He tugged my chin up. “Just because you get help doesn’t make this less yours. You get other furniture, toss it to the curb. Until then, I’m over sleeping on a damn air mattress and staring at the wall.”
I heaved out a breath, defeated. He sort of made sense. In fact, I’d sort of gone crazy when all he’d done was be kind to me.
“Come sit down.” He dragged me to the couch.
Collapsing onto it, I hid my face in my hands.
“I meant for you to be happy about this.” The couch dipped when he sat beside me. “So happy, you’d want to break in the bed with the surprise I brought you.”
I glanced at him.
“There’s a reason I don’t do this shit. I don’t get it right.” He started to stand, but I squeezed his leg.
So I’d probably overreacted.
“Don’t go.” I almost whispered the words.
He frowned at me.
“I didn’t need the club’s help. I can do it on my own. If I’d known it bothered you, I would’ve done it already.” I stared up at the water-stained ceiling, trying to rein in the bitter tang of disappointment.
“Club? What’s this got to do with MJ or the club?”
I stared at him. “You said the club wanted to help and then MJ asked me on the way to lunch. Didn’t you have her or someone do it?”
“MJ asked you about furniture?”
“No, if I needed anything. But I said no. And here she knew about the furniture.” It ate at me for some reason for her to solve my problems.
He shifted on the couch until he faced me. “Look at me.”
I met his confused baby blues. “What?”
“Zayn bought new stuff so I got the couch and bed frame from him. Picked up the TV and mattress at the store. This isn’t a club thing. MJ doesn’t know shit.”
He’d picked out everything. Just him?
“Why?” I had to know.
He scanned the room. “Shit, I’m here all the damn time, so why not? And your lack of bed frame...” I swear Dare squirmed “...cramps my style. I have a fondness for ropes, cuffs, you know, but I can’t do much without a sturdy frame. No way you’re buying shit important to me, so I did. It bothers me you don’t even notice the lack of stuff in here.”
I bust out laughing, I couldn’t help it. So he didn’t think I was useless, unable to take care of myself.
He scowled. “Why you laughing?”
“Sorry. I thought you bought this because you didn’t think I could take care of myself.”
He snorted. “You do fine without me.” He spoke to our joined hands. “I’ve never wanted to spend time with a chick out of bed, until now.” He looked up. “You just go along taking care of everyone, I wanted to do something for you.”
My throat closed and my heart somersaulted. He cared, at least a little, and he enjoyed spending time with me.
“I’m a complete ass, this is sweet, and I really like the bed.” I stilled my face. “So ropes? Did I ever tell you about my dream?”
He flashed his naughtiest smile. “You haven’t, Red. So bad. Who were you dreaming about?”
“A biker—blond full of tattoos. It was a boss fantasy.” I played with him. “He tied me up in knots, if you get my drift.”
“Need you tied in my knots right now.”
“Sounds fun.” I peeked up at him. “We okay?”
He nodded. “Your fire turns me on. I’ve seen a glimpse or two, but I didn’t know you had that kind of fire in you.”
“Beware the redhead.” I stood and pulled him to his feet. “You better restrain me.”
His intense expression made my womb clench, then he swept me up and carried me to my new bed.
He stood me up at the edge of the bed, tugged off my T-shirt and unfastened my bra. He kissed each breast and pushed me onto the bed. I sunk a bit—it was so soft. He kneeled in front of me and removed my flats.
“Oh, baby, you’ll get your wish.”
Fear and excitement mixed inside me.
“I’ve never been tied up. But in my dream ropes snaked around me from shoulders to toes.”
He dropped his head, groaning. “You’re gonna kill me.”
“Do I need a safe word?” I gulped.
He met my gaze. “‘Stop.’ ‘I don’t like it.’ Those work for me. This isn’t role playing, just plain, kinky sex.”
I laughed. “Good to know there’s a difference.”
He tugged my jeans down over my hips and off before his fingers eased my panties down. I would never tire of the sight of him shedding his clothes.
Reaching under the bed, he lifted two coils of black rope.
“Kneel on the floor.” The sensual command in his voice excited me.
I knelt on the wood floor, nude with my hands to my sides.
“Tell me more about your dream.”
“My ass was up in the air, my hands secured to the bed in front of me.” My muscles tightened at the memory of the dream. “The ropes, like a thousand fingers rubbing across me, drove me insane.”
“Where did they feel the best?” His husky voice rasped with shallow breaths.
I caressed my nipples. “Here.”
His harsh gasp pulled my gaze to his.
“The ropes were tied at my ankles.”
“Red, we’re going to have fun tonight.” He lifted my arms above my head and held them closed in the prayer position. He wound the soft strand around my wrists and coiled it down each arm until the rope crossed across my chest in front and back. He tied an intricate knot between my breasts with the silky rope taut over my nipples. Shivers cascaded from where the rope touched me.
“So beautiful.” Dare moved my arms down until they rested in front of me in a V.
“It’s like velvet against my skin.”
