Because You Are Mine Part VI: Because You Torment Me by Beth Kery Read Free Book Online Page A

fierce, but he stopped her with a hand on her wrist. “And also because he had the balls to ask for one additional item before he signed.”
    “What?”
    “You.” He ignored her shocked gasp. “He wasn’t entirely selfish. He said I could watch while he sealed the deal in your pussy.”
    She gasped.
    “
His words
, Francesca,” he bit out. “Not mine.”
    She stared in disbelief and rising anxiety. She couldn’t believe Xander LaGrange was such a loathsome slimeball. Yet . . . if she hadn’t behaved so flirtatiously tonight, trying to defy Ian, Xander wouldn’t have done what he’d done. Ian would have his deal. Tears smarted in her eyes.
    Oh, no.
She’s completely ruined things for him. He may have deserved a little tormenting for his relentlessly arrogant behavior, but she’d never intended
this.
    “Ian, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean . . . surely you don’t
think
I meant—”
    He placed his hand along the side of her head, holding her immobile, his scoring stare making her fall silent. “I know you didn’t mean to ruin the deal. You’re not that vindictive. Besides that, you’re too foolish to even know what you’re doing. Xander’s utter stupidity in suggesting I share you with him was just icing on the cake. The second that asshole touched you, the deal was finished. I only brought him up to the penthouse to tell him so. Before I got the chance, he made his last demand for the buyout and ended up leaving a lot more . . .
abruptly
than he’d planned as a result.”
    “I can’t believe it,” she muttered, horrified.
    “That’s because you have no idea how a man like Xander LaGrange thinks. You were having your fun playing with fire. You’ve got the body and a face of a goddess and the mentality of a six-year-old with a pretty new toy.”
    Anger filtered through her misery. “I’m not a child, and I was just trying to prove to you that I won’t be treated like one, Ian!”
    “You’re right,” he said, tightening his grip on her wrist. He began to walk to the far side of his enormous suite, Francesca trailing after him clumsily in her high heels. “You want to play the games of a woman, you want to flick matches at me to see if I burn? Well, you better be willing to take the consequences, Francesca,” he said, reaching into a drawer and drawing out some keys roughly.
    Her chest felt so full of anxiety and regret and rising excitement, she couldn’t draw breath. What was he doing unlocking that door? She followed after him when he pulled on her wrist and entered a room that was about twenty feet by fifteen. This space contained a whole bank of built-in cherrywood drawers and cabinets. He shut the door behind her, and she looked around. The entire far corner was lined with mirrors and a contraption of some sort with springs and harnesses and black nylon straps. She stared wide-eyed at the device, her heart starting to drum in her ears.
    “Go stand in front of the couch and take off your dress.”
    She tore her eyes off the intimidating device and realized there was a plush sofa on the wall opposite from the shelves and mirror. An elegant chandelier strangely didn’t look out of place on the ceiling.
So like Ian to pair crystal with kink.
There were also other things in the windowless room, like two hooks with straps spaced along the wall, an unusually curved tall stool sitting in front of a piece of wood affixed to the wall like a ballet bar, and a padded bench.
    “Ian, what is this room?”
    “It’s the room where you’ll receive your more serious punishments,” he said before he walked over to the drawers and opened one. Her eyes widened when she saw several paddles and instruments with leather straps. Her mouth went dry when he grasped the handle of the familiar-looking black leather paddle and lifted it.
    Oh no.
    “I really didn’t mean to ruin the deal for you tonight,” she said in a rush.
    “And I told you I knew that. I’m not punishing you because Xander