“Oh God.” She arched into him as he kissed his way down her throat. Wet heat and suction, and he was going to leave marks, and she loved it. Hooking a leg over his calf, she tried to urge him closer, bite harder, stroke where she was achy and needing.
His lips brushed over her ear, the slick sound of it zipping straight to her clit. “Tomorrow, I’m going to introduce you to the rest of my toys.”
“Yes, please.”
“Work you over until you forget your name.”
She’d already half forgotten.
“We’re going to have so much fun. Find every one of your limits. Every little thing that drives you out of your skull and makes you beg.”
She turned her head to the side to give him better access, dropping a hand to run it through his hair as his lips attacked her collarbone. “Why wait?”
“Because.” He pulled away, and inside she was screaming, desperate to pull him back, except he didn’t go far. “Because tonight, I don’t have the patience.”
Oh Jesus, neither did she. “Right.”
“Tonight, I just need to be in you. I want to fuck you, and . . . and make love to you, and—”
She’d never heard him falter like that before. The uncertainty flayed her open.
Because the BDSM stuff was what he did, right? He’d said that. He was willing to try it other ways—hell, the one time, he’d been about to let her have control, only that hadn’t worked.
But this wasn’t about either of them being in the driver’s seat. It was just about the two of them, together. Being one.
She darted her gaze to his eyes. Made the fingers in his hair go soft. “Come here.”
When his lips met hers this time, they were gentler. She took her time, letting him direct the kiss but moderating the pace. Usually, things were so frantic and rushed; she was following orders and lost in her head. But tonight was different. She was high on his touch and the warm scent of him, and her body screamed for more, faster, harder.
Her heart was louder, though.
With reverence, he undressed her, kissing every new inch of her he revealed. Like he was reacquainting himself with her skin, he kissed the hollow of her throat and the top of each breast. Once her top and bra were gone, he pursed his lips around her nipple, and she moaned, her whole body thrumming with the need to have him close.
His hands found the waistband of her slacks, the little clasp and the zip at the side. He parted from her flesh long enough to look into her eyes.
He took her panties with him when he dragged her pants off her hips. She kicked off her shoes and slipped her legs free. For an instant, it was like it had been so many times before, her naked and him clothed, but the power didn’t seem so off this time.
As if he sensed even the chance that it could be, he hastened to match her. His clothes slipped off like they were hardly even there, until before she knew it, he was kneeling naked between her thighs, his cock huge and hard between them, his eyes blown and lips parted.
“I lied,” he breathed.
“What?”
“Before I get inside you. There’s just one thing I need first.”
With all the force he’d used manhandling her earlier, he pushed her knees toward her chest, opening her and spreading her. She groaned, eyes squeezing shut at the burn of stubble against her inner thighs, the rough rasp of it over her softest parts. The sting barely even had time to register before he chased it away with his mouth. The sharpness of her moan trailed off into just this sigh of air as he set to eating her as if she were his last meal, and oh God, what if she was? What if this was it?
Forever.
She scraped her nails down his spine as he slipped his tongue all up and down her opening, parting her legs wider, trying to get him closer and deeper inside. His fingers followed, slipping in as his mouth slid higher.
The first glancing brush against her clit had her head snapping off the bed. He was so fucking good at this, knew all the right places to lick and suck, and it had been days—it had felt like years.
“Dane, Dane, fuck, please—”
His fingers crooked, and his tongue hit just the perfect pace.
She came with his name lodged in her throat, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces, but he was there. He was always there, putting her back together. He gentled her with softer, wetter, sloppier kisses against her pussy until finally she was too sensitive. She nudged him away, her whole body jelly.
He rubbed his wrist over his mouth as he rose onto his knees again. His cock was leaking, his abs flexed as if it physically pained him to still be exercising the restraint required not to plunge right in.
With all the muscle control she had, she crooked a finger, beckoning him closer. He slid her legs together and climbed up the bed to lie by her side. With one palm, he cupped her face.
“Fuck, I’ve missed watching you come.”
She grinned, slow and lazy. “Missed you making me do it.”
“I bet.”
