Page 36 of His Runaway Mate

Interesting.

“I didn’t grow up rich like you. But I got along. My dad taught me how to look after myself, and other people taught me what I needed to know from time to time. I’m good. I don’t need anybody to look after me.”

That last statement is such an inaccurate lie. I am looking at a young woman with a smashed hand and exhaustion from fighting her own instincts. I let the fact that I did not grow up rich slide. This isn’t about arguing with her. I want to understand her. I want to be here for her.

“You need to be looked after, Nicola.”

“Don’t call me that,” she hisses.

“It’s your name, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s Nicky. That’s what’s on my birth certificate. That’s how I file my taxes.” She scowls at me. “What do you even want? I thought we were going to fuck?”

I laugh. I can’t imagine a scenario in which I wouldn’t want to have sex with her, but she’s managed to find one. If mating with her means agreeing she doesn’t need to be cared for, I won’t mate with her.

“We’re not going to mate now, but you’re right that I do need to handle you,” I say.

“What’s that supposed to mean? More of you whipping my ass? You’re gonna beat me because I broke my hand and gave you some shit here and in the car, because you’ve got thin skin and you want to be in control, and I won’t let you be in control of me.”

I sit down in a chair and beckon her over.

“Come here,” I say, crooking my forefinger at her.

She gives me an angry look, but she gets up and comes over. There’s some part of her that craves the punishment she thinks I am going to give her. She’ll come to me to get spanked, to feel the heat and the pain and the arousal that inevitably follows even when she is sore.

I take her by the hips and draw her between my legs.

“Kneel for me,” I intone softly, but firmly.

I don’t expect her to obey me, and she doesn’t. She resists until I extend my leg, wrap it around the back of her knees, and bring her down in a gentle, controlled way with my hands on her hips.

She looks up at me with a pout. “That wasn’t fair,” she says.

But there’s a flush on her cheeks and a gleam in her eyes. She likes this. She is enjoying being put in her place. I am glad. This will happen to her often from now on.

I lift one hand and brush some of her hair out of her eyes. I want full eye contact with her. When she lowers her head, I lift it with my fingers under her chin.

“You are special, Nicky. You deserve to be cared for. I am sorry I let you run. I thought I was giving you the freedom you needed. But it’s really just the solitude you’ve become accustomed to. I am looking forward to getting to know every inch of your mind, as much as your body.”

* * *

Nicky

Oh, god. This is awful. I feel hot and awkward and I can’t help but squirm. I can’t escape him. His thumb is on my chin, directing my gaze, I am blocked in between his legs, trapped on my knees and he is saying… I can’t believe it… nice things to me.

“You matter,” he says, making it worse with every word. “And I notice you. You are more than a biological impulse. You are my fated mate. We are destined to know one another in ways we have never known anyone before.”

I start to feel lightheaded. He catches it immediately.

“Breathe for me,” he says. “Nice and deep. Hold it a moment. Yes. Good. Let it go…”

“I wanna get up,” I say.

It’s not really what I mean. I want to get away. Far away. It was so much easier when he was a man who walked into my office, whipped my ass so hard my boys drew guns on him, then seduced and mated me later.

“I bet you do,” he says. “But you’re going to stay right here with me.”

I start to whine after a moment or two, and squirm besides. He moves his hands back to my hips and clamps them there tightly.