Stepping right into his personal space, Summer trailed her fingertips down his face. “See? You can be obedient. But that still leaves the previous infraction.” She stepped back again, running the rope through her hands, not looking at Victor. “How many lashes, do you think, will be enough for that? Take your shirt off while you think.”
Victor’s jaw clenched and he worked a muscle when she talked about his obedience but he stayed still. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt then cast it aside, the muscles in his back tense in anticipation. “10…I suppose,” Victor said, his now grey eyes dark in defiance. It was that look that always had gotten him in trouble as a kid.
“Only ten,” Summer mused. “It’s true, it was the first time. Link your hands behind your neck.” She smiled, a kind of smile she’d never shown Victor before. Anticipatory. Hungry. Cutting. Laying a finger over his mouth, she leaned down, holding his gaze. “You have a strong will, little assassin. I like that. Don’t cry out, and you may earn a reward. Every sound earns you another strike.” She stepped behind him, sliding the rope through her hands again.
Victor’s eyes widened a little at her smile, the command grating at his nature to lead and not follow. He clenched his fists then slowly linked his hands behind his neck, the muscles in his back still tense the same as her smile. He waited for the first strike, surprised that his Summer had this side to her and finding it very appeasing.
It was like being on the back of a tiger, knowing that if she faltered just so, it could turn and destroy her. Thrilling and terrifying. Summer wrapped a length of rope around her hand, then lashed it back and forth in the air, getting the feel of it.
“Brave little assassin,” she murmured, “coaxing me to betray my employer.” A flick of her wrist laid the rope across his back. “Is that the game, Victor?” Another lash, and another, in quick succession, as she learned how to snap the rope for maximum contact and sound. “Make me fall in love with you, bed me and win my trust, then find my secrets?”