Fuck. I was hard as stone against her. There was no hiding how badly I wanted her. She lifted her leg over my hip, arching into me, transforming my longing into a rock solid need.
“Erica… I’m not going to be able to stop myself if you keep doing that.”
“I don’t want you to…” she murmured.
I inched my hand between her legs and cupped her firmly, as if I were staking a flag that told the world she was mine, and the warm heaven under my palm was also mine. She whimpered, lifting into my touch.
Maneuvering past the barrier of her panties, I dipped into her wet heat. I groaned and kissed her neck, inhaling the musk of her skin. A fragrance heaven made just for me. I resisted the urge to take my tongue all over her body right now—a journey I’d made many times, every time more delicious than the last.
I withdrew my hand, sucking the flavor of her from the tip of each finger. I craved her more than she’d ever know. My heartbeat raced and my mind ran rampant with all the devious things I could do to her. If her scent bewitched me, the taste of her body—the salty sweetness of her skin, the honey between her thighs—made me downright feral.
I couldn’t make love to her tonight. I had to have her my way.
Her lips parted as she grabbed at me, caressing and tugging us closer. I rocked into her, adding the pressure of my thigh between her legs. She whimpered.
I tasted her lips, sucking and nibbling. “I can’t be gentle. Not tonight.” It was a warning, and a promise.
Her gaze flickered to mine, a silent understanding in the darkness. “Then don’t be.” She softened beneath me. “I’ve been waiting for you…”
That’s all I needed. I silenced her with another fierce kiss. All-consuming, all taste and need. She was so fucking sweet. The line of her torso moved like a wave against me, enflaming my skin everywhere we touched. She loved me, I knew, but I never tired of the evidence that no matter where her mind was, with very few exceptions, her body wanted what I wanted. I could only hope that tonight I could walk that fine line and give us what we both needed.
She made a small sound of protest when I finally tore myself away.
“Come here,” I said, standing beside the bed. My stance was wide, every muscle coiled tight. My cock throbbed for the touch I’d be demanding soon.
She slid across the sheets and stood before me wordlessly, a hair’s breadth away. Close enough that I could feel her heat and smell her arousal. Finding the edge of her tank top, I guided it up slowly, prolonging the moment until I’d see all of her. I tossed the garment aside and withdrew my touch, a small torture in itself. She swayed toward me, but I caught her wrists, holding her safely away.
Something came over me then—a calm reassurance that didn’t diminish but only quieted the fierce longing raging through my veins. The promise of controlling her pleasure now, of drawing out every last second of it, leashed the animal inside me that wanted to gorge on every inch of flesh before me.
“Panties off. And then I want you on your knees.” My tone was sharp and unforgiving.
In an instant, I could sense her heat multiply. Her breathing turned shallow. The rapid beat of her heart drummed at her wrists where I held her. Without a word, she slipped from my grasp and slid her panties down. Lowered to her knees, she gazed up at me, smoke and fire in her eyes. Lust powered through me, and the line of desire shooting straight to my cock threatened my plan. I stepped away to grab a few items from a nearby drawer. Returning, I crouched in front of her, binding her wrists together with a pair of leather cuffs she knew well.
“You know your safe word.”
She swallowed. “Yes.”
Whenever I mentioned the safe word, I had the feeling it gave her equal measures of anxiety and reassurance. I imagined the fighter in her never wanted to have to use it. The irony was that between the two of us, I was the only one who had.
I lifted to my feet, anticipation rattling through me. The sight of Erica bound before me, peering up at me, was almost more than I could handle. Reaching down to her, I traced her lower lip, over the curve of her cheek and along her jaw, until I sifted my fingers in her hair. She gasped at the firm tug, her eyes going liquid. I grasped my cock with my other hand, stroking from root to tip.
“I want to taste you… please.” She licked her lips as she spoke.
She clasped and released her fingers in her lap. Her fear, it seemed, had transformed into desire, and I reveled in the transformation every time. Blood surged to my cock. My thighs bunched with renewed restraint. I drew in a steeling breath, one that would hopefully keep me from losing all my resolve and coming the second she wrapped her sweet lips around me. I teased the tip of my cock against her lips.
