The sound of him opening that zipper ran ragged over her nerve endings. She opened her eyes in time to see his cock bounce free as he shucked off his jockey shorts, long and hard and arced up from his hips.
Her core clenched. “Dear God,” she murmured.
He was over her in a flash, crouched on the bed, eyes locked with hers. “What, you can’t possibly have changed your mind?”
“Don’t bet on it.”
He put one hand on her shoulder and then ran it down over her breast. “Whatever comes out of that pretty mouth of yours is only half the story.” He ran the palm of his hand briskly over her breast, chafing at the hardened nipple. “Your body is telling me all I need to know, and you’re just as ready for this as I am.”
Carmen arched up from the surface of the bed. The feeling of his palm over her breast frazzled her. She was so aroused, her body responding to his masterful sense of control. Why did it feel so good to be under him this way, when the last thing she wanted was to relinquish anything to him? “You make it sound like a crime for a woman to be aroused.”
The comment was out before she thought it through properly. It only gave him more leverage.
He chuckled. “Quite the contrary, my dear. You’re the most delicious thing I have ever seen, especially when you’re aroused.”
He held her gaze and, try as she might, she couldn’t look away. What he was saying made the pulse in the pit of her belly pound, her core readying for him in response to his provocative words. “For God’s sake, Rex, you’re driving me insane.”
“It’s good to hear you admit that you’re aroused.”
“Stop it, stop torturing me.”
“Torture? Is that what you think this is? I want to make this as easy as possible for you. However, should you change your mind, or should I go—” he lifted his brows “—too far...and you feel the need to...take a break, just say the safe word. We can pause and restructure the agreement accordingly.” Irony was heavy in his tone.
Heart pounding, imagination running wild, she stared at him. “What safe word?”
He leaned over her, kissed her beneath her earlobe—an action which made her melt into a puddle of lust.
“Oh, I don’t know, how about boo?” He whispered the word into her ear, softly.
“You can’t be serious.” The idea of saying boo while he was doing something outrageous to her was too bizarre.
“Entirely so.”
He had her tied up and they were trying to define the terms of what promised to be an extremely compromising sexual situation. His attitude maddened her. “Why do you have to pick such a silly word?”
“Because I don’t believe you will ever want to use a safe word.”
“How the hell would you know what I will and won’t do?”
“It’s written all over you. Always was. You, and your kinky little soul...you won’t want to prevent me having my way with you. No. You want every sordid act imaginable, and then some. I can see it in your eyes.”
The brush of his thumbs over her erect nipples made her moan. Infuriated, she flashed her eyes his way in warning.
“You might resent me, but you still want me to do those things, every bit as much as I want to indulge you.”
Carmen arched on the bed, her entire body alive with sensation. The things he said, and the way he was touching her—exploring every inch of her with his fingertips—was a recipe for combustion. “I hate you!”
He laughed. “No, you don’t. But I promise you, if you say boo to me, I will take my hands off you.”
The hard length of his erection pressed against her thigh.
Being compromised like this was unbearable, yet the thought of him taking his hands off her right then was more unbearable still. She nodded her agreement.
Rex tweaked her nipples, then teased his fingers along the underside of her breasts while he kissed and licked the sensitive skin behind her earlobe.
A violent physical shiver shot through her.
“Sensitive...” His eyes gleamed, making him look even more wickedly handsome. He stroked her from breast to hip, outlining her curves, then bent to kiss her in the dip of her cleavage.
The way he explored her made her pulse race and the damp heat between her thighs became sweltering. Then he cupped her pussy in his palm. Direct and demanding, the touch of his hand there triggered a heightened need for release. He stared into her eyes and one corner of his mouth lifted in appreciation. The gentle squeeze he gave her made her gasp aloud.
“Oh, yes, you’re ready for this. We both are.” He shifted, reached down and lifted one of her feet, running his knuckle under the arch.
He clasped her ankle before he stroked his hands up the surface of her calves, an action which made her nerves leap. With his hands under the backs of her knees, he parted her legs, planting her feet widely on the surface of the bed.
The sound of her blood rushing thundered in her ears.
“Beautiful.”
“Oh, God, I can’t do this.” She closed her legs. “I’m mortified.”
“Don’t be.” He stroked the back of his knuckles over the soft, sensitive skin on her thighs.
Carmen began to pant aloud, her hips rolling from side to side against the bedcovers. Still he stroked her, studying her face all the while. It was torturous—a heady combination of embarrassment and acute arousal making her moan and buck. Her nipples burned with sensation. As she wriggled against the surface of the bed her breasts squeezed together and the nipples jutted out.
Rex smiled down at her. “Don’t fight it.”
“Easy for you to say.” But he was right. She couldn’t fight it anymore.
The muscles in her thighs began to relax.
He nodded his approval, then lowered his head and closed his mouth over her sex.
Carmen jerked against her restraints, then melted.
He dipped his tongue into the damp groove of her pussy. “Oh, yes,” he whispered, “I’ve wanted to taste you so badly.”
His warm breath over her sensitive folds made her lift and jerk again, but she was weak with lust and it was futile. He pushed his hands under her buttocks, physically lifting her as he went down on her, devouring her.
