Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 29

29

J illy climbed out of the shower the next day and got dressed.

She’d been surprised to wake up on her own this morning. She wasn’t sure where Regent was.

If he was coming back.

It was a good thing that he was gone. Right?

Sure. Why did she feel so disappointed then?

After brushing her teeth, she stared at herself in the mirror. God, she looked terrible.

Thankfully, she’d already messaged work to tell them that she wouldn’t be coming in. She really just wanted to go back to bed.

Opening the door to the bedroom, she froze as she saw Regent there. Her first feeling was relief that he hadn’t left her.

The second was shock. Why was he filling a suitcase with her stuff?

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t turn to look at her. “I’m packing your things. Sit on the bed. You shouldn’t have had a shower. You know I didn’t want you showering until I was certain you were steady enough on your feet. That’s two.”

Two?

Two what?

What was going on?

“What are you doing? Why are you packing my things?” She stood her ground. Even though she really wanted to sit. The room was swaying slightly and she felt weak.

This time, he turned to her. She sucked in a breath at the look on his face.

Why did she have this feeling that she was in trouble?

What could she possibly have done?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“And how am I looking at you?”

“Um. Well, you kind of look like you’d . . .”

Like he’d like to take her over his knee and smack her ass.

“Do I look like I just found out that you’ve been keeping something big from me? Something that could affect your safety? Is that how I look?”

“I mean, that’s a hard look to pin down. And oddly specific. I was just going to go with a generalized ‘upset.’”

He raised an eyebrow.

“So, um, a secret, you say?” She tried to edge her way to the bedroom door. Jilly wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about.

But she had a bad feeling.

There was no way he knew about her secret.

Well, secrets, she guessed.

“Yes. A secret.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and she blushed as she saw he was holding a pair of her panties.

Why didn’t she have sexy underwear? Instead, they were all plain cotton and boring.

But then, she hadn’t exactly expected someone to be handling them, had she?

In fact, what right did he have to be upset? She should be the one who was upset.

“Do not even think about going out that door.”

“Excuse me?”

“You haven’t been excused.”

Her mouth dropped open. Who the heck did he think he was?

“This is my house. You don’t get to tell me where I can and can’t go.”

“You seem to keep forgetting who is in charge here. It’s not you. Get into bed, while I keep packing. You’re coming to stay with me for the foreseeable future. Unless you’d rather leave everything here. I can buy you all new things.”

Was she dreaming?

She had to be dreaming. There was no way this was happening, right?

This sort of thing didn’t happen in real life. Then again, most people didn’t have a Regent Malone in their lives.

They might wish they did.

But, sheesh, he was a handful.

“You’re not buying me new things. And you’re not taking me anywhere. Now, I think you should leave.”

Jilly braced herself, ready to run if she needed to.

Regent isn’t your father. He isn’t going to get angry.

But all he did was shake his head and point at the bed. “Sit down and stop disobeying me.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Disobeying you?”

“Disobeying me,” he repeated firmly. “I told you no showering. You showered. No getting out of bed without me. You did. I told you several times to sit down before you pass out. Oh, and also, I asked you if anything was wrong. You said there wasn’t. You lied to me, didn’t you, baby?”

Uh-oh.

How did he know? What did he know?

“You’re up to three, now.”

“Three what?” she asked.

“Spankings.”

Dear Lord. There he went with the spankings again. And what did he mean she was up to three?

“How can I be up to three?”

That probably wasn’t the question to ask.

“I’m pretty sure that friends don’t spank friends. And that’s what we are, right? Friends?”

“We are not friends.”

Ouch. They weren’t even friends anymore? What were they? Acquaintances?

Tears filled her eyes, sliding down her cheeks as she sniffled.

“What is it? Are you in pain? What hurts?” he demanded, picking her up and carrying her back to bed.

“My heart,” she wailed.

Yes, she was a dramatic mess. But she couldn’t help it. All she’d ever done was look up to this man and want to be near him, but he kept rejecting her.

A girl could only take so much. Especially when she wasn’t well.

“What is it? Your heart? I’m calling an ambulance. I knew you needed to be in the hospital.”

“It’s not my heart,” she said, sniffling. She grabbed the bed covers and pulled them over her head. “It’s you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You. I want you to leave.”

“I’m looking after you,” he stated.

“But I don’t want you to look after me. I don’t want you here. I want you to go away.”

Ouch.

Regent wasn’t sure what had just happened. Sure, she’d tried to get rid of him before, but now she seemed to really mean it.

She was upset. But why?

Because he’d said they weren’t friends? Fuck. He hadn’t meant it like that.

He meant they weren’t friends because what he felt toward her wasn’t just friendly.

Fuck. He’d totally fucked that up. No wonder she was upset with him.

“Baby.” He sat on the bed, drawing her out from under the covers to sit on his lap. She fought him, but he held on tight.

She was surprisingly strong.

“Let me go! I’m gonna say my safeword!”

“Safeword? Baby, you don’t have a safeword.” Was she a sub? Had she been in a relationship with a Dominant before?

Regent wasn’t a Dom, exactly. But he did like to be in control. Of everything. So, safewords in the bedroom were something he was familiar with.

But he’d never had a long-term relationship. He had an apartment in the city that he kept for when he had a mistress. It might sound cold and sleazy, but it was as much as he was willing to give a woman.

For their protection.

And because he’d never met a woman who he wanted to give more of himself to. Until he met her.

Jilly.

“I need you to listen to me, Jilly. No, you’re not going anywhere until you do. All you’re going to do is wear yourself out.”

A cough rattled through her. Fuck, he hated that she was ill. It made him feel so helpless that he couldn’t comfort her. Couldn’t take this away and make her feel better.

“Listen to me. I didn’t mean that we weren’t friends.”

“Yes, you did. That’s what you said.”

“Baby, if you didn’t mean anything to me, do you really think I’d be here taking care of you?”

She stilled. “Then why are you still here when all I seem to do is annoy and disappoint you?”

He cupped her chin. “You could never disappoint me, understand? I don’t want you to ever say that again.”

Her eyes were wide as she gaped up at him.

“I’m serious, Jilly. You think you’re getting a good spanking for all the other things you’ve done? It’ll feel like nothing compared to the spanking I’ll give you if I hear you speak about yourself like that.”

“I . . . I . . . I still don’t know what I earned those other spankings for.”

“One was for disobeying me about the hairdryer when I told you to bring it out so I could dry your hair. Two was for getting out of bed and taking a shower on your own. Three is for keeping something from me.”

“What did I keep from you?”

“I know, Jilly. You need to stop pretending that you’re not hiding anything and just tell me.”

“Um, tell you what?” she asked warily.

“You should tell me everything,” he said firmly.

“Really? Because I think I could use a hint.”

“Just how many things are you keeping from me?” he asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said hastily. “I really think you must need to leave by now. You should have other things you want to do. Besides, I’m feeling much better.”

“Nothing is more important to me than making sure you’re all right.”

Jilly gaped at him. “I don’t understand you. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I tried to stay away from you—even told myself it was for your own good. Being tied to me is dangerous. I have enemies who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you.”

“Why . . . why would your enemies care about me? I’m no one.”

“I’ve told you not to speak badly about yourself. That’s four.”

“I . . . you . . . what is happening?” she cried. “I’m so confused. You seem to think I’m going to stay in your house and that you get to just make those sorts of decisions. And that I’ll just happily go along with it. That you’ll get to spank me when I do things you don’t like. And that for some weird reason people will try to hurt me to get to you. That makes no sense when I don’t mean anything to you.”

“Who said you don’t mean anything to me?”