HIGHER (The Indigo Lounge Series)

by Cox, Zara

  Flames leapt in his grey eyes, turning them mesmerizing gunmetal. “I know it will. But after this, the bondage swings your way again.”

  The hot little shiver went through her as she recalled being tied up on Zach’s cross. The raw, chaotic emotions that had triggered her surrender still had the power to knock the breath out of her lungs.

  But then she recalled his reaction when she said she loved him and her shiver turned cold. She may have been too quick to offer it, but he’d still rejected her love. No matter how she sliced it, it hurt to think about it.

  “Baby?” He started to reach for her.

  She pulled away quickly and stepped behind him before he could change his mind and grab her. His head followed her movement but he remained in place, even sliding his hands behind his hips to give her access.

  Binding his hands took more expertise than she’d anticipated. And her hands shook as she contemplated what she was doing.

  Less than a month ago, she’d lived in a vanilla world that most people were content to bask in. Now here she was, tying up one of the world’s most powerful men in an elaborate knot that made the tiny dominatrix in her roar.

  When she was satisfied he wouldn’t get away, she glided her hands up his powerful bicep and gloried in the rippling of his muscles.

  “I love the way you react to my touch,” she confessed before she could stop herself.

  His chest expanded on a breath. “That’s because you own me, Peaches.”

  The pain that lurked sharpened. “I own you sexually.”

  He shook his head. “You own everything. I may be too terrified to bare myself completely to you but believe that you own me. I’m not going anywhere in this lifetime.”

  Her hands reached his shoulders and curved over his nape. His pulse beat strong and rapid at his throat, vitality surging beneath his skin as he breathed through his mouth.

  Slowly she walked round until she faced him. The lights gleamed over his jet-black hair, face and sculpted chest. With his legs planted wide, he looked like a proud, chiseled statue come to life.

  Her heart tripped over. “You really are magnificent, Zach.”

  A corner of his mouth lifted. “No, baby. You are. Inside and out. Tell me you won’t give up on me.” The abrupt stark need for reassurance burned his eyes.

  She rested her hand on his stomach and felt his hard muscles quiver. “No, Zach. I won’t make a promise I may not be able to keep. What happens to us from here on in is up to you. You let me in a little this morning. I’m still here. I don’t scare as easily as you seem to convince yourself I do. But I’m willing to give you a little time to believe you can trust me.”

  He gave a single, grateful nod.

  “And in the meantime…” she let her voice trail off.

  “Yes?”

  Her hand slid lower to the opening in his trousers. Working her way in, she grasped his thickness in her hand and pulled him free. A drop of pre-cum glistened at his wide crown. The sight of it made her mouth water.

  God, he was so beautiful.

  “Are you going to suck me off, Peaches?”

  “Hmm, you’re so hard and gorgeous; it’d be a shame not to.” She fisted him harder, felt him jerk within her hold.

  “Jesus…kiss me, please,” he pleaded, his lips parting to draw in breath as his eyes devoured her mouth.

  She leaned up and kissed him, hot and deep. His tongue immediately slid into her mouth, her dominant, virile man unable to accede control even when he was tied up. They kissed until her mouth felt raw and swollen. Then they kissed some more.

  When she found the strength to pull away, her insides shook with trying to grapple with how emotionally charged just kissing him made her.

  Stepping back, she shakily tugged her panties down. And them, simply because she didn’t want to cause any unwitting damage, she stepped out of her heels. On her bare feet, she padded, naked back to him.

  Zach watched her with hungry, desperate eyes. Slowly sinking onto her knees, she tugged down his pants and boxers and freed him from his clothes and shoes.

  Gloriously naked and all hers. She trailed her nail up his inner thighs and smiled at his pained groan. Cupping his balls, she squeezed and watched his stomach clench hard. With one hand, she traced a vein that arrowed down into his groin. Then going one better, she licked her way down until her chin brushed his cock.

  “Suck me, baby. God, please blow me.”

  His plea was well-timed because she was equally desperate for him.

