I’ve never been into head games—I prefer to lay my cards on the table in my business and personal relationships—but by the time I get home from work and grab a quick shower, I’m not myself anymore.

I’m submissive Hailey, the naughty bad girl who’s dying for her master to show her who’s boss.

After I’ve dried off from my shower and rubbed the honeysuckle lotion Will loves into every inch of my skin, I skip the bra and panties beneath my cotton sundress. But even though it’s nearly five thirty, I don’t pad across my apartment to kneel beside the door. Instead, I unlock the door and turn the knob, leaving it slightly ajar as I cross back to the kitchen table, where the mail I fetched on my way upstairs is spread out across the rough wooden surface.

Nerve endings humming, I stand beside the table, ears straining and heart already pumping faster simply because I know Will is close.

Closer…

Soon to be closest…

When the elevator dings softly from down the hall at exactly five-thirty on the dot, my heart leaps into my throat, and my head begins to spin. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited, this giddy with anticipation, this deliciously scared.

What, oh what, is my sir going to do to me when he realizes what a bad girl I’ve been?

Blood rushing and cheeks hot, I trap the insides of my cheeks between my teeth, biting back a smile as I lean over, pretending to be reading my electric bill as I arch my back enough to ensure my sundress rides up the backs of my thighs. As the door opens behind me, a light breeze gusts over the bottom of my bare ass cheeks, making my already slick pussy swell in response.

And then Will says, “You’re not where I told you to be, Hailey,” in a deep, dangerous voice, and my knees go weak.

I’m so instantly, wildly turned on that I have to brace my arms on the table to remain upright as I glance over my shoulder at Will. “I’m sorry, sir. I forgot,” I say, my voice shaking and the temptation to smile a distant memory.

Will looks as angry as he sounded, and for a brief moment, I wonder if I’ve made a mistake.

But before I can remember what my safe word is, let alone use it, Will is across the room, shoving me down onto the table. My gasp of surprise becomes a moan of arousal as he pins me against the wood with his hips, letting me feel how hard he is behind the fly of his jeans. The rough denim against my sensitive skin is so erotic that the room is already spinning, even before Will lifts my skirt, shoving it up around my waist.

“Then I need to do something to help improve your memory,” he says, one hand braced on the table beside my face as the other skims down my belly and between my legs, finding the center of the electrical storm currently overwhelming my nervous system.

“Please forgive me, sir,” I whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“Not yet, but you will be, sweetheart.” Will grinds his hand gently, but firmly, against my clit as he rocks into me from behind, jeans grinding into my increasingly drenched flesh. “Now, usually I would ask you to tell me when you’re about to come, so I would know when to stop fucking you with my hand. But I don’t trust you to be a good girl right now, Hailey. So these are the rules for tonight.” He intensifies the pressure of the heel of his hand on the top of my sex, making me gasp as he adds, “If you come before I give you permission, I’m going to spank you, sweetheart. I’m going to spank you hard until your ass is red and it will hurt to sit down tomorrow. Do you understand me?”

I whimper in response, already so close to coming it’s clear I’m going to fail this test. I’m going to get a spanking—there’s no doubt in my mind. The knowledge is terrifying and thrilling, making my pulse spike again as Will knees my thighs farther apart, granting him easier access to the slickness between my legs.

“Answer me, Hailey.” He thrusts against me from behind, his hips pushing me forward, sending my clit rolling back and forth over his hand. “I need to know that you understand the consequences if you come before you’ve been told to come.”

“Y-yes, sir,” I stammer, as I fight the wave of pleasure swelling inside of me. “But please, stop. Stop touching me there or I—”

“Stop touching you where?” he asks, his breath hot in my hair as he leans closer. “Your pussy, Hailey? Is that where you want me to stop touching you?”

“Y-yes,” I reply, though that’s the last thing I want. I don’t want him to stop; I want him to go and go and go. I want him to push his jeans down around his knees, free his cock, and shove into me from behind while his hand stays exactly where it is. I want to come with his thickness buried deep inside me, my body locking down on his hard, hot, oh-so-perfect…

So perfect…

Oh God, so fucking perfect, I can’t—

I won’t, but I can’t stop I can’t—

I come with an anguished cry, a sound of celebration and regret that’s barely escaped my lips when Will’s hand lands on my ass. The first few blows barely register—I’m too busy soaring, exploding, bursting into stardust and scattering throughout the reaches of the galaxy.

But by the time I start to come down from my release, I become very aware of what those steady, merciless blows are doing to my body.

“Oh God, Will,” I gasp, my bottom on fire in a way that isn’t unpleasant at all. It hurts, but it also…hums. It’s also hot, making my voice rougher as I groan, “Oh, God.”

“Sir, Hailey.” He slaps me harder, and I cry out. “Remember your manners during the game.”

“Yes, sir. Oh, sir, I don’t— I can’t—” I moan low in my throat, words failing me as my head spins and a heavy sensation spreads through my core, arousal building so fast I feel like a balloon about to burst.