“Of course, only the softest for you.” He focused on the knots that he chained down my torso, different from my dream. He wrapped ropes around each thigh, tying matching knots on the inside of my thighs before he snaked the rope to my knees.
“How does it feel?”
“Sensual.” I purred.
He chuckled. “Stand. Too tight?”
I stood and the ropes slithered along my body, rubbing with such intimacy across my skin. “Perfect. Like my dream.”
He scooped me up and laid me on my back in the center of the bed, positioning me so my hands were tied inches from the wood slat headboard. The loop he’d created at my wrists tightened when he secured me to the bed frame with my arms stretched just a bit in the process. I wanted to writhe in the cords binding me until my body burned.
He anchored my left foot and then my right to the corners of the bed until I lay spread eagle and immobile. Dare stood on the floor at the end of the new bed and fucked me with his eyes.
He squeezed his cock, and his pupils dilated. “You okay?”
“Better than. Will you touch me?” My body ached for his talented touch.
“Oh yes. If it’s ever too much—tell me.” He turned serious. “Promise.”
“Promise.” But I might’ve promised my firstborn for his touch.
He climbed onto the bed and straddled me. He massaged my breasts and the rope moved in time with him. I arched and the ropes tightened.
“So good,” I mumbled.
He plundered my mouth as he pinched my nipples. Pleasure zinged through my spine. I wanted him to touch my pussy and moved to direct him, but my hands caught tight.
“I need you everywhere.”
He chuckled. “I’ll get there, Red. Be patient.”
His careful strokes and nips were the high notes of his melody, and the sensual caress of his web of restraint was the bass.
“Please. Let me suck you. Just a bit.” I spoke betwee
n bursts of pleasure.
He frowned at me. “You want to suck me with no control.”
I trusted him. “Yes.” I moaned the word.
Heat flashed between us when he guided his cock into my mouth. Thick and long, I swallowed him down, reveling in the salty taste of him. He thrust slowly into me, and I invited him deeper.
“Red, holy fuck.” He moved faster, balls tightening and breath rapid. He gasped and jerked out of my mouth.
“No,” I wailed, needing the contact, the fullness of him inside me.
His finger plunged through my wet folds. “Gotta be inside you.”
“Finally.” I strained up and into him. “Now, now,” I chanted.
He released my hands and legs in seconds.
“Flip over, ass up.” He rolled on a condom.
I scrambled to comply, enjoying the way the ropes writhed with every twist. He did something at my ankles before he secured my hands to the bed.
His groin cupped my ass as he plunged deep inside me, I strained to meet him and the furious pace he set, but the ropes allowed me hardly any movement.
“More.” I bounced up to meet him, driven insane by the ropes, his cock and best of all his sweaty torso rubbing against mine. He bit my neck and I screamed. “Make me come.”
Mindless, I searched for the release. Dare snarled and dug his fingers into my ass, tilting my hips in the perfect way.
I squeezed my pussy tight on his cock, tearing a groan from him as he drove into me. My world exploded in color and pleasure as the climax ricocheted through me, heightened by each strand of Dare’s web.
He bellowed his own release and leaned onto my back. He tugged a rope and my hands dropped.
He moved back and released my joined ankles. Once free, I rolled over and clasped him tightly, holding him to me as sensation and emotion rocked through me.
My dream hadn’t done the actual experience justice. Could I wear these ropes all the damn time?
After a few minutes, he leaned back with a lopsided grin on his face and unwound me.
“You’re amazing.” I shut my eyes, not even trying to hide the goofy smile playing across my lips.
“You almost did me in with your mouth, such a close thing.” He caressed my cheek. “No one’s ever trusted me so much.”
He’d broken me, I’d tasted his carnal wickedness, and I’d never be satisfied with less.
We lay cuddling, and I was half asleep when my stomach gurgled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten for hours.
Dare laughed. “Guess you worked up an appetite.”
“Guess so.”
I slipped on a Marked Man T-shirt and cooked a quick batch of stir-fry. He joined me in the kitchen. “Why do you always cook?”
“Girl’s gotta eat,” I sassed him.
“Yeah, but you don’t zap something, you cook real food.”
A melancholy colored my happiness. “Before my mom died, she always cooked and baked. She said the kitchen was the soul of the home, and food the language of love.” I stirred the veggies and shrugged. “So I cook.”
Dare rested a hand on my shoulder. “Sounds like a wise woman.”
Thankfully he didn’t ask me all the normal questions I hated answering. When did she die? How did she die? And then the questions about the rest of my family would start.
We sat on the “new” couch and ate our dinner at midnight, watching whatever Dare chose on the TV. I took our plates to the kitchen and returned to find Dare in the ratty chair that had been my first furniture.
“We talkin’ about the club and party?” He jerked me into the chair.
This night felt like a thousand hours, so much had happened.
Yeah, I wanted answers, but I’d be going.
“Uh, MJ took me to lunch before the shop opened.” I spoke quietly, not sure if this was a good thing.
He smiled wide. “You told me. Did she ask you to cook with her?” He relaxed back into the chair.
Yeah, and gave me the third degree.