  Settling herself on her knees, she opened her mouth and licked the underside of his broad head. Salty and hot, he tasted glorious.

  “Open wider,” he groaned. Wetting her lips, she complied. He guided himself in, ramming home at the last moment with a muted roar. She barely managed to control her gag before he was coming back at her.

  Clawing back her dwindling control, she gripped the base of his cock and sucked him long and hard.

  “Oh, Christ. I love your mouth. So fucking perfect. More, baby. Please.”

  She gave him more, until he coated her tongue with more pre-cum. Then reluctantly, she pulled back and rose.

  The slick heat between her legs should’ve shamed her but she was long past shame when it came to Zach.

  As if he knew exactly his effect on her, his gaze dropped to where she ached most. “Are you wet, Peaches?”

  Biting her lip, she nodded. “So wet.”

  His nostrils flared. “I want to taste. Untie me.”

  She shook her head. He groaned and his biceps clenched.

  Stepping forward she gripped his shoulders. “Don’t fret, Tiger. I have an idea.”

  His brow quirked. “Tiger?”

  She laughed, leaned close to his ear and whispered. “I’m going to climb you like a tree and let you eat me. Then I’m going to climb back down and take your beautiful thick cock deep inside me.”

  His mouth dropped open and his eyes darkened to near black, his breathing heavy. He gave a slight shake of his head and stared down at her.

  “Is that a no, Zach?”

  His biceps strained along with his cock. Tendons stood out in his neck as he growled, “It’s a hell yes.” He lowered his body and bent his knees. “Whatever you need, baby. Take it.” Dark anticipation throbbed in his voice.

  Gripping his shoulders tighter, she stepped up onto his strong thighs. He made a rough sound of encouragement and gazed up at her. Letting go of him she grabbed the pole, rose higher and hooked one knee over his shoulder.

  “Fuck, Peaches. You’re so wet, so fucking ready for me.” He licked his lips and groaned as she hooked her other knee over him.

  From her elevated position, she looked down and began to tremble.

  His face was bare inches from her core. She watched as his lips puckered and he blew a cool breath on her clit.

  Her body jerked. His head reared back and dark eyes speared hers in warning.

  “I’m tied up so I won’t be able to catch you if you fall. So. Do. Not. Fucking. Fall. Understand?”

  She nodded shakily.

  “I’m gonna blow on you again. Can you take it?” he demanded.

  She tightened her grip on the pole until her fingers ached and trembled. “Yes.”

  His gaze left hers, drifted down her body to her wet core once again. Gently, he blew. She gasped as her body vibrated with insane pleasure.

  Lowering his mouth further, he placed a soft kiss on her core. He was testing her reaction but she was desperate for him. “More.”

  He opened his mouth wider and his tongue flicked against her clit. Her insides clenched greedily with anticipation. He flicked that wicked tongue again, his eyes keenly watching her reaction.

  When he was satisfied she wasn’t about to let go, he deepened the kiss, starting a steady, heady rhythm that fractured her thoughts.

  Bethany rolled her hips closer to that sweet torture, her body a vessel of pure sensation that lived for the chaos Zach was creating between her legs.
r />   He feasted on her like a voracious predator and she loved it.

  She loved him.

  Accepting that had grown a little easier. But the realization that she couldn’t live without this man - that she might have to live with never knowing him inside and out as he seemed to know her, grew with each second he possessed her with his tongue until it consumed her.

  Would she be able to live with that?

  She shuddered and pain and pleasure darted up her spine. Tears stung her eyes and she squeezed them shut, unable to process the torrent of emotions rushing through her.

  His teeth grazed her clit and she screamed. He sucked her fold deep into his mouth, then impaled her on his stiff tongue.

  “Oh. Oh!” Bliss roared through her as she came, hard and fast.

  His deep groan echoed through her as he lapped her up. Several minutes later, he pulled away after one last lingering kiss. “Slide down and take me, baby. I’m dying for you.”

