Bound to Please(53)

“No.” She didn’t add that without him, she hadn’t even wanted to try.

He stepped closer until she was backed up against the counter. Everything about him was slow, unhurried, a total contrast to the sharp edginess coursing through her body.

“I did,” he said. “And I thought about you the entire time.”

Desire raged through her as she pictured him stroking himself, getting off. Thinking of her.

And it somehow made her defiant. “I have more willpower than you.”

“Is that so?” he said, even closer now, and then he placed a hot kiss at that place just under her ear, that spot that made her close her eyes and sigh when she felt the tip of his tongue on her skin. “So now, if I said I wanted to take you and lay you down on your kitchen table and do all kinds of naughty things to you, you would say no?”

“Yes.” He was close enough that the heat from his body mixed with her own, his long arms enclosing her as he leaned on the counter. She could just feel his cock, hard through the material of her T-shirt, robe, and his jeans. “Yes,” she whispered. “I could definitely say no.”

“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured as he ran his lips down her neck, in front of her throat. “You could. But will you?”

Her legs were trembling now, and her eyelids were drifting shut. “Why do you do this to me?” she asked.

“I wish I knew.” He pressed against her, his body hot and hard against hers.

She reached under his T-shirt and felt the muscles of his abdomen clench as she ran her hand over his warm skin. His jeans were slung low on his hips, and she felt his stomach, where he had just the tiniest amount of hair below his belly button. Then she ran her hands up, across the smooth ridges of his rib cage until she got to his nipple, gently scraping a silver hoop with her fingertip.

“Did it hurt? When you had them pierced?”

“Not especially.”

“You’re so tough, then?”

“I can handle pain.”

Kissing him, she gave the ring a gentle pull. He tensed and his cock jumped against her. Something in his kiss turned harsher as she played with his nipple ring, and she pushed at him, tugging and stroking until he pulled back and she saw that his eyes were very dark, almost black.

“Where are the things I sent you?” he asked, his voice husky.

“Over there.” She nodded to the corner, to the box that was now closed up tight. Next to it she saw a leather case that hadn’t been there before.

“Take off your clothes.”

She nodded; wasn’t she supposed to be mad? Didn’t matter. He’d broken that barrier with an easy smile. Yeah, she was that lost in him. Now, her fingers trembled as she untied her belt, slid off her bathrobe. She watched him move to rummage around in the box. His T-shirt rode up when he bent over, exposing the smooth skin at the base of his spine. He was such a combination of lean elegance and dominant male. It unnerved her.

Standing, he turned with two cuffs and the nylon tethers in his hands. He looked her over. “T-shirt, panties. Take them off.”

She pulled the shirt over her head and his gaze dropped to her panties. As he watched, she pulled them down her legs.

“Beautiful.” He placed the items on the table, then came to her. “So beautiful, my Ruby.” Then he picked her up and carried her across the kitchen to place her on the table. Kissing her, he eased her down until she was flat on her back. The table was not large, and she bent her knees and let her legs hang over the edge.

“Mark… ?”

He took her left leg in his hands and placed a kiss on her ankle. “Just let go, Ruby.”

He had rope; it must have been in the case he’d brought. Quickly, he tied her left calf to one of the table legs, wrapping the rope from her ankle to just under her knee, where he finished with a knot. He repeated the process with her right calf.

She hadn’t felt rope on her body since Ash, but he’d never done anything so quickly, so practically. Ruby found she loved the swiftness of how Mark moved. For once, she felt as if she was more important than the rope itself, and the feeling made her float even higher.

Spreading her arms as wide as her legs, he used the restraints and tethers to bind her wrists to the table. She caught glimpses of him as he moved; the sharp line of his jaw, the mole at the base of his neck. He was beautiful, but somehow his dominance was what she noticed. She noticed his utter control.

And then she was stretched open, her legs and her arms bound to the four corners of the table. Open for him, totally.

He stood back, looked her over. “You know what? I just realized I haven’t had breakfast.”

She twisted her head toward him. “P-pardon me?”