Her exhalation came out rough. And when he parted her labia with his thumbs, exposing her rosy clit, she squirmed. “What are you doing?”

  “Waiting for an answer. If you don’t give me one, I’ll assume you’re not sore at all and spank your pussy again.”

  “Yes,” she finally gasped out. “I am sore.”

  “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” He thumbed her clit, pressing down and rubbing a slow circle, smiling at her indrawn breath. “When did you first become aware of it?”

  “When I woke up in your truck.”

  Perfect. “What about while you were visiting your sister?”

  “Yes. And when I crossed my legs, it burned.”

  Even better. “As we drove back here, too?”

  “It was stinging.”

  “And now?”

  “It feels as if all my blood has rushed there,” she whined. “It…throbs.”

  Fuck if that didn’t light his blood on fire and make him even harder.

  Trees swallowed back lust and pressed on. “I appreciate your honesty.”

  To reward her, he dipped his hand into the desk drawer again, whipped out another square of chocolate, and offered it to her. Laila opened immediately, wrapping her lips around the confection with another moan. He watched her chew it, savor it, swallow it. The second the sugar left her tongue, her resolve returned. “I have answered you. Release me.”

  He laughed. “Not even close. Let’s try the other question I asked you earlier. You know, to get you used to this new concept called honesty, make sure you get some practice with it before I ask you the questions I really need answers to.”

  She scowled. “I do not owe you all my truths.”

  “See, I’m going to disagree. As long as you’re in my house, under my protection, and in my bed, you do. So you’re going to learn to share every single thing. Now, are you wet?”

  Trees knew the answer. In the moments he’d been sitting in front of her pussy and petting her, she’d gone slick. He nestled his knuckles between her folds and brushed them directly across her clit. Her breath hitched. His fingers came away more than damp. He held them up under the overhead lights. There was no way she couldn’t see the sheen of her own juices.

  Laila closed her eyes. “Yes.”

  “Open your eyes and tell me why.”

  “I do not know.”

  “Yes, you do. Try harder.”

  She pressed her lips together. “My body responds to you. There, are you happy?”

  This wasn’t about him, but them. “No. Did you get wet when I asked you to strip? Or when you got naked for me?”

  “I-I do not know.”

  Maybe she hadn’t thought about it consciously, but she must have some idea. “Maybe it was when you sat on my lap and felt my dick hard for you? Or when I kissed you?”

  She shrugged. “I did not pay attention.”

  Sure, she hadn’t.

  “Or did it take a little more than a kiss? Maybe you gushed for me when I started staring at your pussy. Talking about it. Petting it. Salivating for it.”

  Laila tensed. Her indrawn breath shuddered. He was getting closer to the truth.

  Trees leaned in and gripped her thighs, gratified to see them trembling. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re aroused by the fact I’m fixated on your pretty pussy.”

  “No,” she breathed.

  “Now you’re lying to me. Or are you lying to yourself?” Trees didn’t wait for a reply. He simply caressed the pad of her pussy, thumbing her clit again.

  She hissed. “Trees…”

  “Answer the question. And think carefully, because they’re going to get more difficult. Punishments will only get harder, too.”

  “All right. Yes, I like that,” she managed.

  “Me focusing on your pussy?”

  She cast her gaze down, fidgeting against the table self-consciously. “Yes. That is when I started feeling damp and achy.”

  Trees loved that answer. But something else had her revving, too. Oh, this line of questioning had just gotten fascinating. “Thank you. Something else must have taken you from wet to throbbing… I don’t think it was our back-and-forth banter. That’s just an everyday argument for you. I’m not convinced it was me telling you that we’re going to play this game, since you didn’t even know the rules. That leaves either my threats or my restraints.”

  “I do not understand.” She sounded near tears.

  It was possible she didn’t comprehend her response and the way her own body worked. Her responses inclined him to believe what she’d told him while they’d traveled back from Florida in the RV a few weeks ago over the words she’d spewed in the alley in La Pesca. Until him, she’d never been kissed, never had an orgasm, never known real pleasure. Given her past, maybe she genuinely couldn’t reconcile why either the notion of being punished or restrained aroused her.

  “It’s all right,” he reassured. “We’ll figure it out together.”

  She blinked like his answer surprised her. “You are not angry?”

  “Are you being honest with me? This isn’t bullshit embarrassment, right?”

  “I am telling the truth. I do not understand.”

  “Okay. I believe you. I’m assuming you’d like another reward?”

  She nodded. “But I do not think I could eat more chocolate.”

  Was she telling him she wanted something else from him?

  Trees stood and approached, settling his body against hers, then taking her face in hand. “Open your mouth to me, little one.”

  Her lips parted instantly, and he was toast. He leaned in, seizing her and sinking into her honeyed depths, stroking against the sweet confection of her tongue.

  Hesitantly, she kissed him back, growing progressively bolder with every sweep and each additional inch he claimed as his own. He groaned into her, laving the roof of her mouth before nibbling on her bottom lip, then filling her again with his tongue.

  Against the table, she strained to get closer, opening wider, writhing for him, pouring herself into their kiss. Trees spent a timeless moment losing himself in her before he eased back, brushed a kiss across her wet, swollen mouth, then stepped back.

