Without her sight, she let her skin come alive. Let her other senses come to the forefront. She didn’t bother to stop her soft whimper of pleasure when he slid the loosened cuff, also lined, over first one wrist and then the other, tightening until the leather creaked just right. The metal of the hasp jingled slightly, a whisper of what was to come and she let herself fall into it, let herself get captured by his spell.
“When you’re done. After I’ve come in your mouth and you’ve pleased me. I’m going to stand back and look at you. Look my fill at what a beautiful woman I’m blessed to have in my life.” Clothing rustled as he paused. “And then I’m going to use the chains and weights on your nipples.”
She gulped at the phantom sensation blooming through her nipples at the memory of the tug, the slight pain of the weighted beads that would then rush into unbelievable pleasure when he took them off.
He chuckled. “That’s what I thought. Now, my cock is right in front of your mouth. Suck me off, baby.”
She took him deep, as deep as she could. Over and over, the movements as entrancing in their own way as the cuffs were. It created a sense of ritual without seeming rote.
His taste wended through her. The feel of his cock in her mouth, the way he touched her, the sounds he made—it all combined to bind them together again after their time apart.
He had a way of murmuring the sweetest things to her when she was on her knees for him, even while some of them were utterly dirty and made her blush, the emotion behind them, the way the awe and love was so clear in his voice made them beautiful instead of hard or ugly.
That’s what love did and it was the core of why she loved being dominated by him so much, why it made her feel beautiful instead of a thing. He took the reins, but never her control, never her personhood. She gave him her control, gave him the power to lead them, but in doing so, gained her own.
Whatever it was, however they described it, it was love and it worked.
“Are you ready, baby?” His voice was passion rough. She knew his eyes would be glossy with desire, his lips wet from the way he drew his tongue over them right before he came. Knew he only looked at her as she gave him pleasure.
She hummed her assent and he thrust into her mouth one last time, filling her as he came on a snarl of her name.
“I love you, darlin’.” He helped her up and led her to their bed. “Kneel here for me. I want to look at you awhile.”
Gooseflesh broke as she knew he meant to drag her pleasure out. Knew that when he made her come at last it would be spectacular and bone deep.
And so she knelt on their bed, falling into that space in her head where she relaxed like a cat in a sunny window.
* * *
Jude moved to his favorite chair to get his breath back as he took her in. Truly, he’d seen a lot of naked women in his time and none of them could even approach her level of beauty. It wasn’t just her outside, though, truth be told, she was a gorgeous woman. It was the way she knelt there, knowing he watched her, knowing just how much she affected him.
Her submission was the most beautiful part of his life. Strong, like she was. Her submission did not make her weak in any way. He loved her independence and energy and the way she gave herself to him would be meaningless if she had no choice, or he bullied it from her.
He thought about the mark she’d had done. Just for him. For them. Another step, this one so big and important it had sent him reeling. It was one thing to wear his necklace or the rings in her body. That tattoo on her shoulder, the ink in her skin was a public declaration of their relationship. She’d done it for him, for them, and he needed to process it all.
Because she’d done it when he needed it most and the way she saw straight to the heart of him left him exposed totally. Loved. Appreciated and laid wide open. All for her. All for them.
Chapter Two
Her hands clasped at the curve of her back. The cuffs were tight enough to remind her she was bound, but not tight enough to truly hurt. The edge of the leather poked against the tender flesh of her wrists. Each time she shifted even just slightly, she felt the rasp there, sending waves of pleasure rolling through her senses. Her nipples throb, throb, throbbed as the chain with the tiny weights swayed with her breathing.
She knew Jude sat in a chair nearby, watching her with hungry eyes. That knowledge caught her breath, bringing her tongue to swipe over her lips. Lips swollen from his kisses, salty with the taste of him. Of his cock.
She had to imagine it, use her other senses in the absence of her sight and the ability to touch. Imagining it was part of the allure, knowing he was there, knowing how he watched her with greedy eyes, knowing he saw her as beautiful and desirable intensified the experience.
“You’re so beautiful.”
The slow, sticky-warm drawl of his voice brought a hitch to her breath. Such a sexy sound, filled with enough awe that she believed every bit of praise he gave. Made her feel like the most magnificent woman to ever live. Certainly the luckiest one.
He stood. She could hear the rustle and then the steps he took toward where she knelt on the bed. His scent caught her first. That all-man smell he had. Warm. The heat of his body caressed her as he got close enough to lean down and press a kiss on her shoulder.
“I do believe I want you again. I think my cock is foolhardy to undertake such a goal when I just blew down your pretty throat only ten minutes ago. But—” he paused to chuckle, “—where you’re concerned, my cock is a little greedy.”
“Please,” she managed to say. His nearness pulled her from the soft, cushioned space she’d been in. Needing to feel his skin against hers, his cock inside her body where it was meant to be.
He caressed her skin, running his hands up and down her back, she knew, pausing to look at the tattoo that’d started this little interlude. She’d uncovered it and his gaze had gone hooded when she met it in the mirror she stood before. Her knees had gone to rubber when he ordered her to them.