The rush, the pleasure—Carmen almost passed out, but the lap of his tongue on her clit anchored her. She glanced down and saw the muscles in his shoulders ripple as he worked her. Her clit felt unbearably tight and hot, and so sensitive. Then Rex sucked hard on her clit and thrust a finger into her sex, and she hit her peak.
The sudden rush of release made her arch and twist. Panting loudly, she squeezed her thighs together as soon as she felt him pull away. The action only made her aware of her own state of wetness.
By the time she surfaced, Rex was kneeling up on the bed with his fist wrapped around the shaft of his erection. He began to ride it up and down. With the other hand, he brandished a condom packet.
“Ready to receive?” His mouth was set in an amused smile, his very posture oozing self-assured confidence.
Carmen bit her lip to stop herself snapping. Despite the fact she’d just come, her body was wired with expectation.
Rex tore open the packet, tossed the wrapper aside and rolled the condom onto his impressive erection.
Carmen watched, mesmerized by the sight of him.
He lifted her legs wider apart and climbed between them. Resting on his elbows, he stared down at her, locking her gaze with his. His cock pressed against her splayed sex, hard and hot.
“Oh!” Her hips rocked, she couldn’t help it.
Rex smiled. “Eager. Nice.”
“What do you expect,” she snapped, glaring at him, “you’ve done this!”
“Hey, no need to thank me.”
With an exaggerated sigh of frustration, she rolled h
er head on the pillows and looked away. It didn’t help, because when she did she saw them reflected in the mirror beyond. Rex, between her thighs, his muscled physique poised over her, his shoulders and back flexing as he began to roll his hips against hers, his body pistonlike.
Thankfully he reached down and directed his cock inside, stretching her open and filling her. The garbled noise she made in response was a primitive sound, the likes of which she’d never uttered before.
He pushed deeper.
Sheer bliss rolled over her.
Then she wanted more. His thrusts, friction. “Oh, please.”
“What? What is it you need?”
Damn him. He was holding back.
When he moved his cock, ever so slightly, teasing her, she moaned aloud. “More,” she cried, “more!”
“I thought as much.” Pulling back, he rode deep to her core.
Her center throbbed wildly when his crown pressed there, then he drew back and thrust again. Panting for breath, she felt consumed by this act—so longed for, so tangled with implications and ramifications.
He began to thrust faster, massaging her right there in that sweet spot.
“Oh, oh!”
“I’ve got you, my little bird.” His tone was tender. “This has been a long time coming.”
“Don’t...” She couldn’t bear to hear him say that. It made something inside her furl and unfurl. Briefly, he stroked her cheek, his thumb moving over her lower lip before he bent to kiss her open mouth.
His tongue thrust in and out each time he worked his cock into her.
The physical echo made her crazy. Arching up to him, she wrapped her legs around his hips while her tongue thrashed with his. It felt like a battle, and neither of them wanted to give in until they had to, until the absolute breaking point was reached.
When her head fell back she saw his eyes flicker, dark and wicked and clearly pleasured by her response. On and on he went, working her. He studied her all the while—just as he’d told her he would. It was so intense and intimate that it felt like a whole other level of penetration.
Her sex spasmed, her body closing on orgasm.
Rex cursed under his breath and thrust ever harder.
His forehead gleamed.
She could hear the slick pull of her sex as he worked his cock into her. Then he rose up on his arms, and the muscles there were taut and visibly pumped. His hips moved fast. The muscles in his neck and shoulders were tight.
“Rex,” she managed to whisper when she began to flood again.
He nodded. “Oh, yes, I can feel you.”
He paused, as if to savor what her body was doing. He shook his head, then thrust again. Pressed fully against her, he kept his cock right there, grinding his hips against hers as she came.
The release was so great that she hung limp in her tethers, but the hard rod of his cock inside her and the pressure of his body against her clit kept her there. A second wave washed over her, her thighs shuddering against his hips as her every nerve ending was strung out with the raw pleasure of another heady orgasm.
“Rex,” she whispered again, and this time it was with gratitude.
His cock jerked and his head lifted, his eyelids lowering as he jerked again, his body taut and arched as he pumped himself into her.
Even while she shuddered and battled to control her breathing, he pulled free, stretched up and undid her binds. When it was done, he went to his bathroom.
Carmen could scarcely muster the strength to pull off the loosed stockings. By the time she did so, Rex returned.
He rolled her onto her side as he climbed back into the bed, pulling the covers over her. He kissed the side of her face as he moved in alongside her.
“I can’t sleep in your bed with you.” Panic hit her. She had to be alone, to regroup her faculties. “Let me go, I refuse to—”
He locked his arm around her, leaned over her and silenced her with a kiss—a gentle kiss, the brush of his lips over hers, so fleeting and yet somehow so deeply meaningful that she lost the power of speech.
“Yes, you can. We will sleep in the same bed. Tonight and every other night we are here together, even if I have to keep you tied up all day long in order to fuck you all night long.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“You’d probably enjoy that far too much. And just think, you could blame me for enjoying yourself, even though I made it so much easier for you.”
