Royal Arrangement

VIII

Daniel

I’ll never forget the look in Annie’s eyes as I stood over her with the belt. I’ll never forget the way they filled up with tears or the way her soft voice pleaded with me to stop, and I’ll never forget her quiet apologies. All of these would usually make me hard with desire but as I saw the fear in her eyes, I couldn’t do it. I was so taken back by the feelings her last question stirred up inside me that I was angry that she even had the audacity to ask it. It wasn’t her fault that the reality that once our deal ended, she would walk away angered me and made me feel weak.

At that moment I needed to take my frustrations out on something and that something turned out to be a someone.

Annie.

She was right when she pleaded with me to calm down. You’re never supposed to punish in anger and I entered that room fully ready to purge all my emotions out of my system with every stroke of that belt on her pale flesh. I can just see the welts and bruises that would be the result of my anger and purging. I could’ve hurt her. I could’ve seriously hurt her and if I wasn’t able to stop myself...

“f**k!” I curse as I hit the steering wheel with he heel of my palm.

Images of Annie flash through my mind as a scene plays.

“Ow! Daniel! Stop! Stop it!” She pleads as I continue to stripe her pale skin with the leather. She’s sobbing loudly into the bed but I don’t stop. For some reason I can’t stop.

Every time I bring the belt down, a dark red stripe appears followed by a dark bruise. She stopped struggling. I’ve beaten the fight out of her and she lies limply over the pillows. Even as she stills I continue.

Crack!

“Daniel!”

Crack!

“Please!”

Crack!

“You’re hurting me!”

I can hear the sound of leather on flesh mix with her cries and pleas. I don’t stop. I can’t. By the time I’m done, Annie is no longer begging. Her sweet voice has gone hoarse and she can scream no more. She sobs turn to silent tears. My arm is tired so I stop. I drop my belt and to my horror, the marks have turned to bloody bruises speckled with purples and blues.

I take a step back and crumple to the floor. I try to apologize and soothe her but she flinches away.

“I hate you.” She says in a broken whisper as she turns away from me.

“f**k! What the f**k was that?” I physically shake my head to try and stop the movie that’s constantly playing. I hear her suffering, I can see the marks, and I hate myself.

Crack!

“Stop, Daniel!”

I grip the steering wheel and grit my teeth as her voice continues to call out to me, pleading me to stop.

Crack!

“Please! You’re hurting me!”

“s**t!” I yell and pull the car over. I can’t drive like this.

It doesn’t matter that I didn’t actually hit her, I wanted to, oh how much I wanted to. I wanted nothing more than to listen to her pleas and her cries but now, now I want to get them out of my head. I can’t stand to listen to them. I flinch as I hear the belt come down again.

Crack!

She screams and cries and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

“I hate you.”

That’s what hits me the hardest. In this made up scenario my f****d up subconscious has concocted, Annie says she hates me. I frown and the weight on my chest is back. She said she hates me and that’s what hurt the most. My subconscious is right, if I didn’t stop myself, she would’ve hated me. She would never forgive me for beating her like that, f**k, I couldn’t even forgive myself.

I sit in the empty parking lot, trying to decide on what I want to do. I don’t want to face Annie again, I just don’t. I just know that seeing her face would crush me, hearing her hateful words would kill me. It’s just like Vanessa all over again, only this time, I actually care about her.

Fuck.

I care about her. I don’t want to see her tears or hear her cries in agony. No. I want to hold her close and kiss her hair and never let her go.

And that terrifies me.

“What the hell am I doing?” I mutter to myself angrily and run my fingers through my hair in frustration. I should never have left her, but I can’t bring myself to go back into that room and face her. I don’t want to see the hatred in her eyes. I can’t bring myself to deal with it. I’m a sick son of a b***h. I actually get off on her pain and I want nothing more than to go back into the suite and finish what I started. To strike her with the leather and then shove my c**k deep into her p***y from behind without mercy. To hear her scream in a mixture of pain and pleasure as I thrust into her, my hips hitting her punished flesh. To reach around and wrap my fingers around her throat, pulling her closer to me and arching her back so I can talk dirty in her ear.

Fuck. I’m getting hard just thinking about it.

Without another thought, I start the engine in my car and pull out of the empty parking lot. I’m directing myself back through the castle gates before I know what I’m doing. The guards give me curt nods as I park my expensive car in the designated spot. I throw one of them the keys and instruct them to take care of it before I walk back inside with a slam of the door. I’m not necessarily angry, I’m more frustrated. Emotionally and sexually.

Both feelings are new.