She rolled to meet him, until they were both on their sides. He gave a soft, hurt-sounding grunt when his cock nudged her thigh, sliding back a little, but she wasn’t having any of it. She folded her leg over his hips to draw him closer, until he pressed right against her, the long, bare length of him so hot against her soaking lips.
“Lexie . . .”
She slid against him, just to feel the drag of flesh against her clit. The aftershock shivered through her, only there was hunger behind it, too. She was so fucking far from done.
“I thought you wanted to be inside me,” she teased.
A growl underscored the warning in his tone. “You’re playing with fire.”
“Good thing I’ve got a future firefighter in this bed with me, then, huh?”
“Damn right it is.”
He kissed her then, hard, her taste still clinging to his lips. She licked it off with relish, grinding harder now. She wanted him inside, wanted to tilt her hips and let him glide right in.
“After we try out all your toys tomorrow, I have another idea.”
“What’s that?”
“Get tested.”
“Oh?” He was trying to sound uninvested, but he missed it by a mile.
“Yeah.” She leaned in closer to tug at his lip with her teeth. “So next time when you come inside me, I can feel it.”
His eyes sprang wide as he groaned. “You can’t say these things.”
He swept his tongue into her mouth in a kiss that stole her breath away, but in the next moment, he was up and reaching off the side of the bed. He got a condom out and rolled it on in the span of a heartbeat, and then he was right there again, getting an arm under her knee to open her wide, and then sliding inside.
The first long thrust was like the hole in her heart sealing shut, fullness so sweet she could have cried. He drove in deep and stayed there, eyes slipping closed for a long beat. When he opened them again, the trust and the need shone through so brilliantly. He pressed his brow to hers and ground against her, buried and home and exactly where she needed him to be.
“I love you,” she breathed.
“So much.”
For the longest time, they rocked together just like that, his body and hers entwined and one. It wasn’t like the time she’d tried to take control, and it wasn’t like when he was her Dom. It wasn’t better, and it wasn’t worse. It was just . . . them. Sharing air and space and pleasure, tied together just as surely as two people could be.
And to think, she’d always been so afraid of this.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied the rope. The sudden flash of inspiration had her body flexing, clenching down around him, and he let out a harsh noise of need, breathing hard against her lips. She reached a hand out, and the strain did even more interesting things to the connection between their bodies. Finally, she got a good grasp and pulled it close.
The cord was loosely coiled around itself. An easy tug got the one end free. She dragged it over him, so the rope slid across the muscle
s of his arm and chest, and he lifted his head to try to see.
It took him a second, but understanding lit his eyes. She wound the end of the rope around and around her wrist, and he caught on. Taking up the slack, he got it coiled around his arm, too. It was rigid for the most part. Strong. But with just this little bit of give.
All they needed to move together. To be tied and still be free.
It was perfect.
Bound like that, they moved in faster strokes. He clasped their hands together, shifting his legs for leverage. Every thrust ground him against her clit, and he was hitting so deep inside. The pleasure of it built and built, until the heat threatened to overwhelm her.
“I’m—” she mumbled.
“Me, too.” He kissed her soft and so deep, in command of her at the same time that she was entirely her own. They were both. Bosses and subordinates and Doms and subs. Partners. More. He released her lips with a simple breath. “Let go.”
The climax burst out of her like a curl of fire hitting air. It was a slow, hot bloom, spreading through her and burning her whole. She moaned his name, mouth snapping open just as his did the same.
“Lex—”
He pulsed within her, setting off a fresh new burst of sparks, and she was ash. She was gone.
She was here.
Like a phoenix. She rose.
And he lifted her until she could soar.
Dane plucked a piece of broccoli out of the pan and brought it to his mouth to give it a contemplative chew. He nodded to himself. Just right—tender-crisp with a touch of a sear. He poured in the glaze and turned up the heat, stirring everything until the sauce had thickened. Then with a showy bit of a flourish, he clicked off the burner and pulled the pan from the heat.
To find Lexie sitting at his kitchen island, tapping at her phone, hair loose and soft around her shoulders, the tops of her breasts exposed where the front of the shirt she’d stolen from him gapped.
