Hope, both exhilarating and terrifying, made him ease away from her. He dropped the condom into the trash and began removing her restraints. The ripping sound of Velcro reminded him that this was a role she was playing. She might be the only woman in the world who could handle him, but that didn’t mean he was special to her. It didn’t mean she cared about him. Did the tightness in his chest mean he cared about her? He’d never felt like this with any other sub, that was for sure.
He checked the meter he’d had the sense to wrap around his wrist before they began. Two million amps? What the fuck? He didn’t know he had that much energy in him. He pulled his leather gloves back onto his hands, afraid that the next amp going into her would be the one to set his hopes and dreams on fire.
When he stroked his hand down her back, she rolled over and smiled. He couldn’t resist caressing her shoulder, then cupping her breast. His hand drifted over her ribcage and belly.
She caught his hand. “Kiss me?”
He slowly shook his head. “I can’t.”
She sat up, still holding his hand. “You’ve got to be kidding me. How much power did you just zap me with?”
He didn’t blame her for the anger in her voice and he pretended not to hear the hurt. There was nothing he wanted to do more than kiss her, but his desire felt stronger than his self-control. What if he didn’t have the strength to hold back his charge again? “Two million amps, Audrey. Incredible.”
“And after all that, you’re afraid to give me a little kiss?” Her voice grew speculative and her gaze sharpened. Before him sat Audrey the scientist, buck naked, luminous in the afterglow of her orgasm and thinking up a storm.
He feigned indifference. “We’ve experimented enough for one day.”
Uncertainty flickered across her face, and he felt like an asshole. “Please.” He took a deep breath. “Have some patience with me.” While I figure out why I feel completely fucked.
Her gaze softened, went velvet again, and she stretched, laughing up at him. “You have control issues.”
“Damn straight,” he said, relieved she wasn’t going to push him to admit the exact nature of his current issues.
She slid off the table and walked toward the lab. “But I thought we were just getting started with our experiments. You didn’t change your mind about letting me test your new invention, did you?”
“Nope. I’ll be right there.”
Cal took his time cleaning up the dungeon, thinking.
What would he do if she continued to press for intimacy? No matter how powerful her neutral talent, it might never be safe for him to touch her skin while he lost control, even during a kiss. The fantasy was exciting for him, but the reality could be fatal for her.
He’d have to hold her off, he decided. For the time being, she had agreed to submit. Her body couldn’t lie—she enjoyed their play. In fact, she’d admitted it out loud. He would hold her to her confession, tie her to it if he had to. He would do everything in his power to prove surrendering control to him was good for both of them.
He followed her into the lab, where she was still naked, examining the bio-enhancer again.
“Wire me up, Scotty,” she said with a grin.
“A Star Trek fan?” he asked.
“I’d sell my soul for a medical tricorder.”
One more thing to love about her. He lifted the skull cap and placed the straps over her head, then held up the vest. She slipped her arms into the armholes and held still while he secured the wires to her biceps, elbows and wrists with black bondage tape.
He stepped back. “Do you want to put your clothes on?”
“Nope.” She gave him an evil grin, as if she were as aware as he that the black leather straps and silver wires of the enhancer made her look like a hot comic book heroine busting out of her costume.
“Are you ready?” he asked, forcing his mind back to business, to science.
“Eveready, like the battery.”
He touched her arm. “All joking aside, you are a battery right now. As soon as I flip this switch,” he placed a hand on the back of her neck, “you could have enough power at your disposal to light up the city.”
Her expression turned serious. “What should I do with it?”
He led her across the lab to his rubber-floored firing range and placed the conductor in her hand. “Touch the conductor to the fuel cell and pull the trigger.”
“Do I get a cut of the profits if you sell this particular fuel cell?” she teased.
“I’ll take you out to dinner.” He flipped the switch and pointed her at the cell, keeping his hand on hers.
She glanced over her shoulder. “How about Hawaii instead?”