Ruthless King

“Me?”

“Yes. You. I want you to leave.”

“I’m looking after you,” he stated.

“But I don’t want you to look after me. I don’t want you here. I want you to go away.”

Ouch.

Regent wasn’t sure what had just happened. Sure, she’d tried to get rid of him before, but now she seemed to really mean it.

She was upset. But why?

Because he’d said they weren’t friends? Fuck. He hadn’t meant it like that.

He meant they weren’t friends because what he felt toward her wasn’t just friendly.

Fuck. He’d totally fucked that up. No wonder she was upset with him.

“Baby.” He sat on the bed, drawing her out from under the covers to sit on his lap. She fought him, but he held on tight.

She was surprisingly strong.

“Let me go! I’m gonna say my safeword!”

“Safeword? Baby, you don’t have a safeword.” Was she a sub? Had she been in a relationship with a Dominant before?

Regent wasn’t a Dom, exactly. But he did like to be in control. Of everything. So, safewords in the bedroom were something he was familiar with.

But he’d never had a long-term relationship. He had an apartment in the city that he kept for when he had a mistress. It might sound cold and sleazy, but it was as much as he was willing to give a woman.

For their protection.

And because he’d never met a woman who he wanted to give more of himself to. Until he met her.

Jilly.

“I need you to listen to me, Jilly. No, you’re not going anywhere until you do. All you’re going to do is wear yourself out.”

A cough rattled through her. Fuck, he hated that she was ill. It made him feel so helpless that he couldn’t comfort her. Couldn’t take this away and make her feel better.

“Listen to me. I didn’t mean that we weren’t friends.”

“Yes, you did. That’s what you said.”

“Baby, if you didn’t mean anything to me, do you really think I’d be here taking care of you?”

She stilled. “Then why are you still here when all I seem to do is annoy and disappoint you?”

He cupped her chin. “You could never disappoint me, understand? I don’t want you to ever say that again.”

Her eyes were wide as she gaped up at him.

“I’m serious, Jilly. You think you’re getting a good spanking for all the other things you’ve done? It’ll feel like nothing compared to the spanking I’ll give you if I hear you speak about yourself like that.”

“I . . . I . . . I still don’t know what I earned those other spankings for.”

“One was for disobeying me about the hairdryer when I told you to bring it out so I could dry your hair. Two was for getting out of bed and taking a shower on your own. Three is for keeping something from me.”