Fuck, Little American Annie is driving me crazy. She doesn’t necessarily hate me, but she sure as hell isn't in love with me either and a few days ago I would be thanking the heavens. I don’t do love. I don’t do flowers and chocolate and I sure as hell don’t do emotional attachment. But for some reason, this blonde haired blue eyed American beauty has be second guessing everything I thought I believed in. This is a fake marriage and nothing is real but the s*x. That’s real. Her body is real. Her t**s are real. And as much as I hate to admit it, my feelings are real. I’m completely obsessed with this woman and I’m lost in a sea of blue when I look into her eyes.

I’m becoming obsessive. She clouds my thoughts all hours of the day and she’s in my dreams at night and I don’t know what to do.

With a sigh I walk down the halls. It’s late at night so the maid staff have all gone home for the night. They’ll return in a few hours. I pause at the door to my suite for a moment. I raise my fist to knock but then I realize it’s my suite and how stupid that is. Instead I push open the door and quietly shut it behind me. If she’s going to ambush me, I don’t want to give her a head start. I walk into the mini kitchen and living room area and she’s not there. I check the bathroom and she’s not there. Then I swallow my pride and head into the bedroom on quiet feet. The wind is knocked out of me. I expected her to come running at me, screaming, crying, possibly throwing things. Maybe she would’ve had a weapon, she’s feisty as hell and I wouldn’t put it past her to try and kill me.

But no, Annie’s lying on the bed, completely naked, in the same position I instructed her to be in with the belt resting comfortably at the small of her back. She’s facing away from me but I can see her blonde hair covering her face as she sleeps silently with her hands under her chin. I nearly fall over.

This woman is going to be the death of me.

She’s offering herself! She’s f*****g asking me to punish her. When I stormed out, that’s not where I left the belt. I specifically remember dropping it on the floor and her clothes are now neatly folded on the floor instead of discarded like earlier. She went out of her way to do all of this and I have no f*****g idea why.

I look at the clock. It’s three in the morning and I left around ten pm. I can’t help the small smile that makes its way to my face as I watch her sleep. Some of her blonde hair is stuck in her mouth and she’s snoring quietly. She looks so peaceful and any other day I would let her sleep, but I can’t let this go. I can’t pretend I didn’t find her like this, that we didn’t have an altercation earlier. Trying to look as non threatening as possible, I get down on my knees by her face so that when she’s waking up, I’m not towering over her like a giant. I shake her shoulder gently. “Annie. Annie, wake up.” I say quietly.

Her blue eyes slowly flutter open. I expect them to fill with fear and anger. She shows brief surprise but then they soften to show worry and relief. A lazy smile spreads across her face.

Dammit. My chest constricts.

