Silk and Steel (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF

with another hard slap. CRACK!
    She shrieked. He tightened his grip and began to spank her harder than ever.
    CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK...
    The noise and pain were incredible. Worse, she felt exposed in a way that she had never felt in any of their love games. The cold, hard silence of Decimus' anger was like a wall between them. He did not scold, or explain, he simply punished.
    She was crying after the fifth spank and wailing soon after. Never had she been struck with such force. Never had she realized how much her master's hand could hurt. This was not the glowing, smarting tingle of love-spanks. Her bottom ached and felt bruised and raw. The only mercy was that he had not lit the lamp. She raised her keening sobs in darkness.
    As quickly as the punishment had started, it was over. Decimus dragged her off his knee and dropped her onto the bed, flinging a sheet over her. She heard him slam from the room and storm through their tiny villa.
    He returned a short time later and lit the lamp.
    'You do not fight me again,' he said. 'I am what I am, a trained fighter and killer. It is dangerous for you to fight me. Understand?'
    She nodded wanly, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. He sighed and sat on the bed beside her, taking her hand in his. When she did not twist it free he cleared his throat. 'I am sorry for your loss,' he said. 'I know what it is to lose someone you love.'
    'Yes,' Corinna quietly agreed. Why did you have to be the one to kill Joseph? she thought, but she knew the answer. It was what he did. Her master was a gladiator.
    Moving with unnatural slowness Decimus stretched out beside her, lying on top of the sheet. 'Can you forgive me? For the priest?'
    'Yes,' she said a second time, and meaning it. Exhausted, she tucked her head into the crook of her master's arm and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
     
    * * * *
     
    Decimus watched her. He wished now he had not chastised her, but she had startled him, attacking in that way. He had done to her what he had done once to a gladiatrix in the arena—better that than killing a woman. The mob had loved it and the woman fighter had been sold on to a Senator who promised her a life of being spanked. He had seen her six months ago, pregnant, well-fed, happy. And alive.
    As for Corinna....He smiled, recalling her indignation at the idea that she would strike him in his sleep. Hot as her hair, she was. Passionate, but forgiving. She was all he had expected and hoped she would be, and more. Already he knew he would never let her go. In bed, the depth of her submission pleased him greatly. She was, as he had guessed, a natural. He cheerfully admitted that he loved women, especially their bottoms, and smacking their bottoms. He loved to play-spank and she loved being spanked, that much was obvious from the first time he ‘ d pulled her over his lap. Now, recalling a dozen happy sessions with her over his knee, her wriggling and excited, relishing each smack, he thanked Venus for their match.
    More, and, as a nice contrast, she was subtle and feisty out of bed, teasing without being quarrelsome. She had a thousand different expressions he longed to learn. Every day he discovered a new talent and delight in her. She would make a wonderful mother.
    Her queer beliefs troubled him not at all. Rome was filled by strange cults. Christianity seemed harmless enough, a woman ’ s indulgence. There could even be something in it. He had followed the gladiator code of bravery and loyalty for years, but lately even that had not seemed enough. In truth he was weary of killing.
    Silvinus Cato ’ s beliefs were another matter. Decimus breathed in deeply, his mind becoming cold and focused as he considered the Roman. Silvinus Cato had wanted him dead, or at least injured or distracted. The question was, why?
    I fight in the great Flavian amphitheatre in two weeks.
    I am the favorite.
    If I am hurt or off-form, my opponents may win. Whoever bets on them will make a great deal