Jude’s cock jumped at the sound the cuffs made when she shifted a little. The tiny shuss of metal against metal and leather. It mixed with the scent of her cunt, the heat of her skin, her shampoo and the cinnamon of the gum she’d been chewing before she’d come home.
Though this was far from the first time, each time he touched her it was as if he fell in love with her anew. He paused to unclip one nipple and then the other, knowing sensation would rush back and bring her more pleasure. God, he loved looking at her when she was like this. Eyes covered with the deep purple satin mask, breasts thrust forward, nipples hard and dark from the weights and her own arousal, hands bound at her back. On her knees. Because he liked it. Because it pleased him and she wanted that too.
Christ, he was the most fortunate man alive that this woman had cleaved herself to him.
And he’d nearly lost her forever.
Driven back to near frantic need by that thought, he picked her up and carried her back to the chair he’d been sitting in. “I want you, darlin. On my cock.” As he said it, he moved her just so, astride his lap, mesmerized by the O of pleasure her lips made as he thrust up and into that welcoming heat.
He paused as she tightened and fluttered around him.
Nothing else could ever compare to this. To the way her cunt slid around his cock, hugging him as he fucked into her.
Taking a deep breath, he kissed up her neck as he undid her wrists so she could hold on. Her hands sought his shoulders as she rose up and then moved back down his cock. “Yes. Just like that. Slow and deep.” She’d keep the mask on because he hadn’t told her otherwise. The beauty of that, the dark power of it wrapped around them both.
Her breath hitched as she began to ride him. Just like he’d asked.
Her nipple begged for more against his left palm while the fingers of his other hand walked down her belly and spread her pussy open, exposing the ring there. Her clit swollen and needy.
“Shhh,” he murmured as he flicked a fingertip over it and she whimpered.
“There’s always more where you’re concerned,” he managed to stutter out as she squirmed, arching closer as he idly flicked a fingertip over her clit.
She was ready, as he knew she would be. He’d teased her to the point where she’d explode when he gave her the right speed and intensity of pressure. Knowing she was also hyper-sensitive, he kept his fingers against her light and steady, until her soft murmurs and entreaties had nearly driven him right over the edge again.
“Are you ready to come?” He whispered it against her temple, pinching her nipple just so.
“Yes. God, yes!”
“All right then, come all over my cock, Rori.”
He gave her a tiny bit more pressure, just what she needed to cross over and fly apart in his arms, the rush of her wet heat coating his cock as she squeezed him, her nails digging into his shoulders.
At that point, he was too close to resist the allure of thrusting up into her one last time, deep and hard, unloading himself with jerk after jerk of his cock until they both sighed long and rested against the other.
When he pulled the mask off, her eyelids fluttered open and their gazes locked. “I love you, Jude.”
He smiled, his heart swelling to the point of bursting. “I love you too, Rori.” Shifting her a bit, he dipped to kiss the tip of her nose. “I guess since you just gave me your Christmas present, I should give you mine.” He preferred to surprise her closer to the date, but because of what the present was, he knew she’d need the time to plan around it.
“Is it in your pants?”
“You’re trouble, you know that?” He kissed her again and lost himself in her—the way he had every time he touched her. His hands fisted in her hair, tugging her closer and she made a soft sound. “Now then. I think I can live another hour or so without having you again.”
Alert at the prospect of presents, she sat up and scrambled off his lap. “I thought you said it was three weeks away. Not that I’m complaining,” she amended quickly.
Laughing, he got up and tugged her toward their bathroom. “Shower and then present.” He kept an eye on her in the many mirrors as he turned the taps on. The pipes were old and it was December so it took a while to get the water hot enough for a shower.
She leaned back into his body as he massaged the shampoo into her scalp. She loved the way he was with her. Gentle like this, sweet and giving. He took care of her in ways that made her life easy. Made sure she never had to do anything unpleasant. Well, he couldn’t make her mother go away, but other than that part, he made her feel like a cosseted princess.
“Should I even ask you what that smile is about?” He moved so she could rinse her hair and took liberties with her soap-slick nipples in the meantime.
“Just thinking about how lucky I am to have a man like you to love me.”
“You always say the very right thing at the perfect time.”
He soaped her body up far more than was necessary but she had no plans to complain. He made her forget her own name sometimes with the way he touched her.
Sometime later, ensconced on the couch in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace and the tea she’d made steeping in the pot, she sighed happily as he leaned back into her fingers where she massaged his shoulders. “You’re so good to me,” he murmured.
“Pffft. No more than you deserve. Now, about my present?”
He laughed, settling back into her so she could wrap her arms around him and hold on tight.
“I know we both normally spend Christmas at Kelly and Max’s house.” Kelly was Rori’s sister and she was married to Max, Jude’s brother. They’d all grown up together and spent the holidays as a family since Rori had returned to Oakley some years before.
“This will be our first Christmas as a couple.” He paused and she kissed the top of his head. “So I thought we could, you know, get away for a few days. Make our own holiday celebration.”
