Read Online Hansel 2: An Erotic Fairy Tale by Ella James - Free Book Online Page A

there. I should have protected him…somehow.
    I lay back down beside him, and I wonder why loving someone almost always leads to pain.
    I guess there’s a price for everything.
     
    *
     
    Lucas
     
    I wake up aching inside, remembering her: not my Leah; Shelly.
    I feel Leah’s hand stroking my arm, and I want to throw her off me. Scream at her to stop. I don’t deserve her comfort. I don’t deserve to lie on the same bed with her.
    If she knew what I did…
    If she knew all the varied tortures of my past…
    My stomach lurches, and I breathe in deeply through my nose.
    I can’t take her fucking fingers stroking, so I roll over, just slightly out of her reach.
    I’m met with her blue eyes. They’re gentle and earnest and kind, everything I know I’ll never deserve.
    Why did I bring her here? Why did I think I could treat her like the others, keep it just sex—my kind of sex? I’ve failed at that already.
    I’m so fucking weak.
    I sit up fully, gritting my teeth against the ache of what I’m pretty sure is a cracked rib.
    Leah moves as if she’s going to scramble over to me, probably to touch me again, but I shoot her a stern look, and she sits up on her heels, with her hands on her thighs. She’s still got the mask on.
    She doesn’t know I know who she is. She thinks that I still believe she’s Lauren. Which means I can order her around without suspicion on her part. I can keep my distance.
    “Lower your chin,” I tell her. “Look at the mattress.”
    She obeys, her blonde hair falling down her shoulders.
    “Earlier, when I was fucking you, did I tell you to take charge? What did I tell you?”
    Her eyes flicker up at mine.
    “Did I tell you to look at me?”
    She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t even shake her head.
    “What did I ask you to do, Leah?”
    She swallows. “Claw your back,” she whispers.
    “And you disobeyed—again. I thought we agreed that you would be submissive.”
    I watch her shoulders rise and fall as she breathes. I can almost feel the anger rolling off her. She’s not enjoying this the way I’d hoped she would. I can’t bring her to heel. Of course not. The setup is all wrong.
    This was a mistake, I acknowledge.
    Not hers, but mine. She knows who I am. Is only doing this because I’m me, if my guess is correct. I, on the other hand, should know better.
    I sink my teeth into my lower lip, making it bleed. I suck on it and flex my sore hands. “Leah, would you like to be released from our agreement? You may answer verbally.”
    I watch her with a pounding heart, feeling almost dizzy. “No, Master.”
    I didn’t tell her to call me Master, but I overlook that.
    “Why not?” I ask her in a low voice.
    “Because I’d like to learn the art of pleasing you, Master.”
    “You want to give me pleasure.” I nod, feeling uncomfortably warm inside my chest. “I know that. But I require pain as well. Not just discomfort that coincides with pleasure—” like the mind-fuck that happened between us earlier.
    Her eyes flicker up to mine, and I nod, giving her permission to speak. “I can make you come,” she says in a quiet but strong voice. “I just want to do things my way.”
    “So instead of trusting me, the way I’d like,” I tell her, “you’d like me to trust you?”
    She nods. “I want us to trust each other.”
    My stomach churns at the idea of a give-and-get relationship. I’m not sure what I would do without the ability to dictate every aspect of my sexual relationships. Without full power to order my partners into giving me the pain I need.
    “That’s a bold proposition. You made me come earlier, so I see your logic I think, but still… That’s pretty fucking bold.”
    She nods slowly.
    “It would be new for me.” That part’s the truth. I’ve never, ever had a sexual relationship that didn’t involve a dominant and a submissive. The only time I wasn’t dominant…
    “Why should I consider it?” I ask her, stern and quiet.
    She looks up at me.