Was there no end to this embarrassment? “You’re enjoying this.”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I opened myself up to you. Stop trying to embarrass me about it.”
“Me, embarrass you? Man, you are one screwed-up, kinky woman.”
He was deliberately trying to wind her up, even now, and she resented that. “Shut up!”
“No way. You can’t take charge of the situation now, not now you’ve given in to me so spectacularly.” He kissed her shoulder, and snuggled closer.
Carmen pressed her lips together hard, fighting the urge to reach back and thump him. It was true, though. Somehow, he’d assumed leadership and it was so overwhelming that she lost her fiercely protected self-control. She’d become malleable under his exploration, relinquishing all sexual power to him.
“And to think you said you hated me.” He stroked his hand along her side, his fingertips trailing over her skin as if he still wanted to explore her, even now.
Carmen closed her eyes, tight. It only made things worse. She felt as if she were sinking under his will, but his arm around her made it impossible to do anything but drown in the pleasure.
CHAPTER FIVE
REX WORKED HIS body hard, using the early-morning air and the physical exercise to focus his thoughts on Carmen. Jogging across the grounds didn’t need his full concentration, anyway, because he was on a path that was familiar. He’d run here many times as a youth. It gave him time to think, and to clear his head. Not that he wanted to forget what had happened the night before, no way. What he wanted to do was try to understand the intensity of what had passed between them.
Being with Carmen was everything he thought it would be in terms of hot sex, but there was a mind shock there he hadn’t anticipated. He had no idea that Carmen was a submissive. What an absolute treat that had turned out to be. Smiling to himself he relived the memory of waking up at dawn to find her splayed on his bed, sleeping soundly after a seriously good session between the sheets. That was a sight he’d wanted to enjoy for years, and the sense of victory it gave fueled his early-morning run.
He changed direction, heading through the trees toward the lake beyond. After the path forked he glanced back over his shoulder at the house, acknowledging that it was good to see the old place again.
At first the house had seemed strangely empty without his father’s presence. When he’d wandered the halls and rooms he found everything so familiar, so unchanged, that he was forced to admit he had grudging affection for the old place. That positive feeling intensified once Carmen arrived. Burlington Manor was greatly enhanced with the mysterious, ethereal beauty of Carmen Shelby present inside its walls once again. He hadn’t doubted it would, not for a moment.
The early-morning air under the trees sharpened his concentration.
When the path opened up at the lake he slowed the pace. In the past, this would be the part of his morning run where his father’s hounds would break free of him and run on ahead. The dogs had long since passed on, and, for whatever reason, his father hadn’t brought new pups to the house. Much as he hadn’t replaced any of them when they’d left his side. It was a lonely end for the old man.
It occurred to Rex that the route and speed of his morning run was the same as it’d always been, as if he was programmed to undertake his jog in exactly the same way. The conne
ction to the past didn’t sit well. To break the habit, he stopped running and put his hands on his hips as he surveyed the lake.
Maintenance work was needed on the banks of the lake. It was built into the landscape gardens over a hundred and forty years earlier, a man-made lake that was fed by the local river so that the water was fresh and it was safe to swim there. The sloping bank of the lakeside was covered in thick, lush grass, and had been a picnic ground throughout many generations of the family. On the far side the edge of the lake was overgrown and lacked order, which was essential for a landscaped garden such as this. The lily pads that floated there had grown too thick and unruly. They were meant to be an embellishment, not a mask. But with a skeleton staff at the house nowadays, the jobs had to be prioritized. They seemed to be managing fairly well given that they were so shorthanded.
He circuited the banks at a walking pace, and when he glanced back at the trees that flanked the path to the house he almost saw his young self idling there, watching Carmen. On one of his visits home he arrived in the late afternoon on a hot sunny day, and one of the staff had told him Carmen was down by the lake. As he approached, he caught sight of her swimming there. The sun glinted on her wet hair as she made her way back and forth across the small lake. He’d been about to strip off his T-shirt, run down there and join her, when she emerged and stood by the edge of the lake squeezing out her hair.
That’s when he’d become transfixed by the sight of her. He’d stayed where he was under cover of the trees so that he could admire her before he made his presence known. She’d been wearing a red swimsuit and the damp fabric clung to her outline. He’d ached for her then, and it was with a fierceness that was so strong it took root in him.
“Good morning to you, sir.”
The sound of the voice behind him drew Rex’s attention.
“Bill, it’s good to see you.” He strode over to where Bill Amery stood, glad to see the familiar face. Bill, who was married to the housekeeper, was the head groundsman and had worked at Burlington Manor all his life. Apart from a few more white hairs in his beard, Bill looked the same, and he wore his trademark overalls covered over by a waterproof jacket. His flat cap was possibly a new model, but it was exactly the same as the previous ones he’d worn. As a young lad, Rex had been a complete nuisance to this man while he went about his duties on the estate, but Bill was patient and Rex knew that he and his wife had brought a lot of stability to him in what was otherwise a wreckage of a family life during his early years.
The Burlington Manor Affair Page 7
