**Author's Note.**
Here's my attempt at a kinky power exchange story. We all know us Brits basically invented the whole disciplined at boarding school thing, right?
I wanted to explore what happens when class structures get flipped on their head behind closed doors. Like the proper aristocratic lady who's always bossing everyone around but secretly fantasizes about being dominated. And the working class Irish guy who's sick of being pushed around by toffs but finds it hot when a posh woman begs him to take control.
Problematic? Fuck yeah. But real attraction isn't politically correct.
---
The Riding Crop
Liam's POV
I'll never forget that day at the hunt. Pishin' down rain, typical English misery, me and the other protesters standin' in mud while these posh cunts on horses rode around us like lords of the manor. Which they were, I suppose.
Then I saw her.
Sittin' high on a black horse lookin' down her nose at the world. Lady Victoria Harrington-Wells, I'd later learn. Mid-forties but fit as fuck. Not some skinny model type, but a real woman with curves and strength. Expensive ridin' gear that screamed old money.
When our eyes met, somethin' sparked. Not just the usual hatred I feel for her type. Somethin' darker, like.
Hadn't planned to run when the police moved in. But when I saw an openin' to that old stone barn, I took it. Never thought she'd follow.
But she bloody did.
"I know you're in here," she called out. Christ, that voice. Like cut glass and private schools. Like someone who's never heard 'no' in her life. "Did you really think I wouldn't follow?"
I stepped out, heart hammerin' but face hard. "Countin' on it, actually," I said, lettin' my Cookstown accent come through thick. Wanted her to hear the difference between us.
She looked me over like I was shite on her boot. Takin' in my charity shop jacket, mud-caked boots. "You've cost me today," she said. "That wasn't just some jolly weekend hunt. I had business connections there."
"Fuck your business," I took a step closer. "More ways to keep killin' animals? More rich bastards decidin' how the rest of us live?" Another step. "Where I come from,
Lady Muck
, your type has been steppin' on throats long enough."
Somethin' flashed in her eyes when I called her Lady Muck. Not just offense.
Hunger
.
"You know nothing about me," she said, voice quiet but tight with tension.
"I know enough," I circled her slowly, like prey. "I know you're used to givin' orders. To havin' everyone jump when you speak. To always, always bein' in control." I paused, watchin' her face. "But I wonder what happens when that control is... taken away."
She stared at me, mask slippin'. "That's absurd," she said, but her voice trembled.
I moved closer. Close enough to smell her expensive perfume, to see her pulse quicken at her throat. "Is it? I bet someone like you, who has to make every fuckin' decision, sometimes fantasizes about someone else takin' charge. Someone who doesn't give a shite about your title or your money. Someone who sees right through you."
Thunder crashed outside. Rain hammered the roof like it was tryin' to get in.
"You know nothing," she repeated, but she hadn't moved an inch. The door was right there. She could walk out anytime.
"Then why are you still here?" I asked, now close enough that I could feel the heat from her body. "Your fancy friends are gone. Hunt's over. Yet here you are, alone with someone you'd cross the street to avoid in London."
I saw it in her eyes then.
Desire. Fear. Excitement.
"I've got a proposition," I said, voice low. "While we're trapped by this storm, we switch places. You, who always commands, will obey. Me, who's told what to do my whole fuckin' life, will give the orders."
"That's ridiculous," she said, but her face flushed.
"Is it? So why haven't you left?" I looked at her throat. Could see her pulse going like mad above her silk scarf. "Why's your heart racing?"
Her hand went to her neck automatically. "You're being absurd."
"Prove it. Walk away."
But instead she asked, "What exactly would this... involve?" Her posh accent slipped a bit.
I couldn't help smiling. "Rules. Boundaries. A safeword so you've got an escape hatch. You say 'freedom' anytime, everything stops."
"Like an emergency brake," she said.
"Exactly."
"And why would I do this?" she asked, steadier now.
"Because you're curious. Because for once you might want to find out what it's like to not be responsible for every fucking thing."
I watched her thinking about it. Risk versus curiosity.
"Take your gloves off," I said.
She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Something simple to start. Take your riding gloves off."
For a moment, I thought she'd tell me to go fuck myself. Then slowly, deliberately, she pulled each finger of her leather gloves, revealing pale hands with manicured nails. I watched her register the feeling of cool air against skin that had been covered.
"Now the crop," I demanded.
Her hand tightened around the riding crop she'd brought in. Worn leather, probably worth more than I made in a month.
"This is absurd," she repeated, voice weaker.
"Is it? Hand it over. Give up your symbol of control."
Her pulse was visible at her throat now. She stared at my outstretched hand, at the protest scars across my knuckles. Then she placed her crop in my palm. Our fingers touched and she actually shivered.
"Good girl," I said, the condescension deliberate, watching her reaction. Her eyes flashed with anger, but underneath it, something else.
Excitement.
"Turn around," I ordered.
"Why should I?" she challenged, but her body was already responding.
"Because I fucking told you to," I said simply. "But remember your word if you're scared."
That did it. Pride made her turn, back stiff with tension. She wasn't used to not seeing what was coming next. I moved behind her, close enough that she could feel my breath on her neck.