Billionaire Romance: Darque Shadows (A Darque Billionaire Romance Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

anything official. But I guess I just wanted you to know how it felt, to be taken out of your element. To lose control.”
    “Huh…” he said blankly.
    “Why? Are you breaking it off? Do I deserve more spankings? Or am I fired? Which is it this time?”
    Bastion stared at her a long moment and finally shrugged. “You didn’t hurt me, Bella. You hurt yourself.”
    She listened and wondered.
    “Go.”
    He didn’t say anything else but gave her the long face, suggesting that he would contact her later…if and when he decided it was time. After all, he controlled Bella’s schedule. He made demands and she followed. That was the arrangement.
    Something was awry this time, though. Bastien waited in his office, thinking back to the day before.
     
    *****
     

Chapter 4
     
    Bella reported to Bastien’s house at 7 PM sharp, taken by limo as always, as Bastien always paid full price for the careful and flawless transport of his property. Bella was his property; certainly in his mind and even in her own. This was a contracted arrangement where only one party was allowed to have the power.
    He instructed her to wear purple lace accentuating her natural curves as always. He prepared for this evening obsessively. He stared at Bella’s photographs for hours on end, resisting the urge to touch himself. Instead, he just became consumed with an internal flame, letting himself be teased, tortured even. For only in his own suffering could he understand how much he would have to make Bella hurt.
    He sat down on his bed and watched in quiet longing as Bella paraded herself around in sexy lace, objectifying herself, making sure he got a good look at every fold, every curve and every crevice.
    “Who do you belong to?” he asked.
    “You.”
    “Say it. Just like I said.”
    “I…belong to you,” she said with a smile and a play-along gaze.
    “You say it like it’s a joke. But I do own you. Don’t I, Arabella?”
    “Maybe,” she said being a little saucy, figuring that’s what he wanted.
    “Okay. I’m just going to have to teach you, then. Who you belong to. Come sit on the bed.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    She walked over nearer to him then crawled on the bed, walking cat-like over to meet him and rubbing her body onto his.
    “Lie on your back. Don’t touch me. Just do as I command.”
    “Yes, sir!”
    She lay back on the bed, taking a center position as Darque stepped off, eager to frame the scene to his satisfaction.
    “Do you trust me?”
    “No,” she said, double blinking and realizing it was the truth.
    “It doesn’t matter if you trust me,” he said, taking her right hand and tying it to a bed restraint that came from the headboard. He subdued her by the wrist and made sure it was very tight, with minimal room to squirm. “Because I own you. Is that funny?”
    She smiled. He walked over to the other side of the bed and tied her other hand tight, putting her wrist to the restraint and making sure it was snug. She wiggled back and forth on the bed, unable to move her arms more than a half an inch.
    “How does that feel?”
    “Mmm…good.”
    “Does it?”
    He stared at her until he became uncomfortable. She was indeed experiencing the feeling of helplessness. But it hadn’t even begun yet. He tied her ankle to the bottom bedpost, securing it tightly. Then the other side; he wanted Bella’s body literally pinned down to the bed with no room even to squirm.
    The helpless feeling returned and she started to fret over it. The anxiety started building in her heart and spread to her shoulders and head. She wiggled back and forth but barely moved her body any direction.
    Bastien enjoyed seeing her tied down tight, as she slowly and a bit painfully realized she had no right to move. No right to object. What was the safe word, anyway? He used to give her a safe word. Was it the same one? Would he really fire her if heard the words, “I quit,” from her pretty mouth?
    “Who owns, you Arabella?”
    “You do,” she said,