Julie had braced herself for something brutal, her mind racing through punishments she knew from her military upbringing.
She imagined him making her run endless laps around the forest until her legs gave out, or forcing her to kneel with a boulder balanced across her thighs until she was trembling and broken.
That was the kind of penance she understood: pain, endurance, discipline.
But this...this she had never anticipated.
Instead of iron and sweat, instead of pain and exhaustion, her "punishment" came in the form of Cassius's mouth claiming hers with sudden, devastating passion.
"Smooch!♡~ Smooch!♡~ Kiss!♡~ Smooch!♡~ Sip!♡~"
For a heartbeat she froze, stunned by the sheer audacity of it. Her lips parted instinctively when his pressed harder, when his tongue invaded and tangled with hers, leaving her breathless, overwhelmed.
She was the commander of an entire brigade, yet in this moment, all that authority, all that hardened training, melted away.