  “Will you kiss me again?”

  Her request surprised him. He smiled as he sat on the stool. Her pussy was right in front of him, and he swiped a finger through her cleft. Still wet…but not any more than before.

  “If you keep being honest, I would love to. If not, expect punishment.”

  “What kind?”

  Trees sent her a wicked smile. “The kind that will make you beg and squirm.”

  Her hips gave a reflexive jerk, as if his words excited her. Trees settled his fingers between her folds again. She was wetter.

  The idea of his sensual punishment turned her on? Maybe she’d also enjoy more restraints. That possibility boggled his mind. The first time he’d done it simply to keep her from escaping him in the RV, she’d flipped her shit. Now?

  Time to find out.

  Trees strolled to the far wall, behind the table, and found a length of silk rope, then he approached the side of the table and attached it to a hook underneath. He watched her face as he draped the length over her abdomen, attached it underneath again, then crisscrossed it between her breasts and ended by laying the soft length over her throat just tight enough for her to feel.

  Her breath turned choppy.

  “Does that scare you?”

  It took her a long time to answer. “No.”

  And her tone said she was shocked by her own response. When he tested her pussy again, she was even juicier, the wetness spreading to her inner thighs.

  Wasn’t that intriguing? No surprise that Laila didn’t understand.

  But he did. She was wired for him, far more than he’d dared to hope.

  He scrubbed a hand down his face. His instincts had led him here, and he’d been questioning his judgment since he’d demanded she strip for him. But now…

  Hell yeah.

  And if he could finally get some honesty out of her while arousing her out of her damn mind, even better.

  “You’ve done really well so far, Laila.” He stroked her pussy again, sailing his lips up one hip before skimming his teeth back down the sensitized flesh. “Let’s try some more difficult questions.”

  “Before another reward?”

  Did she want more of his kisses, was she stalling, or simply afraid of her own responses?

  “If you answer these next questions well, the reward will definitely be worth the wait. First, why did you leave my house with Victor the morning he broke in? You told me in La Pesca that you’d always wanted to be with Victor because your struggles against him are the foreplay that arouses you before he fucks you rough.” When she winced, he pressed on. “Is that true? Do you get excited when he holds you down, pulls your hair, rips off your shirt, shoves your pants down, forces his way between your legs, and—”

  “Stop.” Laila closed her eyes, obviously fighting tears.

  “Are you going to cry?”

  “No.” She sniffled.

  “You want to.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You’re lying. I can see you’re upset. It’s all over your face. Why?”

  Trees half expected her to double down on what he suspected was a whopping lie and tell him that she missed Victor. Instead, she turned away and tried to hide her expression from him.

  “Please…”

  While begging was better than defiance, it wasn’t acceptable, either. Trees swallowed his disappointment. Why did he keep trying to save a woman who didn’t want to be saved? But he knew the answer. She had been through all nine circles of hell, and his heart insisted she was worth the effort. “I’m disappointed, Laila. I’m not asking hard questions. Punishment it is.”

  Trees bent his head, parted the dewy folds of her pussy with his thumbs, and licked her already stiff bud mercilessly, dragging his tongue across the tip, then sucking it into his mouth before adding more stimulation with a gentle scrape of his teeth. He moved closer, settling in for a lingering onslaught and working her up to the edge of pleasure.

  She gasped. Her whole body tensed. Her toes curled. She jerked and writhed to get closer to him. As her cheeks flushed and her need ramped up, she grabbed the restraints and cried his name. She was sexy as hell to watch.

  When he sucked her clit again, he was thrilled to find it harder.

  “Trees…”

  “You close?” He knew she was. When he fitted a pair of his big fingers inside her, her pussy tightened in little warning pulses.

  “Yes,” she gasped out.

  “Good. There’s some honesty.” He licked her again, reveling in her harsh breaths, her tension, her body stretching and straining for that one last touch that would put her over the edge.

  He backed away.

  “No!” Her voice was sharp, something between a demand and a whine.

  “Want that orgasm, honey? I’ll bet you do.” He licked his lips, moaning at the taste of her. He was gratified when her stare followed his tongue and her eyes darkened. He started petting her mound again, dragging his finger between her folds and over her labia, completely avoiding her needy clit. “I’ll bet you’re aching for me to put my mouth all over that pretty little pussy and suck you. While I do that, I’ll settle my fingers inside you, fill you up, and rub you just right…”

  She whimpered, her body quaking from head to toe. “Please…”

  “You beg so sweetly.” He kissed her inner thigh, teasing and nipping his way close to her clit. “But I can’t since you’d rather plead with me than be honest.”

  She whimpered in response. “Trees…”

  He cupped her mound as he stood slowly and kissed his way up her body. He stopped at her turgid nipples stabbing the air, latching on in strong drags. He strummed her clit with his thumb again. Just once. That was all it took before her body ratcheted up, vibrating with undeniable need once more.

  Then he kissed the rest of his way up her body, settling his lips just against her ear. “Tell me why you voluntarily left my house with Victor that morning.”

  “I didn’t have a choice,” she sobbed. “Please!”