“Slow,” I ordered. I was going to draw this out until we were both mad with the need to fuck.
She sighed, a sound full of relief and wanting, and lifted on her heels. Flicking her tongue lightly over the crown, she claimed her ground, a centimeter at a time. I would have closed my eyes, but I didn’t want to miss a second of her submission. I cursed inwardly at the painstaking pace I’d demanded. My instinct was to control her, tighten my grip on her hair, and move her over me in a series of firm thrusts that would take me over the edge. Fighting it, I loosened my hold and let her set the pace—one that was slowly driving me insane as I disappeared inside her warm, welcoming mouth.
Fuck. If it was possible to show tenderness this way, she was, with every tantalizing stroke of her tongue. Then she took me to the back of her throat, a blunt pause between the careful sheathing of my cock into her mouth. The sensation was electric, dizzying, and ignited a change in my own need—the need for something far from tender. Unable to hold back anymore, I gripped her hair, angling her, opening her farther so I could thrust. She moaned and I went deeper, quicker, until I was close. Too close for what I wanted tonight.
Today wouldn’t be erased this way. Simple release would only leave me hungry. I wanted to shatter her and let her tight little body shatter me too. Maybe somewhere in this fucked-up dance we could find some peace and sleep dreamless through the night. I needed to take her over the edge… with me… together.
I withdrew from her mouth. Her lips glistened, full and swollen. Her eyes were misty and heavy-lidded. Suddenly I was lost. Lost in the perfection of the woman before me. She was everything to me. Then a new and unwelcome thought began to haunt me.
God… what if they find a way to take me from her?
No—fuck no.
“Stand up,” I ordered softly.
She rose and I walked her to the bedpost at the foot of the bed.
“Lift your arms… higher.”
I helped her, hooking the small length of leather strap between her wrists to an obscured piece of hardware hidden at the top of the bedpost disguised as decoration. We were face-to-face, a breath apart. She lifted to her toes, her body stretched out beautifully in front me. I molded my palm to the ample curve of her breast. I skimmed down her rib cage, over her hip, and down her thigh. Admiring. Craving.
“It’s like someone carved your body out of my dreams. These…” Lowering my head, I took her nipple between my lips, flicking over the hard rosy tip with my tongue. I released her with a pop. “These are divine.”
With a breathy sigh, she bowed into the intimate kiss as much as her bonds would allow. I took more, sucking her harder, massaging the other until her sighs turned to moans. The hook that bound her above clanked. My little fighter… I loved her fight. Almost as much I loved breaking her down. Looping my arm around her waist, I drew her to me tightly. My teeth came down around her nipple while I twisted my fingertips firmly around the other.
She let out a small yelp, pressing her hips forward. The tortured groan that followed was an intoxicating mix. Pleasure and pain. I’d give her both tonight.
“I’m going to punish you now, sweetheart.”
She widened her eyes, her breathing growing rapid again. Her anxiety came in a flush of red across her cheeks.
&nbs
p; “Not because you deserve it.” I paused, wondering how I could explain it—this game between us and what it really meant for me. I reached around her to the bed, picked up the blindfold I’d retrieved earlier, and positioned it over her eyes. “I can’t explain why, except that I need it.”
“Blake, it’s okay…”
She trapped her trembling lip between her teeth. My heart sped up at the sight. My sweetest gift, always so ready to accept this darkness inside me, to shine light on it until it became something different, something that was only ours. I thumbed her lip loose, covering her mouth with mine, taking her next breath for my own.
“How could I ever live without you?” I whispered against her.
“Blake.” Her voice was unsteady.
I squeezed my eyes shut, grateful she couldn’t see the pain inside me then. Fuck, I was losing control. That quickly, she’d brought the dominant in me to heel. Her willingness, her love.
