Vivienne steps off the elevator with flushed cheeks and a sway in her hips, her green eyes determined. Still, she’s smiling all the same, a private smile that makes me wish I could read her thoughts.

“You kept me waiting.” Her voice falls gently in the quiet space, here on top of the building, where the only sound to keep us company is the hum of the air conditioning unit and the wind swirling around the building. We’re a week into July and the city is sultry and hot, but up here, it’s cool and dark.

“You enjoyed yourself.” I don’t pose it as a question because it’s obvious from the look on her face that she has been enjoying herself.

She crosses the room and comes to stand in front of me. I’ve taken a position in the center, near a small dining table set for two with a white linen tablecloth, one edge neatly pressed against the window glass so we can look out over the view while we eat. “You did give me a gift that made it easy to…find enjoyable pockets of time.”

Not that I intend to spend much time looking at the view when Vivienne is seated right across from me.

I lean down to speak directly into her ear, even though there’s nobody else to hear us, and I’ve made sure we won’t be interrupted. “Doesn’t the anticipation taste wonderful?”

“No,” she says, and then her hands are on the sides of my face, pulling me in for a kiss that starts out hard and hot and builds in passion until she breaks away abruptly. “But you—you taste like heaven.”

I could have said the same thing to her, but I don’t say anything. I reach out and trace the line of her jaw with a fingertip, and she leans her head into my hand, her eyes locked on mine. “It’s hard to wait, Dominic.” Her voice is a husky whisper, and when I speak, mine is, too.

“You only have to wait a little longer.”

A flash of frustration crosses her face, a flash of need. “How much longer?”

That’s my cue. I wrap my hands around her jaw and pull her face into mine, kissing her in a way that demands submission, that demands that she open for me, and she does. I back her up against a partial wall behind the table, pressing her spine against the smooth surface, and when she reaches for me, I catch both of her wrists in one hand, pinning them above her head. Her nipples are pebbled even through the fabric of her bra and her dress, and with the other hand, I toy with one, then the other, drawing out a gasp from her that turns into a little moan.

I press the length of my body against hers, and her hips rise away from the wall to meet me, my hard length pressing into the front of her smooth belly.

“I’ll decide when you’ve waited long enough,” I growl into her ear, and every breath she takes is a testament to how turned on she is. “Or do you want to push me? Do you want to keep asking until you’ve crossed the line, until I’m forced to punish you?”

Her head is tipped back against the wall, her elegant neck exposed to me, but at my words, her eyes fly open and something wicked bolts through them. Her lips part. “How long, Dominic?” Each word is a separate island falling from her mouth. “How long do I have to wait?”

I steel my face, drowning in the intensity of her eyes, and her eyebrows raise a fraction of an inch. She wants this. She wants it badly, but now that the moment is here—now that she sees the future in my face—nervousness must be cascading through her veins.

I give a short nod, then draw her hands down in front of her. “You’ve made your choice, Vivienne. Come this way.”

I don’t give her much of a choice, leading her by the wrists away from the table and into the private office, where the gleaming mahogany desk awaits. I stop her right in front of it.

“Bend over.”

She bites her lip, cutting her eyes sideways at me. I look back at her, unwavering. This is part of the pleasure of punishment, as she’s about to learn. She opens her mouth, then closes it again.

“Not fast enough,” I say tersely. “That will only add to your punishment. Bend. Over.”

She moves to the desk, but it’s still not quick enough, so I put a hand on her shoulders and press. Vivienne gasps as the pressure forces her to bend.

“Hands on the desk. Head down—closer. There. Arch your back.” I run my hands down her back, adjusting her position. “Your legs should be spread.” She moves them apart a few inches. “Wider.” I bend to growl into her ear. “This is punishment, Vivienne, and you’ll be exposed to me whether you like it or not.”

“Yes—yes, Dominic.”

My cock gets harder at her attempt.

“‘Yes, sir.’”

“Yes, sir.”

I press my hand harder into the small of her back. “Hold this position.”

She’s trembling under my hands, but her voice is clear. “Yes, sir.”

I flip the skirt of her dress upward, folding it toward her hips, displaying her black lace panties to me. Then I draw the palm of my hand across the luscious curves of her ass.

“Ten strokes, with my open hand,” I say, as if I’m commenting on the weather. “Five for insisting on asking the question after I told you to stop, and five more for resisting your punishment.”

She opens her mouth as if she’s going to argue, but thinks better of it. Her hands go tight on the edge of the desk, her knuckles white, but her ass lifts another inch into the air. I force myself not to dip my fingers into her folds right now, but from the scent of her, she’s already wet.

I hook my fingers into the waistband of her panties and pull them down. She gasps as the air curls its tendrils between her legs, and the sound makes my cock twitch in my pants. But I’m not going to indulge it yet. No—that’s not the lesson here.

I take my place beside her, one hand on the small of her back, and rub my other hand over her ass one more time. “Count.”

Then, without another moment of hesitation, I whip my hand back and bring it down hard on one of her cheeks. The sound of my hand connecting with her creamy flesh, turning it pink, makes me want to come right now.

Vivienne yelps, but then she remembers the rules, and damn, does she want to play the game. “One.”

I bring my hand down again, another crack. “Two…” she whimpers.

I don’t think she’s ever been spanked before—not like this—but her whole body is tensed with the effort of staying still.

“Good girl.”

I bring my hand down a third time, and watch a droplet of her juices trickle down her inner thigh.