And it’s all because of this pain, this pleasure, this wicked sweet bliss lifting me higher and higher, until I’m arching into Will’s hand, welcoming each blow with a cry as my pussy swells. Soon I’m bruised with longing and so desperate for his cock tears are stinging the backs of my eyes.

“Don’t come, Hailey.” The hand between my legs shifts, making me gasp as his fingers glide inside me. I shudder, my inner walls pulling tight around the welcome invasion as he warns, “Wait until I give you permission, baby, or I’m going to have to punish you again. And I’d hate to do that, to have to spank you somewhere even more soft and vulnerable than this sweet ass.”

I brace my hands beneath my shoulders, fingers clawing into the table as I fight the desire swelling inside me, the dark wave that threatens to sweep me under the moment I let down my guard.

“Please, sir,” I beg, sweat breaking out along the valley of my spine as Will’s fingers drive deeper, demanding my surrender with every thrust into my drenched pussy. “Please help me, please. Oh, God, sir, I’m going to come if you don’t stop, I’m going to—”

This time I come so hard I slip past the boundaries of my own skin. The ecstasy rocketing through my veins transports me to some higher plane, where I ride a nirvana wave for what feels like forever before I finally ease back into my body. I blink fast, shocked to find myself lying on the floor beside the table with Will kneeling between my legs and no memory of how I got there.

My lips part, but before I can say a word, Will strips off his shirt and reaches for the close of his jeans, and all I can do is groan in approval.

God, he’s perfect, every hard inch of him from his drool-worthy chest and powerful shoulders to his chiseled abs and those oh-so-lickable indentions on either side of his hips. And of course, those nine pulsing inches that are my favorite inches of all.

I spread my legs and reach for him, wordlessly begging for him to come to me, to lengthen himself over me and push inside me, putting an end to the terrible emptiness dragging between my thighs.

But he simply shakes his head and reaches down, gripping the base of his cock, “Not yet, baby. Punishment first, pleasure when you learn to do as you’re told. Now, spread your legs wider for me. Show me every inch of you.”

I hesitate a moment, still too dazed from my second orgasm to understand why he’s denying me the connection I crave, and Will insists, “Now, Hailey,” and slaps my ass with his free hand, making me yip in surprise.

That swat hurt more than the ones before, making me think it really might hurt to sit down tomorrow. But I can’t worry about that now. I don’t have the headspace for worry. I only have room for Will and doing whatever it takes to convince him to put me out of my misery.

I spread my legs wider, breath coming faster as I bare my embarrassingly wet sex to Will’s gaze. But he clearly isn’t repulsed by how much I want him. As his gaze falls between my thighs, he clenches his jaw and growls low in his throat, that animal sound of need making me feel sexier than I have in my entire life.

“Fuck, yes, Hailey,” he says, gripping the base of his cock tighter. “I love seeing you swollen and dying for me to fuck you. Are you dying for me to fuck you yet, baby?”

“Yes, sir.” My thighs begin to tremble from the strain of keeping them spread so wide. “Oh, please, sir.”

“Not yet, sweetheart,” he says. “But soon. Hands behind your knees and pull them up, I want you wide open to me for your punishment.”

I do as he asks without thinking, so desperate to win his approval that the ‘punishment’ part escapes my attention until Will lifts his cock and brings it down sharply between my legs, hitting my clit hard enough to send pleasure-pain zinging straight into my core.

I cry out, and he hits me again, making my hips jerk involuntarily in response. “Hold still, baby, or I’ll use my hand instead, and I don’t think you’re ready for that.”

I whimper, but I force myself to lie still as he strikes me again and then again, thumping each side of my pussy before returning to my clit. This time, however, it doesn’t hurt when he strikes that sensitized place, it sizzles. I gasp as he repeats the pattern—left, right, center, left, right, center, until my chest is heaving, my nipples rock-hard beneath the thin fabric of my dress, and I’m so close to coming again that tears leak from the corners of my eyes.

“Beautiful. You’re so fucking beautiful,” Will pants. “Dress off, Hailey. Take it off, baby. I need your nipples in my mouth.”

Struggling a bit to free the fabric trapped beneath my shoulders, I rip my dress over my head with trembling arms. The feel of the cotton brushing over my nipples is enough to make me cry out in surprise. My skin is so hypersensitive that for a moment I’m worried it might hurt for Will to touch me there. But I should have known better.

When he bends forward, taking my nipple into his mouth and sucking oh-so-gently on the taut flesh, I cry out my soul-deep appreciation for this man who knows me so well, who can read me so perfectly, and who realizes exactly how much I can take before I fall to pieces.

“Oh, please, oh, please,” I chant as Will licks and sucks, alternating between my nipples until they’re both slick and aching and my entire body feels like a wound in need of relief. Of release. “Oh please…”

“Please, what, angel?” Will’s mouth covers mine, making me groan as he kisses me so hard and deep I lose all sense of up or down. “Please what,” he groans against my lips, “tell me what you want.”