She smiled but he couldn’t see it so she kissed him again. “Really?”
“There’s a place in Highlands. In North Carolina. A few hours drive from here. It overlooks the valley. High enough to get snow sometimes the owner said. Our own cabin at the resort. Private and secluded. Restaurant looks good, but they have room service too if we want it.”
She scrambled around him to wrap herself around his waist, wanting him to see how much she loved this present. “Just you and me for Christmas? Really?”
He nodded. “Is that all right? Four nights. We’d be back for the New Year’s Eve party your sister is planning. I know we spend it with family and all. But I thought it would be nice to get away.”
Just the two of them.
They needed it, she knew. She sure as heck wanted it. Wanted to make their own traditions without the shadow of Zach between them.
“Silly, we will be with family. You and I are a family, aren’t we? I love the idea. It’s fabulous and I can’t wait to have you all to myself.”
He smiled. “I’ve arranged coverage at work. No calls in the middle of the night. The cabin we’re in is secluded, so you can make all the noise you want and we won’t have our nephews at the front door first thing in the morning begging for breakfast or to go hiking or what have you. I can have my wicked way with you over and over.”
“Lots of wicked ways. I heartily endorse this plan, Jude. Thank you.” It would be good to leave Oakley behind for a few days. And she loved the idea of not having to share him with anyone else.
“Just Rori and Jude.” He said it as he stretched up to kiss her on the lips.
They’d known each other pretty much their entire lives. He’d been her best friend and her roommate in the nearly two years after Zach’s murder, they’d only shared that first kiss the New Year’s Eve before and hadn’t become a real couple until later than that. It’d be good to go on a vacation together.
Things between them were good. It had felt totally natural to be with him. She’d loved him before Zach and then he’d been there after Zach and she’d loved him again.
She was past the point where she questioned her glorious second chance at forever with a man she knew would love her just as long. Her man.
A good, strong man who loved his people. A man who’d die to protect not just her, but the people in town. As a cop, Jude took that commitment even further. She knew when he made a commitment, he’d keep it. It was part of her attraction to him. That steadfast loyalty and strength of character. Even when she worried, though they lived in a small, relatively safe town, that one day she’d have to face his death too. Sometimes, in the dead of night, it paralyzed her, swamped her and blurred the memories of how it had been to hear Zach was dead.
But it meant something to him. He did it because he cared. Serve and protect weren’t just words on his vehicle, he felt them deeply. She admired that, even as it scared her.
On top of that, he looked like walking sin. A face that made her tingly all over just looking at it. A slow, sexy southern drawl. Hands that knew their business. A mouth he used to her great delight. They had chemistry in a big way. Sex that left her weak-kneed and gasping for breath.
Dominant too.
A man who’d never use his strength to harm her, but who used that strength to take her to the darkest, sweetest of places, all while holding her so she wouldn’t drift away. He didn’t hurt her, but he knew how to take her on a ride of pleasure just on the very edges of pain.
She loved it. More than that, she craved it. Found solace and satiation in it. They fit in ways she couldn’t possibly begin to describe with enough wonder and gratitude.
Jude made her whole.
Chapter Three
“Well, I can’t lie and say I’m not disappointed you won’t be here on Christmas morning.” Kelly topped Rori’s coffee off before sitting back down at the dining room table they sat at every Friday morning.
Her sister’s house had become as comfortable as her own, a second home in many ways and a place she kne
w would always welcome her.
While Rori had told her sister about the change in plans two weeks before, right after Jude had told her about it, it had been clear Kelly wasn’t entirely happy with the situation.
“We need this, Kel.” Rori toyed with the edge of the newspaper her sister had been reading before she’d arrived.
“I know. I know you do. It’s just…well this is the first Christmas since Zach that you’re…” Kelly licked her lips, Rori knew, searching for just exactly the best way to say normal.
So Rori did instead. “Normal.” She shrugged. “Oh don’t look so guilty. It’s true. Losing him made me a little crazy for a while. But during that time Jude was always there for me. Patiently loving me even when I was in pieces.”
“I imagine it has to be hard living with Zach’s ghost. Max said the other day that he’d never seen his brother work harder or be a better man than he is with you. But how can you compete with the memory of a guy like Zach?”
Her stomach tensed for a moment. “He doesn’t need to compete. If he feels that way, I’m doing this all wrong.” Rori sighed. Zach was gone and she’d accepted it. But the time after he’d died had been dark. He’d been her husband. She’d loved him with all her heart and soul. Jude never expected her to act any other way and she was grateful for it. Had known, by the time they finally came together, that it was meant to be that way. He’d proved over and over that he loved her and would care for her, had shown her the depths of his commitment to her and their relationship.
Part of that had been him taking a back seat to Rori’s need to put the ghost of her life with another man to rest. “He deliberately put himself and his own needs on the back burner for me.”
“He may have acted like a dick years ago, but he loves you. No doubt in my mind. And Max is probably right about Zach.” Kelly groaned. “I hate it when I have to not be selfish.” She winked.
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