  Trembling from head to toe, she eased her legs down and released her grip on the pole. Straddling his hips, she clutched his shoulders, very much aware of that focused gaze on her face. She kissed him, tasted her essence on his lips and lost even more of her mind. She was so lost in the kiss, she didn’t realize she was no longer in control until he surged upward, hard and fast inside her.

  “Ah!” Pleasure cannoned through her and she buried her face in his throat as he filled her, stretched her to breaking point and held himself deep inside her.

  “Fuck. So incredible, baby. God.” He surged up another unbelievable inch until pleasure caressed pain. Her fingernails dug into his flesh as she struggled to hang on.

  From then on, the world ceased to make sense. Only pure bliss ruled. Despite being tied up, Zach fucked her like she was his captive, his thrusts relentless and deep to deliver the ultimate pleasure.

  She closed her eyes as sensation rode her hard, tearing a sob from her throat as her orgasm gathered speed, rushed toward her with unstoppable force. “I can’t…oh God, Zach.”

  His head jerked toward her, the one thing he couldn’t achieve - propelling her gaze to his - making his voice rough. “Baby, look at me.”

  She buried her face deeper, and bit his neck where his pulse pounded. A primitive roar ripped through the room.

  “Bethany!”

  She bit him harder and felt him swell even larger inside her. God, was there no end to this man’s pleasure stream? She was thankful that he was so hot for her, that everything they did seemed to turn him on harder.

  She arched her back so his thrusts hit her at a different angle. It must have done something incredible to him too because he groaned, long and deep.

  “Christ, you’re shredding me. I can’t hold on much longer, baby. Are you close?” he grated out roughly.

  “Yes! Please...I…can’t bear it.”

  “Yes, you can!” He slid lower down the pole, so she was more seated on him, so he could drive even deeper.

  She began to spasm around him.

  “Tell me you love me, Bethany,” he demanded, his voice ragged and raw.

  Drowning with polarizing sensations of pain and pleasure, heartache and joy, she desperately shook her head. Feeling him about to punish her for her denial, she ground her hips into his rock hard cock.

  She screamed and came in shameless abandon.

  His dark roar of pleasure followed a minute later, triggering a longer climax for her. He panted, his teeth bared against her cheek as she milked him dry.

  With shaky hands, she reached behind him and untied his hands.

  Strong arms banded around her immediately, holding her so tight she couldn’t breathe.

  “You will tell me.”

  “Yes, I will. When the time is right.”

  But would she ever hear it back?

  Chapter Nineteen

  He took her out to dinner at an Indian restaurant near the Flatiron District after giving in to her pleas for a change of clothes. After their sweaty sex escapade, she’d also needed a shower.

  After slipping into a simple cream, floaty summer dress that left her shoulders and bare, she’d hurriedly caught her hair up in a loose bun and added long silver dangly earrings that brushed against her neck when she moved. Matching silver looped chains and three-inch wedges completed the look and she’d seen Zach’s very masculine appreciation when she’d returned to the car after her mad dash to get ready.

  Now he fed her fragrant rice with his fingers and didn’t care that he was making a mess.

  The journey back from Newark had been as quiet as the journey but this time, Zach’s profile had held a concentration that indicated he was weighing up serious issues. She’d wanted to ask if those issues involved them but she’d been too raw from the charged experience to risk the choppy waters of Zach’s unreasonable demands.

  Zachary Savage was used to getting what he wanted. And he’d decided he wanted her love, even after admitting he didn’t deserve it.

  She shook her head to clear the jumbled thoughts. Tearing off a piece of peshwari nan, she dipped it in spicy sauce and held it out to him. He opened it his mouth and took the offering, then nipped her fingers with his teeth.

  His eyes sparkled with mirth and her heart turned over. Of the many facets of Zach, his playful side rarely shone through but when it did, she was overwhelmed all over again but how much her heart yearned for him.

  They ploughed through several courses, their appetites voracious. Easy banter accompanied the beer and good food and his husky, deep laugh drew more than a few glanced throughout dinner.

