David said a silent prayer of thanks as Lianna waved at the man and moved to follow him.

  Staying on her heels, the banker led them back into a room filled with boxes, some small and some large. He was trying to find 118 in the larger rows, but when the banker pulled out a long, thin one, David felt his stomach sink.

  “If you need any assistance, please just press that button.” Nodding, the banker left them alone with it, and Lianna was chewing the fuck out of her lower lip as she stared down at the long, skinny box.

  “It’s too small, isn’t it?” she asked, and he refused to answer. “Is this just some bullshit game Michael is playing with us?”

  “I don’t know, angel. We just have to open it.”

  Attacking her lip again, Lianna lifted the top, her lip popping free a second later as her brows pulled together. “What the fuck is this?”

  Chuckling, David reached in and lifted out the little black rectangle, turning it over in his fingers. “This is an external hard drive. Two terabytes, which is probably enough room for most of the shit I had on my computer and in the cabinets.”

  “Then why didn’t you have it all on a hard drive?” she snarked, and he looked up from the device to stare at her.

  “Because, angel... my dad wrote over half those files himself.”

  “Oh... I’m sorry.” Stepping close, Lianna pressed a kiss to his shoulder before she leaned her head against the spot. “Does this mean it’ll be easier to find what we need?”

  “Easier?” he repeated, flipping the drive over in his hand again and again as he thought about the possibilities. “I don’t know. If he encrypted it, that will slow me down. And there’s no guarantee that he’ll have used any kind of organization for all of it. He probably just dumped the data from my computer onto the drive, and when it comes to the paper files... fuck. I won’t know what we’re dealing with until we get it back home and I get started.”

  “Let’s go home then.” Snapping the lid shut on the box, Lianna took the key and held her purse open for him to drop the drive inside. When she closed it and adjusted the straps on her shoulder, she looked up at him with a wicked smile. “Am I still in trouble?”

  “Not right now,” he answered, but when he saw her deflate a little, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door, grinning as he added, “But we still have the ride home for you to piss me off.”

  Lianna

  Having David’s fist in her hair as he kicked the door shut shouldn’t have felt so incredibly comforting, but the pinprick rush of tingles over her scalp made the constant whir of her thoughts slow down a little.

  “You know, angel, if you want me to hurt you, all you have to do is ask,” he growled, shoving her forward with his grip on her hair until she hit the wall, his body caging her in from behind as he ran a hand down her side. “Constantly questioning me about my memory, my ability to find files on a drive I haven’t even fucking opened yet, and then calling me an asshole in front of the Uber driver is not how you do it.”

  “It’s working, isn’t it?” she replied softly, smiling, and he stepped back to deliver a series of burning spanks through the thin fabric of her dress as he kept her cheek pressed to the wall using the fist in her hair. She gasped with the first strike, but she bit down on any further sounds. This was what she needed. Since he’d threatened her with it in the bank, it was all she’d been able to think about. The rush that followed the pain, the blurring of all her complicated thoughts.

  David stopped just as quickly as he’d started, and she heard him chuckle behind her. “You’re sticking your ass out for me, angel. You want more?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “What do you want?” he clarified, yanking her off the wall to crane her neck back so she was looking up at him. “Tell me.”

  “I... want you to hurt me.”

  “Why?” he pressed, wrapping his other hand around her throat as he marched her backward toward their bedroom. He wasn’t squeezing that hard, just enough for her to feel that buzzing building in her ears as she stumbled in her heels, almost falling when he turned her through the doorway. “Answer me, Lianna, or I tie you down and leave you in here alone while I start looking at the drive.”

  “You wouldn’t.” She didn’t believe him until he suddenly let go of her hair and shoved her onto the bed. Catching herself on the edge, she expected him to be on top of her a second later, but David stayed by the door, leaning against the frame as he crossed his arms.

  “Angel, there’s a whole list of things I’d like to do to you right now, but I want an answer first.”

  “I just— I want a distraction,” she answered, groaning when his eyebrows just lifted slightly. “I mean, I want you. I want you to do whatever you’re thinking of, because...”

  “Because?” David echoed, reaching down to pull his shirt over his head, and as she watched his carved abs moving under his skin, she couldn’t help but smile.

  “Because you’re incredibly hot, and while it makes absolutely no sense to me, everything feels better after you hurt me.”

  “Is that right?” Stepping closer, he undid his belt buckle, and goose bumps rose on her skin at the sound of it, a tingling rush following in their wake that ended directly between her thighs.

  “Yes,” she whispered, and he grinned at her, pulling his belt free in a swish of leather that made her fist the bedding on either side of her. With that wicked, lopsided grin of his, and his dark eyes focused on her, she could see the dangerous side of him, the half of him that liked to hurt her, to make her scream, and as fucked up as it was... nothing else in the world turned her on more.

  “You going to beg me for it?” he asked, folding the belt in half as he toed off his shoes and kicked them aside.