I swallowed hard, backing away before I took her right then. Spinning her to face the post, I pulled her hard against me. She lifted, rubbing her ass against my cock. The smallest of touches made me crazy for her. I stifled a groan and returned to the drawer. Decisions had to be made, and I was hardly in a state to make a good one. Impulsively, I grabbed a flogger. The tails of this one were long and moderately heavy, designed to give her the pressure she’d been used to, which had never been especially light. We hadn’t toyed with this one yet, but I knew she could take it.
Standing behind her, I admired the writhing body before me, bound and alive with want for the pleasure I was going to give her.
I whirled it once, so the tails struck her thighs and ass. Once more across her shoulders and upper back.
She sucked in a breath and shivered, the muscles in her shoulders tensing before releasing again. I waited, a silent question.
Faint pink lines formed on her skin where the tails had struck. I repeated the motion. A figure eight of measured contact, across her shoulders, ass, and thighs.
She flinched, and then hummed softly. I could almost see the adrenaline sliding through her veins, the endorphins taking over, making this so much more than pain.
By some miracle, she loved taking it as much as I loved giving it. I wanted to feel guilty for making her this way, but she’d begged for it. She’d demanded that I take her to the darkest, dirtiest places of my mind, and I wasn’t strong enough to say no.
With a flick of my wrist, the flogger made contact again. Back and forth, up and down; careful to avoid the middle of her torso, I painted her the loveliest shade of pink.
Her small cries and gasps turned into moans. Slowly she gave up her fight. Fists loose, she let her head rest against her arm. My own desire became nearly unbearable. My head buzzed with it. My cock ached for it.
I let the leather handle slip from my grasp and went to her, winding my arm around her front. She trembled in my arms, her skin slick with sweat. Electricity rolled off her in waves. On the edge, she was exactly where I wanted her.
“You still with me, baby?”
“I can take more.” Her voice was raw with emotion and adrenaline.
I hushed her. “No, sweetheart. You’ve had enough. You were so beautiful… so willing. I can’t tell you…”
The words caught in my throat. I rested my forehead against her shoulder, the heat of her punished skin matching the searing heat of my body. “Let me show you what it means to me.”
“Kiss me. Touch me,” she begged.
I skimmed over her shoulder, following the trails of pink with my mouth. Down her back, over the round curves of her ass, I rained kisses on her tender flesh. A thousand tiny apologies for the satisfaction it had given me to test her this way. I rose and made my way to her neck, flicking my tongue against her racing pulse.
“I love you, Erica. You’re everything. Goddamn, you undo me.”
She mewled, a quick lift of her toes creating more friction between us. I slid my hand to her front to the apex between her thighs. She cried out, shaking. She was drenched, and so close.
I withdrew and turned her slowly to face me. Her skin was flushed as much from her excitement as her punishment. I resisted the urge to kiss her everywhere, to feel every inch of her energy under my lips. This was exactly where we needed to be.
She tugged feebly at her bonds. “I can’t see you.”
I clenched my jaw, already feeling more vulnerable than I wanted to. “Not tonight. I want you to feel me, and you’re about to feel all of me. Now wrap your legs around me.”
I caught her by the knee, helping her. The swift motion opened her to me, revealing the moisture of her arousal slick down her inner thigh.
“Christ.” The sight robbed me of the last shred of control. If she weren’t so primed, I’d worry about beating her to the orgasm we both hungered for now. I took her other leg and wrapped her around me. Easing the tension in her arms still stretched high, I positioned myself inside her by the tip.
I growled, parting with my last ounce of restraint. Then I speared into her, joining us suddenly and completely. Her body gave no resistance, as if we were always meant to be this way.
“Blake!”
The wail that came from her lips shattered me. Heat licked down my spine as her inner walls tightened around me. The furious need to fuck took over, and instinct spurred me into a rapid string of thrusts. Her cries came unfettered, unfiltered, between her breathless gasps. I was unhinged. Nothing could slow me down. The slap of skin and the creak of the bed sustaining the pressure as I pounded into her echoed through the air. She rolled toward her orgasm, her pussy pulsing tightly around my cock. Her cries became deeper and louder.