What is happening to me?

~~~

Annie

He’s here. Daniel is back. I push a piece of hair out of my mouth and smile at him. “You’re back.” I say simply.

He nods. “I am.”

I look at the clock. Wow. He really has been gone a while. “I was worried. You were gone for a long time. I was waiting, I guess I fell asleep.” I'm also in this embarrassing position but I’ll let him bring that up. I still don’t really know why I’m doing this. I’m not a masochist, I didn’t like when he spanked me with his hand so I’m guessing the belt is gonna be worse, but I want to do this for him. He enjoys my pain and in some f****d up way, I guess I’ve come to understand that. Any other person and I’d tell them to go screw, but Daniel’s been... interesting. He can be cruel, but he can also be kind. He’s balanced and I’m coming to see that maybe he isn’t such a bad guy after all? Maybe what the media says isn’t all accurate.

He reaches out and pushes a piece of my messy hair behind my ear. I would normally flinch, but I'm staring to see that his touch was more of a comfort than a pain. He stopped himself earlier and therefore, he deserves this. He deserves my offering and he deserves to stroke my hair and maybe even kiss me. I don’t think this is love, but I can definitely see that we are compatible. Maybe we can be companions for this year we have together?

"Annie... what are you doing?” He looks into my eyes with nothing but intensity.

I bite down on my lip. “Giving you what you want.” I'm shocked by the sound of my own voice. I sound so confident, so sure of myself.

He shakes his head and his face contorts in pain. I see guilt swimming in his eyes. “I don’t want this.”

“Yes, you do. Daniel, I know you do. Don’t lie to me or to yourself.”

Daniel looks at me for a moment before he drops his face into the mattress. ”f**k, Annie. I’m so f*****g sorry.” He's battling with himself. One side of him isn’t sorry at all, in fact, it's sorry he didn’t continue, and the other side is sorry for scaring me.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” I meant it. I truly believe he did nothing wrong. In fact, he did the right thing. At that moment, Daniel could’ve seriously hurt me and there would’ve been nothing I could do except lie there and take it, but he stopped. He stopped himself even though it must’ve been nearly impossible for him to do. And I respected him for it.

Now, I understand how f****d up that must sound but Daniel's clearly addicted. It took every ounce of his strength to walk away.

He lifts his head and looked at me quizzically. “What? Of course I do! I f*****g hurt you!”

I shake my head and take his face between my hands. ”Listen to me. You didn’t. You didn’t hurt me. You left, remember? You didn’t lay a hand on me, Daniel.”

His eyes widen. “But I wanted to.”

I give him a small smile. “I know. But you didn’t. You stopped and left and that’s all that matters.” I stroke his cheeks with my thumbs. “Okay? So stop beating yourself up about this and beat me!” I joke with a smile, laughing lightly.

He moves away from me like he’d just been burned and rises to his feet, shaking his head while still staring at me with his haunted expression on his face. “No. I won’t do that. You don’t want that.”

The only way to fix this is if Daniel gets over his fear of hurting me too badly, of losing control. He clearly isn’t going to spank me, he's too traumatized. I didn’t think this would effect him too badly, but I suppose I was wrong. As much as I find discomfort in him spanking me, I have to admit that I was soaking wet after he did it earlier. He even teased me about it. The idea of being spanked with his belt sent shivers of excitement to my core which was confusing because earlier I was scared shitless of it. “Tell me the truth and don’t lie because I can see your excitement,” I look down at the bulge in his pants briefly with a small smirk. He's hard as a rock. “Do you want to spank me?”

His nostrils flare and his eyes darken. “No.”

I roll my eyes. “I just said, don’t lie.” At my action, I see a muscle in his jaw tense. His knuckles turn white as he clenches his fists. That’s it! If he won’t voluntarily punish me, then I’ll give him a reason to, but I need to be careful not to anger him too much. I deliberately roll my eyes again.

A low growl escapes from his throat. ”Annie... stop.” His voice is strained.

I shake my head. “f**k no.” Rolling my eyes? Check. Deliberate disobedience? Check. Swearing? Check.

“Annie... I’m warning you.”

I stick my tongue out and roll my eyes again. “And I’m not listening. So... What are you gonna do about it, sir?” I wiggle my bare ass in the air for emphasis. I have to admit I'm excited. Seeing that look in Daniel’s eyes gets me all hot and bothered.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” He's still denying what he wants but his c**k grows in his pants and his eyes darken in hunger. I know I have to sell it.

“Bullshit. Now would you f*****g spank me already before I find someone else to do it?” I groan with another eye roll for added emphasis. That should do it. Especially adding on the part about someone else spanking me. I know I've got him. He won’t let this disrespect slide.

His jaw ticks and he stalks toward me, his whole demeanor changing. I nearly raise my fist in triumph. Gone was the haunted little boy Daniel. The dominant sexy prince was back. I almost jump for joy. I'm so distracted by my thoughts that I fail to notice him take the belt off my back until it's too late. I feel the first searing line of leather on my ass before I hear the loud crack and bite down on my lip to avoid crying out. Another line of fire blazes right beneath the last one as he hits me again. Daniel's definitely skilled, he never hits the same spot twice and always angles his strokes to cover my entire ass and thighs. On the fifth stroke I let out a little whimper. It hurts, oh f**k does it hurt, but I know I deserve it. I was disrespectful earlier today and just now and I know that this is what he needs. That this is what we need to move forward. Daniel stops and rubs my heated cheeks.

I frown. “Why did you stop?” I specifically remember I had fifteen coming, not five.

I can’t see him, but I can feel his presence, his palm on my ass. “You cried out.”

“So?”

“I think that’s enough, Annie.” Once again he sounds so defeated and I hate it. I want the old cocky dominant Daniel back.