  “Maybe.” She stood up, slowly closing the gap between them to press herself against his hard chest. Tilting her head up, she brushed her lips across his, not quite a kiss, and he didn’t go for one as she popped the button on his jeans. Smiling, she slid his zipper down, brushing her hand over the steadily growing bulge before nudging his jeans out of the way to grip his half-hard shaft through his boxers.

  “Lianna...” he groaned in a tone that was closer to a warning than urging her on.

  “Is this on that list of terrible things you want to do to me?” she whispered against his lips before trailing kisses down his throat and nipping at his skin so that the rumble of his next groan buzzed against her mouth.

  “Nothing about this is terrible.” David’s breath caught when she moved her hand into his boxers, stroking him slowly as she shoved his jeans down further until they finally dropped to his ankles. Rolling her thumb over the head of his dick, she grinned and turned him slowly so that her back was to the door, continuing to run her hand up and down his length. Watching the play of pleasure on his face as he closed his eyes tight when she squeezed lightly.

  “But you want to do terrible things to me, don’t you?”

  “Always,” he whispered, and the look he gave her when he opened his eyes again could have easily combusted her clothes if he had the power. She knew it was true — an honest confession that should have scared her at least a little, but it only amped up the tingly hum in her veins.

  “Well then,” she said, pulling her hand from his boxers to slide it up the ridges of his stomach
, onto the firm muscles of his broad chest. “You’re going to have to catch me first.”

  David barely had the chance to look confused before she shoved him back onto the bed and bolted for the living room. The sound of him hitting the floor had her laughing as she hovered near the end of the hall, waiting for him to get his jeans free of his legs. Tossing her heels toward the front door, she waited, and he appeared a few seconds later with the belt hanging at his side. “Calling me an asshole in the car wasn’t enough?”

  “Apparently not,” Lianna answered with a shrug, and then she ran. The tights were helpful when it came to sliding around the furniture on the tile, but it was a lot harder to get traction for speed.

  He almost caught her when she fled from behind the couch and ran for the space behind the fireplace, but he missed her, and then followed her path around the back of it like he always did.

  Sprinting across the living room, she leapt over the coffee table, landing on the carpet between the chair and the couch, which meant she had plenty of options for escape. David jogged to a stop on the other side of the coffee table, shaking his head a little as he adjusted his hold on the belt.

  “If you come over here and get on your knees right now, I’ll use lube when I fuck your ass later. After I add a few dozen stripes to it.” David wasn’t even breathing that hard as he threatened her, but neither was she. Eventually they’d need to get a bigger place just so she had farther to run. “Going to be a good girl?”

  “When have I ever been a good girl?” she asked, laughing as he groaned and rubbed himself through his boxers, gripping his hard shaft.

  “Oh, I can make you be a good girl. We both know that, angel. You just need to remember that lube is a gift, and it’s one you definitely haven’t earned today.”

  “Guess we’ll see.” Grinning, she went for the gap between the table and chair, faking him out, and when he lunged for it, she got the chance to move to the other side of the coffee table. Running around it, she backpedaled a few steps, watching him as he slipped between the table and chair to take her place. Laughing, she put her hands on her hips. “I can’t believe you fell for that again.”

  “Keep taunting me. It’s just a matter of time before I catch you. This game always ends the same way.”

  “You promise?” she asked, bending forward to brace her hands on the edge of the coffee table, which gave him a perfect view down the top of her dress.

  “You want me to hurt you?” David asked, shoving a hand back through his hair as he chuckled, low and dark. “That’s good, because trust me, angel. When I get my hands on you, I’m going to make you regret pushing my buttons.”

  “Have to get your hands on me first,” she taunted, shifting her hips side to side, but she was ready when he lunged for her again.

  Or, she thought she was ready.

  Instead of going around the coffee table like he had a hundred times before, David planted a foot on top of it and launched himself right over, catching her by the arm as she tried to run for the kitchen.

  “You mean get my hands on you like this?” David’s fingers dug in hard, yanking her toward him. He dropped the belt to grab her under the chin, and she knew the game was over, but it was what she’d wanted. No way in hell he’s tying me to the bed and leaving me there now.

  “You cheated,” she whispered, unable to talk very easily with his hand cupping her jaw.

  “I don’t cheat.” Leaning close, David kissed her hard, biting her lip sharply enough to make it sting when he pulled back with a grin. “Don’t stop fighting now, angel. No more smart-ass comments for me?”

  “I’m not cleaning your footprints off the table,” she answered, and he let out a low laugh just before he shoved her to the floor. Catching herself, Lianna tried to get back up to run, but he pushed her back down, pressing a knee into her back to hold her there. Slapping at the tile, she tried to twist, but he leaned more weight into her until it was hard to breathe. “Fuck!”

  “Don’t be too disappointed with yourself, angel. The trick with my jeans was cute.” David yanked her dress up around her hips, easing the pressure on her back before she felt him tugging at her tights, quickly followed by the sound of them ripping. “Distracting me with the hand job tease was clever too.”

