" He sat it on the top of the desk. "I'll give you another grand for that ass of yours." That little wrinkle formed between her eyebrows. It made his ...ick ache more. "Right now, Alice, or not at all." "Yes, then," she said in that throaty voice. He led her to a guest room with a bed and looked her up and down. "Take off your clothes," he said. She hurried to obey. "Bend over the bed," he added. She did so in a graceful, liquid movement. Finally, he had the view he'd been wanting: the heart. He came up behind me and grabbed me and threw me over his lap once again, this time he had a wooden spoon from the kitchen in his hands, he brought it down on my ass several times and I was in tears as my butt was still sore from the previous spanking, he continued to spank me with the spoon untill finally I broke down and sobbed on his lap, for several minutes saying how I was sorry and that work had been stressing me out and I shouldn’t have been such a bitch at the movies and I didn’t mean. The overall effect was stunning. Claudia rose and greeted her warmly. She had to remind herself that Gianina and Sabina already knew Julia well. Just behind Julia were two men; one was tall and slim with straight blond hair, the other just a fraction shorter, muscular with dark brown, curly locks. Without standing up Sabina introduced the first as Dante and the other as Rinaldo, her gardener. Both men seemed to be already acquainted and Claudia found herself admiring Rinaldo’s profile, his. You are my queen of spades.” I heard Kate gasp, but I couldn’t turn my focus away from Melody. “You hold my life in your hands. You steady our ship. You guide our lives. Yes, I say our. Vast as my love for you is, it is but a pittance compared to our love, my queen. The sun rises in your eyes and sets when you sleep. I am but your knave, a squire to your desires. I live to serve you and pledge my allegiance to your throne for evermore.” Melody’s strokes sped up and I could hear heavy breathing.