Conviction by Leah Cook Page B

took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkened room. There were wall sconces that were only bright enough to cast the smallest of glows around the room. The smell of leather and metal had him pleasantly aroused, although his concern for Kelly's welfare kept him in check.
    “Kelly?” he said quietly into the darkness as his eyes made out her small frame kneeling next to the customised spanking bench he had made.
    “I'm sorry, Sir.” Kelly's voice was strained and James could tell she was still crying.
    “Tell me what you are sorry for, Precious.”
    “For snooping, for running from you...again...for my body, for not being able to do this right.” Her voice cracked again and she was unable to stop the sob that burst from her chest and into the quiet of the room.
    “Come here, Kelly.” James didn't wait for her to comply, simply bending down and scooping her up into his arms and walking her out of his dungeon. Once he had them settled on the couch he pulled a throw over her shaking body and held her head against his chest and let her cry.
    It seemed like hours before she had finally cried the last of her tears and fell asleep still held firmly in his arms. She hadn't fought his comfort, hadn't tried to run, but had fisted her hand his shirt and pulled herself closer to him.
    Finally, finally they were getting somewhere, he thought to himself as he lay his own head back and drifted into sleep.

Chapter 9 - Kelly
    Kelly's body was stiff and she felt like she was covered in cotton wool as she roused herself from sleep. Pulling her mind through the fog that wanted to send her back in to a blissful sleep, she slowly came back to reality and froze. She was in his arms. She had stayed in his arms and let him hold her. Why was he still holding her? Shouldn't she get up now?
    “Stay where you are, Kelly.” his voice was quiet but stern and she decided she didn't really want to find out what he would do this time if she denied his request. Kelly loosened her grip on his shirt when she realised that she no longer had any feeling left in her fingers. She slowly stretched her hand until the tell-tale tingling told her that she had blood flow again.
    “You don't get to talk, do you understand me? Right now, you are going to listen. And if I have to repeat myself, for any reason, you will be put over my knee. Are you listening now, Kelly?”
    “Yee...yes, Sir.” she replied quietly.
    “You will stop running from me. You will stop trying to hide from these new emotions and feelings that you are dealing with. This is a highly stressful situation we are putting you in and you need to give yourself some credit for what you are doing. For yourself, for your daughter. You are fighting demons that nobody, nobody , should ever have to fight. Yes, I have expectations of you, but they are nothing that I don't think you are more than capable of.  It's only been one night, Kelly. In that time you have bravely bared your body to me. Yes, it was a command but you still made that final decision yourself to do it, for me and for yourself. You're looking at this whole situation wrong, don't look at it as repeating history, because I am not Devlin King and I will not hurt you for my own pleasure. Think of this as a reclaiming. A way to take back control of some of the things that he did to you that you had no control over. Now you do, Kelly. Don't you see? It is you that holds the control. You make the decisions on your behaviour, you make the decision on how you will react to what I am asking of you. Not me, not Master Xander and definitely not Devlin fucking King.”
    Kelly sat stunned into silence as she took in what James had just said to her. Whilst his tone was low she could tell that she had hurt him, again. She knew she couldn't apologise, it made no difference to a man like James. She needed to show him that she had heard what he had said. That she understood everything he had just said.
    Slowly she pulled out of his arms and