His heart expanded until it barely felt like it would fit behind his ribs.
Just this morning, he’d been sitting here with nothing but the strength of his convictions. He’d gotten his life back, but he’d lost everyone that mattered in the process. Now he had his dad on board. He had Lexie, half-naked in his kitchen, still being her perfect, work-obsessed, beautiful self.
Still his.
Things with his mother were going to take time, but all of a sudden, anything seemed possible. He could have it all.
He had it. Right here in this very room.
Throat dry, voice rough, he said, “Dinner’s up.”
Lexie pressed a final couple of buttons, then blanked the screen, pushing her phone away and smiling at him with that soft, secret smile that always felt like it was only for him.
“Smells awesome.”
He grabbed a potholder and set the hot pan down on it on the counter, then spun around to grab plates and forks. “It’s nothing special.”
“Well, I can’t tell you the last time someone’s cooked for me, so it’s pretty special to me.”
“I promised, didn’t I?”
Back in Barcelona, before everything had fallen apart. She’d been craving a break from all the heavy Spanish food, and he’d offered to make her something from scratch. He wasn’t an expert in the kitchen, but a quick stir-fry was within his means.
As he faced her again, it was to find her face even softer, an awe he wasn’t quite sure he deserved in her eyes. “Yeah,” she said. “You did.”
The plates hit the counter with a clunk. The island was too wide for this, but he reached across it, grasping for her hand. It felt so small in his, but the strength in this woman never ceased to amaze him.
“I know I let you down. I gave you shit for not being able to accept my decision, but I never told you what I was thinking—how badly I needed a change. It’s my turn to apologize.” Because he hadn’t done that, really. Not for springing his giant change of plans on her the way he had. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I won’t have your back at Bellamy.” Flexing his jaw, he stroked her knuckles with his thumb. “But all my other promises—I’m going to make good on them. I’ll take care of you. Any way you want me to.” He swallowed against how much it took to say this.
Ever since Jake died, Dane had been floating on the surface. He’d done what had been expected of him, met the demands of his mother and his job and kept his head down. But he’d always had one foot out the door. Short-term arrangements with subs and temporary jobs. Weekends spent as far away from his responsibilities as he could get. He’d left one hand on the escape hatch at all times.
Not anymore.
He was committing to a new life. He was ready to commit to this girl.
“Lex. I promise. I might leave your firm, but I will never leave you.”
She blinked hard, gripping his hand just as fiercely as he was holding hers. “That’s a really, really big promise.”
“I know.” Maybe the biggest one he’d ever made.
“I promise to try not to give you reason to.”
He shook his head. She’d been so convinced that she drove people away. In anger, he’d only confirmed it. “I can’t imagine anything you could do that would make me not want to be with you.”
She was good and kind and strong. She made him feel like he could do anything.
He’d already said it, but the words came bubbling up again. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
Standing, she hooked her other hand in the front of the apron he was wearing and yanked. He went along happily, ignoring the way the edge of the counter cut into his middle as he leaned over it to meet her mouth with his. Threading his fingers through her hair, he kissed her with all the passion in his heart.
When they parted, she gazed at him in wonder. “We’re doing this then?”
“Yeah. We are.” He paused, remembering. “What you overheard when you got here—I’m not going anywhere. You know that, right?”
“I mean, I hoped, but . . .”
“Not permanently anyway. But I’ve got some time off right now. I was going to head out West—maybe for a week. See my dad.” Breathe some clean mountain air.
“That’s fine. You should.”
But as much as he wanted the trip, all of a sudden, there was something he wanted even more.
“Come with me.”
The thought left him breathless. His girl against the big Montana sky. How could anything possibly be better?
Her mouth gaped. “Really?”
“Really.”
Here in New York or at the top of Barcelona or in a hospital in California. He wanted her anywhere. He wanted her everywhere.
She squeezed his hand, her shock transforming into a grin. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
No hesitation. No excuses about work.
Just him and her. Together. About to jump off into the unknown.
And he was ready to take the plunge.
FIND YOUR HEART’S DESIRE . . .
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Nine Kinds of Naughty Page 33