  Bullshit. “Why? He didn’t force you. My security camera captured you walking to his truck and getting in of your own free will. But you made it down here to my panic room. I know you did because two of my guns are missing off the wall.”

  “I have them,” she vowed.

  “I know. I took them back. What I want to know is why the fuck you left with him when you’d made it safely down to the panic room and you were armed?”

  “You do not understand Victor.”

  “Make me understand.”

  Her exhalation trembled. “He was going to do things…”

  Now they were getting somewhere. “Like what?”

  “Trees…”

  She always implored him in just that tone when he was digging too close to a truth she wanted to bury. Time to show her the real power of this punishment.

  “Not going to tell me?”

  “You will only get angry, and it changes nothing. Please.” Tears clung to the long, upswept curl of her lashes.

  With one hand, he tortured her clit in slow, lazy circles. With the other, he took hold of her chin and leaned close, getting right in her face. “You never keep things from me because you think you have to protect me or my feelings. I’ll deal with the fallout from whatever you say. That’s my responsibility, not yours.”

  “It is not that simple,” she managed to gasp out between jerks of her hips, her silent, involuntary begging for more of his touch.

  “It’s exactly that simple.” And Trees got the distinct impression that whatever she refused to admit…she’d done it not for her own selfish desires or even to protect her family. She’d done it for him.

  Why?

  God, he hoped it was because she fucking cared about him. She must, at least a little…right?

  Don’t get ahead of yourself, buddy.

  “Tell me why you left with him,” he demanded.

  “I-I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Bull-fucking-shit. You’re always thinking. From the moment we met, you’ve proven that you’re constantly looking at your situation and finding ways to finagle it to your benefit. You wanted to escape me. You wanted to save your family. You wanted to keep your distance… You always have your reasons. What did you hope to achieve that morning?”

  She pressed her lips together. “Do not make me say it.”

  What the fuck was she trying so desperately to avoid admitting? Trees didn’t think it was her feelings for Victor. If falling for the asshole was her big sin, she would have already said it. In fact, she would have flung it in his face, like she’d done in La Pesca. But this was something else…

  And he knew how to get it out of her.

  “All right. Let me know when you’re ready to tell me.” He backed away and rolled across the room on the little stool. Bracing his elbow on the desk, he tried to ignore his angry cock throbbing in protest and pulled out his phone. Then he launched a game app and did his fucking best to focus on winning the medieval battle, not staring at the naked beauty with the haunted eyes and pouting pussy less than six feet from him.

  “Trees.”

  “What?”

  “Why do you insist on this torture? Why not accept that I am no good for you and turn me loose?”

  He’d answered those questions, and he wasn’t about to let her change the subject. Besides, he wanted her to understand his frustration. Well, as much as she could. No, she didn’t have a cock hard enough to pound nails, but he doubted she’d much like being misdirected and lied to.

  “Maybe I like toxic. Maybe this shit amuses me. Maybe I just like to tie women up and hear them beg because I’m cruel.” He shrugged.

  “No.” She frowned. “That is unlike you.”

  “Is it? Then maybe I just don’t want to burden you with the truth, and I decided keeping it to myself would be better than treating you like a rational adult capable of making her own decisions.”

  “You are being ridiculous.”

  “So are you. Stop changing the subject. There’s only one thing I want to hear from you now, and that’s the reason you left with Ramos. Tell me.”

  Laila bit her lip, looking as if she was searching for the right words. “Starting a vendetta with Victor will only get you killed. He is already furious that you ended his brother’s miserable life. If you use whatever I tell you against him in some vengeful retaliation—”

  “That’s my choice, Laila. My business. And you’re still dodging me. You’re being a bad, bad girl. I guess it’s time for more punishment.”

  “No. Please. I do not want this.”

  “Really? Then why do you keep choosing it? All you have to do to make it stop is give me an honest, straightforward answer.” She didn’t reply, so he darkened his phone and set it aside, then rolled the stool back to her, taking her hips in his hands and forcibly tilting her pelvis to his waiting mouth. “Let’s see if I can incentivize you.”

  He slid his tongue between her engorged folds and licked her from opening to clit, then focused relentlessly on the little bud, laving, nipping, tormenting her until every inhalation was a gasp, until the blood flushing her warm brown skin turned her rosy. Until her nipples poked the air desperately. Her clit had engorged again, now on the verge of bursting. Then he gave her one last slow, seductive swipe and backed away.

  Instantly, she whimpered, her eyes closing, her head whipping from side to side in protest.

  She looked fucking beautiful, and Trees would give anything to scale the wall she’d put between them, hold her while she clung to him, then take her to his bed and love her so thoroughly she never thought about leaving again.

  Good luck with that…

  “You motivated to answer me yet, Laila?”

  She didn’t reply, just sucked in steadying breaths. Every part of her body looked taut, swollen, aching…

  “No?” He sighed. “I wish you’d make a different choice. Can’t you trust me and believe I’m acting with your safety, happiness, and best interests in mind? I guess not. You keep refusing.”

  “Why?” she sobbed.

  Why was he punishing her? Why did he care? “Because I love you. That hasn’t changed. It never will.”