I shake my head. “Dammit! I trust you! Snap the f**k out of it! Look at me! I’m swearing! What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna let me act this way? Are you simply gonna f*****g let me—ow!” I'm interrupted by a harder strike right in the center of my backside. I nearly sigh in relief even though it hurts like hell. He's delivering the blows with more force and with each stroke, I feel closure. I feel like things are changing. I'm letting him do this and in that, is power.

We're on stroke number ten and I feel tears prick my eyes. My ass is on fire but I know Daniel's in the right mind and that he wouldn’t seriously hurt me. “Ow! Stop! I’m sorry Daniel!”

Number eleven and twelve fall heavier than the others and I whip my head around. He doesn't look haunted anymore, he has that cocky grin on his face that I’ve come to love. I missed that grin. “Ow! What were those for, Daniel?” I demand.

He chuckles. “You forgot something.” He strikes me again and I bite my lip. “You forgot again.”

Then it hits me, literally. “Sir! I’m sorry sir!”

He smirks and drops the belt to the floor after the final stroke. He crawls over to me and kisses my ass. “Good girl. Such a f*****g good girl.” My heart warms with his praise. He places gentle kisses all over my punished flesh like he's worshiping it and I can’t help but moan. I feel him smirk into my skin and just like that, he pulls away. I whimper at the lost sensation. He isn't far away because I hear him chuckle from behind me and then I feel his length press against me. “Good girls get Master’s c**k after their punishment, but bad girls get it rough.”

Master.

The word sends shivers down my spine.

I think I respond, but it comes out as a breathy moan as he thrusts into me, deliciously stretching me to my limit. In one quick motion, I feel him bottom out. His hips push into my punished ass as he thrusts deep inside me, creating an intoxicating mixture of pleasure and pain. “Oh Daniel...”

His punishing rhythm hurts so good. I feel him caress my inner walls with his c**k and I moan. Daniel’s hand comes up and wraps around my throat. He squeezes gently and pushes himself inside me, but it isn’t enough to cut of my air supply, just enough to be an exciting threat. My back arches, allowing him to hit that special spot inside me. With one hand around my throat, he brings his other hand down to rub my c**t with his rough fingers.

I nearly scream in ecstasy. The pleasure builds up inside me and suddenly I'm climbing. He leans over me and begins to whisper in my ear, sending electricity down my spine. “You’re my dirty Little American. Such a bad girl. Are you a bad girl?”

I can barely get words out of my mouth so instead, I shake my head. He pinches my c**t and slams into me from behind.

“Wrong answer. Tell me. Tell me how bad you are.” He growls in my ear.

“Bad... I’m so bad... oh f**k me.” I breathe, moving my hips in rhythm with his own. I'm a panting, sweating mess and my brain clouds at his dirty words. Ugh. They're so filthy. So disgusting. But they're so right. Heat pools in my core and I feel my arousal shamefully dripping down my thighs.

He increases his pace. Every time he thrusts he pulls all the way out before slamming back inside me. The angle of his entrance constantly rubs that spot that drives me wild. If this is what happens when I was bad, I don't ever want to be good. He rubs my c**t in harsh circles that make me scream. The pleasure builds up inside me. It's like a damn that's ready to break. I'm ready to come. I'm ready to fall down. “Daniel... I’m gonna..”

He kisses behind my ear. “Have you been good enough, Little American? Bad girls don’t get to come and I think you’ve been very bad. Beg me. Beg for your release.”

Any shame I once had was out the window. All I know was that I need to come and I need to come now. “Please... please sir! Let me come! Please.. Master!”

I feel him smirk into my neck. “Come for me.” It's only a quiet whisper but it was all I didn’t know I was waiting to hear. The damn breaks. I think I cried his name but I couldn’t hear over the sound of an animalistic scream. Never have I heard a noise like that before. My legs shake and I see stars and galaxies in front of my eyes as my c**t begins to throb in beat with my heart. Daniel keeps tracing circles around it which makes me flinch due to sensitivity. He keeps thrusting into me throughout my orgasm and my vision goes fuzzy when I feel his white hot release coating my walls. He softens inside me and then pulls out. He removes his hand from my neck and pulls me close to his chest. I wince as my ass hit the mattress.

Daniel wraps one leg over mine and holds me tight to his body. We lay there in silence. I trace shapes and words into his bare chest and he strokes my just-f****d hair out of my face. I can feel his steady heartbeat as I rest my head on his chest and it calms me. I almost fall asleep but I remember there are some things I want to say. I scoot away and look up at him. A look of pure panic crosses his features. “I just wanted to say... I.. I don’t hate you. For anything. And I don’t want you to feel guilty.”

The look of panic in his eyes is replaced by an emotion I can't place. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

I shake my head. “I seriously don’t.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea,” I say honestly with an ironic laugh. “I really should. I mean, you blackmailed me into marrying you and producing an heir, you boss me around, you have horrible mood swings, and you.. spank me. So... yeah. I really should hate you but I don’t, Daniel. In fact, I’ve come to enjoy your company.” I smile small.

His eyes harden and his body goes stiff as a board. “Don’t fall in love with me, Annie. I don’t do love.”

I roll my eyes and grin. “Are you that full of yourself that you think I’ll fall in love with you after two days?”

He huffs. “I’m just making sure.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “You truly are a cocky bastard.”

“Careful,” his voice is laced with cold steel. “I won’t hesitate to pull you over my knee right now.”

With another grin, I lean up and plant a soft kiss on his lips. “There he is.” I snuggle back down into his chest and let the complete exhaustion take over me. “Good night, Master.” I say playfully with a yawn before falling into darkness with strong arms wrapped around me.