Duplicity by Kristina M Sanchez Page A

heartbeat before he went on. “Would you let someone spank you?”
    The tone of his voice—low and sexy—sent a shiver down her spine.
It was only by virtue of practice that she kept her visceral reaction off her
face. “I’d have to trust someone a lot to let them hit me.”
    Trey began to trace the curve of her breast with the tip of a
single finger as he spoke. “Would you trust me?”
    Despite her best efforts, Lilith’s voice was barely there when she
answered. “Yes.” She didn’t know how she felt about the act on a personal
level—she hadn’t had occasion to think about her own pleasure—but she knew she
would trust him if he asked.
    Feeling too aware of his eyes on her, she cleared her throat and
attempted an unconcerned shrug. “If I trust you enough to stick your
unprotected cock in my mouth, I trust you with a little spanking. But there’s a
sliding scale for that .  . . you know,
just for your edification.”
    “I see.” His finger brushed down the valley between her breasts.
“Tell me about this sliding scale.” His eyes flitted to hers, and there was
something deliciously dangerous there. It made her press her tongue to the roof
of her mouth to quell the urge to whimper. “You know .  . .
for my edification.”
    Lilith swallowed hard before she could speak, but then she
grinned. She knew how to play this game. She knew how to win. She rolled onto
her side, pressing her front against him, knowing her nipples were hard and
brushing up against his skin. Taking his hand, she moved it to her ass, as if
she were helping him by illustrating the part of her body they were discussing.
“It depends on how red you want it.” She made her voice ever so slightly
tentative, vulnerable. “A nice pink glow won’t cost you much.”
    She heard the way his breath stuttered before he could manage an
answer. “No?” The word was scratchy.
    “ No.” She reached back, pressing her palm to his hand. “It
can be so nice. You feel the heat coming off the skin.”
    “Is that a fact?” His voice was so thick. His pupils were dilated
and fixated on her lips as she spoke.
    She hummed her assent, reaching up to rub his cheek.
    As soon as he ducked his head, about to kiss her, she pulled back,
just out of his reach. “Of course, if you want to make it so I have carry a
pillow around to sit down, you’d better believe you’re going to compensate me
for all that.”
    His confused expression told her he’d forgotten what the hell
they’d been talking about for a moment. When his brain turned back on, he
chuckled. “Well, I think that’s plenty reasonable.”
    Raising his hand, he drew his fingers through her hair. “Will you
tell me what had you so worked up before?”
    Lilith growled, throwing one arm over her eyes. “You’re stubborn,
you know that?”
    “I’m aware.”
    For long minutes, she didn’t answer, and he seemed content to let
her mull it over in silence.
    It seemed dangerous. Everything about Trey was uncharted
territory, but this had warning lights and whistles all over it. Sometimes,
this quasi-friendship, business partnership was unnerving. She felt dangerously
close to forgetting the role she was supposed to be playing.
    Still, every one of her personas had to have friends, didn’t they?
That was what Trey had called them—friends. So why not? Who else could she vent to?
    As she began to tell Trey about her birthday party the night
before, she tried to play it off as no big deal. The more she spoke, though,
the angrier she got just remembering how badly the man who was supposed to be
her best friend had hurt her.
    Folding her arms, she glared at the ceiling. “You’d think I was
selling drugs to kids or running a slave trade the way he acts. You know, every
once in a while I do get to help someone. I’m not trying to say what I do is
noble, but it’s not nothing . Sometimes the guys who
come in are so stressed, and I can help them. And yeah, there are other ways to
go about