“Well, in our conversation, my lack of club knowledge was glaring, so she answered most of my questions.” I bit my lip, trying to figure out how much to say.
Dare kissed me, biting the same lip I had. He had a thing about my lip and I liked it.
“More questions?”
“Um, I don’t mean to piss you off, but I need to ask, um...”
“Spit it out, Red.” He scowled at me.
“If I go, will I be with you—that night—or a sheep?” I glanced away.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
I peeked up through my lashes, worried I went too far.
“If I invite you to the club, you’re with me.”
And the words made my heart sing. I liked being with him.
“When there’s lots of drunk bikers, it’s a good question. You could be manhandled, if I’m away from you. Sometimes I will be.” He spoke with calm, but I wasn’t calm about being handled by anyone.
“Say, ‘I’m Dare’s property tonight,’ and they’ll leave.”
“Your property?” I’d heard the term before. “Explain property?”
“Property has rights based on the biker. So no one else can play with you, it’s a specific claim. Like Zayn. He’s Jericho’s property because Jericho’s his sponsor, and ultimately his first boss, but we can all tell him what to do unless it crosses purposes with Jericho.”
“So can others tell me what to do?”
“No, a woman is the exclusive property of the biker who owns her. I don’t share.”
Relief released my growing tension. I didn’t ever plan to be shared. Maybe I should be insulted and full of anger at the chauvinistic way the club worked, but my brain repeated I’m Dare’s property. Those words excited me. I wanted to be his property, and hearing him agree, well, it was sweet perfection. Even if he only meant for the night.
I drew his face to mine for a kiss and another and then one more before I remembered we were talking. I released him. “I’d love to go to the club with you. I think I have the basics down.”
He smirked and captured my lips in a tender kiss, stroking my hair the whole time. It overwhelmed me and tears threatened, but I didn’t let them fall. Instead, I pretended he was my home and my heart, a part of me forever. The man who loved me one day would kiss me like this.
The kiss ended more softly than it started. I sat there with my forehead resting on his, soaking in the joy of this perfect moment. I took a mental picture to remember. Minutes passed with us sitting together before he carried me to bed. This time we went slow, exploring every part of each other until we were too exhausted to continue. I curled into him as he spooned me, his hand circling over my stomach, and my heavy lids shut.
* * *
“Fuck” muttered over and over woke me up. Daylight shone through the curtains.
“Problem?” I asked, eyes closed.
“Sorry, I fell asleep last night, and didn’t wake up.” He cursed again and stood.
“You leaving?” I yawned and turned to see what worried him.
“I guess.” He sat back down. “Uh, I’ve never done this, slept the night with someone.”
A slow shiver of pleasure moved through me at his words. I was the first.
“No wonder you’re freaked.” I flopped back on the bed, too tired to get worked up. “Three options: get dressed and do the walk of shame, go back to sleep or fuck me.”
He stared at me a second before a laugh burst from him. “I pick option three.”
“Thank God.”
He rolled over and kissed my breasts. “I didn’t get near enough of your tits last night. You drove me wild.”
“Lucky you, they’re ready for you.” I wanted him to touch them, taste them.
He bit harder and I moaned.
“You like it rough? What a bad girl.” He set to work reforming me.
* * *
Three days had passed since he’d woken up freaked out in my bed. The party was tomorrow and Dare hadn’t given me any details. Maybe I didn’t need to know anything.
Damn, the rules are tricky, and I’m a total chicken.
Stewing over the party, my mood darkened throughout the day. Zayn came up front for our normal chat. I tried. He gave me a strange look before he headed out less than five minutes later.
Shit. I worked hard to avoid bad moods but today, my funk refused to be banished. Taking my anger out on the glass, I buffed it with fast, furious circles; maybe I needed to work off my attitude.
I screeched when Dare’s arms circled my waist.
“Red, you okay?” He laughed in my ear.
I searched for a mood not black and came up empty. “Yeah. I’m kind of stressed about the party tomorrow.”
He flipped me so fast my ponytail whipped into my face.
“Why?” A frown marred his forehead.
Now I’d done it.
“MJ said she wanted help cooking. Do I bring something? And what time are we getting there? Or should I go early and help get ready?”
His crooked smile sent flutters through my middle, and the first bubbles of happiness popped inside me. “You arrive on the back of my bike. If you need to bring shit, Zayn will stop by and get it. I’ll have MJ call you, stat.”
Relief seeped through me, he hadn’t thought my questions silly, and my dour mood evaporated with his kiss. He had my back, even if he hadn’t been very specific. It was enough.
I tilted my head up to kiss him and stopped. Now he had the shadow of worry hooding his eyes. I raised my hand to cup his chin. “Baby, don’t make me erase the frown with my mouth.”
And his fuck-me look was there with his hand clenching my ass to pull me close. “Your place, now.”
Chapter Ten: Lila
I didn’t hesitate, leading him upstairs. Inside the door, he flipped me and braced me against the wall. His hands squeezed my breasts, and his cock ground into my jeans-clad ass.
“How long until my next appointment?” He spoke into my ear, tickling it.
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