  After the waiter cleared away the warm water, soap and hand towels he’d indulgently brought for them to clean up, Zach took another swig of his beer and settled the tab.

  “You’re coming back to the Penthouse with me.” It wasn’t a question and he didn’t bother framing it as such.

  “Zach--”

  He shook his head. “I don’t want to spend another night without you.” A trace of tension returned.

  She sighed and twisted her napkin in her fingers. “Zach, don’t take this the wrong way but you wear me out.”

  One corner of his mouth lifted. “And you love it.”

  “Yes, I do,” there was no point denying it. “But I really want to do a good job on the IL project. To do that I need to pay some solid attention to what I’m doing. I can’t do that with you around.”

  “I distract you,” he said slowly after he drained the last of his beer and set the bottle down.

  She snorted. “Is that a serious question?”

  He frowned and looked genuinely hurt. Well. Go figure.

  “You distract me too but you don’t see me asking for time out. Come back with me. I’ll set you up in the library and I promise I’ll keep my inappropriate thoughts and hands to myself. I’m sure you can do the same.”

  “I don’t have inappropriate thoughts,” she lied brazenly.

  “You don’t need to. Your whole fucking tight body is an inappropriate thought.”

  “Zach!”

  His grin was wide and unashamed, the tension gone. She had no doubt it would return. And soon. For one thing she couldn’t avoid his heated demands to look at him when they fucked for much longer. She’d learned very early on what it meant to him to look into her eyes when he possessed her. She’d got away with it twice. She was almost certain there wouldn’t be a third time.

  For another thing, the time was creeping up for her next question. And she had a suspicious feeling he wouldn’t like the question burning at the back of her mind.

  In the car he pulled her close and slung an arm over her shoulders. She leaned in and breathed him in. He smelled of heat, and sandalwood and pure, unadulterated male. She glanced up at him and saw the teeth marks she’d left on his neck earlier. Then she glanced down and saw the faint bruising on his wrists.

  “Admiring your handiwork, Peaches?” he teased.

  Mortification drenched her. She kissed his neck, and traced her fingers over his wr
ist. “I…does it hurt?”

  “For what I got in return, I’d take this and worse.”

  “That would probably please me if I had a pain fetish. But I don’t. So I’m sorry.”

  He tilted her face to his, serious eyes studying her. “I don’t want you to apologise for anything we do in bed, or out of it. We’re finding our way and I don’t care how we do it. As long as we do it together. Understand?” He waited until she nodded, then placed a hard kiss on her lips and tucked her head under his chin.

  They remained silent for a few minutes. She closed her eyes and just listened to his steady heartbeat.

  Then she sighed. “I still want to go back to my place, Zach.”

  He stiffened. “Christ, Bethany. Do I need to fuck a yes out of you?” he growled.

  She opened her eyes and met his intensely irritated gaze. “You could just try saying yes?” she ventured, trying to appeal to his rapidly diminishing reasonable side. “It would make me happy,” she added.

  His eyes darkened and he sucked in a long, harsh breath. “I ought to take serious issue with you even suggesting you would happy to be without me for one night.”

  “But?”

  “I’ll try to be accommodating.”

  “Thank you. I also need the final guest list. Have the investigative reports come back yet?”

  “The first one, yes.”

  She frowned. “How many did you order?”

  “Normally? Two. This time…a few more.”

  She knew why. “Because of me.”

  “I’m not taking risks with you, baby.”

  “I can take care of myself, Zach.”

  “Sure you can. But I prefer to lend an active hand.”

  She wasn’t going to win. So she gave up. “You’ll let me have the list as soon as it’s ready?”

  “If it’ll help you finish your work quicker and get back into my bed, yes, dammit. You’ll have it in the next couple of hours.”

  Smiling, she started to lean up to kiss the corner of his mouth. He turned and took over and didn’t stop until her mouth burned with the power of his kiss.

  He pressed the intercom and informed Philip of the change of plan, then instructed him to take the most traffic-heavy route.