“I want you. Now, inside me, now,” I force out in a voice I barely recognize.

But I barely remember who I am.

I’m not I anymore, I’m His.

Or at least I want to be. God, I want to be.

“I’m dying for you to fuck me,” I pant, driving my fingers into his hair and fisting them as he kisses me again and the fever-hot head of his cock butts lightly against where I need him so desperately. “Oh yes. Please, Will, please, I’m dying. I’m—”

He shoves into me with a sharp thrust that banishes all the words from my mouth and the thoughts from my head. Instantly, I’m filled with a mixture of relief and pleasure so intense it’s all I can do to hold on tight to his shoulders and lift my hips frantically to meet his as he drives hard and fast inside me.

There is none of our usual build up, no easing into each other. He claims me with that first merciless stroke and continues as he began. He fucks me so hard my ass slides across the hardwood floor, so hard that there is pain mixed with my pleasure, but it’s the best pain, the sweetest pain, so incredible and intense that when Will groans into my ear, “Come now, Hailey. Come on your cock, baby,” I’m gone in a flash, a heartbeat.

I come again, crying out into Will’s mouth as my body locks down on his cock.

He groans in response and fucks me impossibly harder, chanting, “Yes, baby, yes, baby, yes,” against my lips as I come and come, my pleasure unfolding like the most intricate origami ever creased into being.

And then, just as I’m reaching the peak, Will shoves his hips forward one last time, calling out my name as he comes, buried so deep inside of me that I can I feel him everywhere, all at once. I wrap my arms and legs around him, holding on tight as his balls pulse against my ass and echoes of his orgasm soak through my skin making me soar all over again.

Our sweat-slick bodies writhe against each other until the bliss fades to a sweet buzz and then a happy hum and finally we lie still on the floor, too spent to do anything but sigh softly against each other’s throats as our pulses slow. Gradually, enough awareness returns that I realize that the floor is hard and my tailbone is bruised, and I shift slightly beneath him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he murmurs in response to my unspoken request, holding me close as he rolls over, moving me on top without disrupting our connection.

I sigh, happy to have him still inside me, even if he’s softer now and there’s so much wet heat between us I know he’ll slip free soon.

“Good?” he asks, brushing my hair over my shoulder.

“Bad,” I reply, my voice thick and lazy. “I like being bad, sir.”

Will chuckles. “I thought you might.”

“What about you?” I lift my head, propping my chin on my fist as I gaze down at him. “Did you like punishing me?”

His eyes darken, the hunger and appreciation in them making me shiver. “Like it? What do you think?”

Shy, but certain, I whisper, “I think you loved it.”

“I did love it.” His palms skim up my thighs to cup my bare ass, gently squeezing my tender flesh, making my nipples tighten in response. “I loved feeling you get so wet… Knowing it was because you were loving every minute as much as I was…”

I pull in a breath, my pulse speeding faster as desire floods through me like a drug. I swallow, throat working as I work up the courage to confess, “I already want to do it again, Will. I want you to punish me again.”

“Well, you have been a bad girl,” he says, grip tightening on my ass. “You were supposed to meet me kneeling. I had plans for kneeling Hailey, and you ruined them. I’m not sure one spanking is enough to make up for how disappointing that was.”

I bite my lip, clit pulsing as his cock begins to thicken inside of me. “I think you’re right, sir. I have a belt you can use if you’d like.”

Will’s eyes dance into mine. “Oh, I would like, Curious. I would like that very much.”

Turns out, I’m also a fan of the belt. A big fan.

Such a fan that by the time I wake up cozy in the circle of Will’s arms on Tuesday morning, my backside is so tender it hurts to sit down.

But I like that, too. I like that I can’t slide into my chair at work without a visceral reminder of what Will and I did the night before, without remembering who I belong to. We’re not officially back together, but I feel closer to Will than ever.

So close that by the time we finish our next few lessons, all it takes is a single heated look from my man in Dom mode to make me wet.

To make me melt, to make me wild and shameless and so eager for more that we fly through Will’s planned curriculum in just two weeks and begin to experiment.

He takes me from behind on the balcony as the stars come out, unbuttoning my shirt to the waist so anyone looking hard enough could see my breasts bobbing softly as he makes me come. We try out handcuffs and bound ankles and a toy that sends soft electric shocks through my nipples that drives me absolutely out of my mind with hunger.

We venture into forbidden territory, and I learn that butt stuff isn’t a hard limit for me, after all.

I actually enjoy butt stuff, and the moment Will takes me there for the first time—his gaze locked on mine in the reflection in the bathroom mirror as he bends me over the sink and pushes into my well-lubed backside—is so hot I know I’ll never forget it.

I will never forget any of these lessons in what it feels like to be both vulnerable and powerful, dominated and liberated, powerless and so completely free that for the first time in my life I’m not worried about being in control.

I give up my control without a fight, crossing out all the items on my “no-fly” list and laying it at Will’s feet.

Goodbye rules.

Hello, Sir.