“Master.”
“Silence. Use only your safe word, otherwise shut up and take your punishment like a good girl.” He paused briefly then bitterly announced, “One more, this one will hurt the most.” It did. It hurt as much as all the others added together. “Twenty-one. Let that be a lesson to you. You are never out of my reach.”
Rebecca buried her head in the duvet, trying yet failing to stifle her sobs. She heard Tyler breathing heavily from his exertion, and when he angrily hurled the paddle away, it clattered noisily to the floor. It all felt so surreal, like she was dreaming. The pool cast its eerie blue flickering light around the room, making shadows on the walls and ceiling, and a deafening silence hung in the air as they struggled to catch their breath.
Her butt burned and throbbed, and she knew it was colored a bright red, which would undoubtedly change to a pulsing deep purple after a few hours.
Still breathing heavily, Tyler finally broke the silence. “Don’t move.” A powerful, controlling hand pressed firmly between her shoulder blades, stilling any potential movement.
Chapter Nineteen
As her Master, Tyler had no regrets about punishing her. Rebecca had caused a lot of problems by disappearing from his life without a word. However, after reading her emotional letter, he also felt a genuine compassion and a newfound respect for the beautiful woman before him. She’d faced down and triumphed over so much adversity in her thirty-three years, and he knew he had only a limited understanding of how traumatic life must have been for a ten-year-old little girl diagnosed with leukemia. From what she’d told him, her parents had looked after her well as a child. Monetarily at least, she had lacked for nothing, but both her parents were so wrapped up with their own high-flying lives that they seemed incapable of giving Rebecca the one thing she craved most of all—love. Perhaps Rebecca’s grandparents had been emotionally cold, too. This was sometimes the case, and it often followed that this loveless attitude could be handed down from generation to generation with negative consequences. So perhaps he shouldn’t judge Rebecca’s parents too harshly.
After administering twenty-one strokes of the paddle as punishment, Tyler still felt a little wound up, but the initial fury had now dissipated sufficiently for him to take pity on Rebecca. The soft light coming from the pool outside drifted across her half-naked body, leaving intriguing shadows on her bare, reddened ass. She lay there statue still and incredibly beautiful. He’d ordered her not to move and she seemed to be complying. No movement showed, save for her almost silent breathing, gently lifting and lowering her exquisite rib cage from the mattress. Tyler adored the way her presently glowing butt was slowly changing from a vibrant red to a deep, lustrous purple. He hadn’t held back with his discipline, but then she hadn’t used her safe word, either. He knew it had been a therapeutic and sexually arousing experience for them both.
Rebecca still lay on her stomach, her hands secured behind her back by her blouse. Tyler had been so angry when he’d first seen her after twenty-one days apart he’d ripped the flimsy garment down her arms hard, perhaps too hard. Her eyes were still tightly closed as he leaned over her, and when he saw a million tiny, crystalline teardrops clinging to her lashes, his heart melted a little. He had the best of both worlds with Rebecca. On the one hand she was a strong, powerful, independent woman, yet on the other hand she was still the vulnerable girl who needed the guidance of her Master.
He carefully removed the remains of her blouse, slipping it from her slender wrists. When she immediately flexed and waggled her fingers, he figured her circulation had been cut off and she was trying to restore it. She still lay facedown with her head buried in the duvet, only now she was completely naked. Her perfect glowing ass was only matched for sheer feminine beauty by her creamy, flawless back, over which her glossy brunette hair flowed in abundance.
He walked across to the patio window that led to the pool. It had been a long day, and he’d only managed to catch a few hours’ sleep at the Copacabana Palace hotel in Rio before returning here. He slumped heavily in the soft armchair, wondering how they would clear this mess up. He still loved Rebecca as much as he ever did.
When he’d returned to her beach house for the second time that day and realized she wasn’t home, he’d walked around to the back of the property, where he’d found a small area of decking overlooking an idyllic sandy beach. Initially, he was minded to wait there on the solitary sun lounger until she returned, but when he noticed a sliding patio door had been left slightly ajar, a plan had formed in his mind. He’d wait for her inside. That way he would have the element of surprise on his side.