“Wait for me, Erica.”
Pulling against her restraints, she cried out again. “I can’t.”
“You can. Wait. I need to be there with you.” I fucked her harder, losing myself inside of her. The race for release my only aim. The tension of her body, clinging to me everywhere in every way, consumed me. She became every thought, the single point in a sea of things that didn’t matter. And for all the thrills of waiting, of drawing out her desire, I couldn’t stop now.
“Fuck… Erica, come now for me.”
A current of energy shot down my spine, drawing my balls up painfully.
“Now!”
She screamed, every muscle in her body binding hers to mine for a few breathless moments. I burst inside of her, thrusting through the waves of pleasure crashing over me. Empty… complete. I held her tightly, weakened and reeling. My fingers ached when I loosened my hold on her thighs and lowered her back to the floor. She’d wear my marks by the morning.
I unbound her hands, my own unsteady. Immediately she tore off the blindfold and wrapped her arms around me. Her small frame, slick from our heat, crashed into me.
My knees buckled, and I brought us to the bed before I took us both down. She held me so tightly, as if she’d never let go. The longer we lay that way, the more I believed that nothing could ever tear us apart. Raw emotion hit my heart. I drew in a shaky breath and held her close.
She whispered my name, pulling away enough to look me in the eyes. I blinked, bringing her into focus through the blur. Caressing her palm down my cheek, she kissed me.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
Was I?
“I’m here with you. That’s all I need.”
She took a small breath, relaxing against me. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”
I closed my eyes, wanting to believe her.
“I know,” I lied.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ERICA
I blinked away sleep, assuring myself that last night hadn’t been a dream. That the whole damn day hadn’t been one surreal, heart-wrenching, earth-shattering dream. I lifted to my elbows and eyed the clothes strewn across the floor. The black leather flogger tossed on top of them was proof that I hadn’t imagined any of it.
I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, wincing at the ache in my m
uscles. Most of our best nights came at a price, with physical discomforts that I’d feel after. Yet last night I’d needed Blake’s intensity in a way I couldn’t completely explain.
Even in my half-awake state, nothing could have kept me from him when he came home. I’d drifted off to sleep early, haunted by nightmares that he was never coming back to me. That when I’d walked away from the station, it was the last time I’d ever see him. Having him back home, in the flesh, made me want to possess him as passionately as he wanted to possess me.
I closed my eyes and remembered the sting of the leather. A new sensation that bit my skin. The shock of it, and then the heat. The electricity that brought everything alive in a new way. A thousand tiny points of contact, each screaming with the pain I felt… the pain between us that had no other place to go.
I rose and assessed myself in the mirror. Twisting to examine my backside, I was surprised that the punishments of the night hadn’t produced any evidence. Not that I minded the marks. I tended to relish them, cherish them as tiny memories of some of our most unforgettable encounters.
I fingered the small bruises decorating my thighs from where Blake had held me too tightly. A flush of pink worked its way from my cheeks to my chest. I’d felt none of it in the heat of the moment, yet the evidence of his passion had the ability to warm me through.
I’d never be able to make sense of it, but somehow Blake had completely taken over my mind, overwritten any preconceptions I’d had about sex and pain, and brought me to heights no one had ever come close to. We’d found peace with it. We’d made an island between the two of us. Our bodies, our love, and the fierce way we came together made sense when the rest of the world failed us.
If only we could live on that island and never have to leave…
Reality quickly tempered the fantasy when the low hum of the television downstairs reminded me that Blake was home. He hadn’t told me yet about how the interrogation with Evans went.
Showered and dressed casually for work, I meandered downstairs. Blake sat on one of the linen-covered couches, his focus trained on the morning news. Daniel’s face flashed across the screen. Recent footage showed him sidestepping reporters as he left the same police station Blake and I had visited yesterday. Daniel’s stolid expression reminded me of the darker side I knew, the side that was revealed only when he’d been wronged and thirsted for revenge at any cost. Was it aimed at Blake?
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