  “Thanks.” Her breath was still short with him pinning her under his knee, but he wasn’t using all his weight... which meant there might be a way to knock him off balance. She was trying to figure it out when she heard the metal of the belt dragging over the tile and then a line of fire landed on her ass. Clenching her teeth on the whine, she yelped when another strike followed it almost instantly. Then another and another and another, until all Lianna could do was try to breathe through the vibrant onslaught of pain. She tried to twist, to push away from him, but when she reached her hand back, he just grabbed onto her wrist.

  “Going to tell me to stop?”

  “No,” she snapped, and he groaned.

  “Well, that’s good, because I’m just warming up, angel.” The whisper of the belt moving through the air wasn’t near enough warning for it to crash down onto that impossibly agonizing strip of skin where her ass met her thighs. She cried out, tears burning her eyes as she kicked, digging her toes into the floor to try and move, but she was caught. Each blistering strike only hurt worse than the last, building on top of each other, bleeding together until her ass and thighs throbbed and she couldn’t hold back the sobs anymore.

  Finally, he stopped, releasing her wrist and removing his knee from her back so he could rip her off the floor by her hair. She only made it to her knees, but he leaned down to look into her eyes.

  “God, I love it when you cry for me.”

  Twenty

  Lianna

  Yanking her forward, David claimed her lips in a kiss that seemed to concentrate all the heat in her ass between her thighs, a pulse of need making her moan as he bent her backward to control it completely. Then the world tilted, and she was on the floor, with him on top of her, his knees forcing hers apart as he moved down her throat, nipping and kissing.

  “No! You cheated!” she shouted, shoving at his shoulders, but he caught her wrists and pinned them above her head. Glaring up at him, she whispered, “You didn’t win, you used the furniture to get to me.”

  “So, you can jump over the coffee table, but I can’t step on it?”

  “Exactly.” Grinning, she tugged at his hold on her wrists. “Let me go and catch me for real.”

  “Too late for that, angel. I’ve already got you,” he replied, and she pulled hard, managing to get one of her hands free so she could tuck it against her chest. David just grinned, shaking his head at her. “Look at you, being so defiant after you practically begged for this.”

  Sitting up, David reached over to grab the belt from the floor, and when his weight shifted, she bucked her hips, twisted, and knocked him to the side. As soon as he was off her, Lianna flipped to her stomach, pushed up to her feet, and ran for the fireplace again. She wasn’t even halfway there when he slammed into her back, his arms coming around to squeeze her tight, lifting her off the floor as he laughed in her ear. “You know I like it when you struggle, so, feel free.”

  “Fuck you,” she snarled, grabbing onto his arm and dropping her weight to try and get a foot on the ground for leverage, but it didn’t work.

  “Nervous now, angel?” he asked, carrying her back across the room while she kicked, trying to break his hold or buckle his knee, but she just ended up breathless and coughing when he dropped her over the arm of the chair. A sharp spank woke up all the brilliant welts across her ass, and she whined as she pushed up from the seat.

  “Such an asshole,” she mumbled, her ribs sore from the impact, still unable to get a full breath, but he just shoved her back down with a hand between her shoulder blades and lit up her ass with another vicious series of lashes from the belt. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

  “That’s the plan,” he said on a laugh, pinning her legs to the chair as he p
ressed himself against her. Leaning forward, his weight made it impossible to get up, and she let out a frustrated scream through gritted teeth.

  “You didn’t win.”

  “Seems like I did, angel.” Grabbing for her wrists, David fought her to pull them together, but even struggling as hard as she could... she wasn’t a match for his strength. Once he got the loop of the belt over her hands and cinched it tight, she knew it was over. Relaxing, she saved her strength while he wove the strap through and tied the end of the belt into a knot, keeping her wrists locked together — but at least they were in front of her instead of behind her back. It meant she could brace her elbows on the cushion to keep her face off it, but she couldn’t do much else. The side table wasn’t within reach, and he kept his knees firmly against her thighs as he shredded her tights further.

  “You didn’t need to ruin those,” she grumbled, and he swatted her ass.

  “I won, so I can do whatever the fuck I want with you. Like ruin these,” he said just before she felt him pull her underwear away from her body, the sides burning her hips as he tried to tear them as well. They were lacy, but it still took him a lot longer before she finally heard the tell-tale sound of fabric ripping.

  Groaning, Lianna rested her forehead against the seat cushion. “I liked those.”

  “Too bad. They’re gone now.”

  With him sliding his fingers through her folds, she felt a shiver of anticipation, her hips twitching uselessly as he carefully avoided her clit.

  Leaning down, David whispered against her ear, “Go on, tell me no.”

  “You’d like that too much,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at him with a smirk, and the look on his face would’ve made her wet if she hadn’t already soaked her underwear. He didn’t reply with words though, instead he thrust three fingers inside her, stretching her suddenly, and she couldn’t bite back the gasp as she bucked against the chair.