Purgatory Masters(10)
Maggie tried to swallow beyond the thick lump in her throat. He didn’t know it all. No one did. There had been a lot of speculation about that night. Her ex didn’t even care why she’d been in the club, only that she’d been caught there and hauled to jail. He’d used her embarrassment to his advantage, had refused to bail her out and filed for divorce. He’d all but dared her to not sign the settlement agreement, too. Suddenly, all the male students he’d slept with meant nothing in the face of her public scandal.
After days of trying to figure out what to do, she’d grabbed the first opportunity to get out.
Yet none of those memories abated the throbbing now going on between her legs. In an instant, Tucker had managed to reawaken her — gotta have it or I’m going to die — craving that had plagued her for years. The mysterious something else that kept her researching late into the night, page after page on the internet as she tried to understand why she’d become so deeply drawn to the lifestyle.
His proximity didn’t help either. Warm breath fluttered across her skin as he waited far too patiently, making her heart beat faster. Good thing she was already sitting down.
“You tell me that I don’t know you very well, yet that doesn’t stop you from jumping to conclusions about me. For all you know you could be one hundred percent wrong.” She hated the sharp edge her voice carried. Her defenses were an auto pilot mechanism she didn’t know how to disengage. Not after what she’d been through.
Tucker pulled back and met her gaze. For a few agonizing seconds, silence enveloped them as he stared down at her. She felt as though Tucker could see straight through all of her lies, her half-truths and the walls she’d concocted to hide the need. She admired this Tucker. The confidence that oozed from him was so different from most men she encountered. Most of the professors at the college she worked were ridiculously old school, and not in a good way. They frowned on her research and spent more time offering snide comments than any real support. Not one showed an iota of interest in anything she had to say.
“Look me in the eye, Maggie, and tell me I’m wrong. If you can do that then I’ll gladly apologize and drop the whole thing.”
Sheer terror sliced through her. Despite her blustering, she liked everything she’d witnessed so far. There were a lot of things in life that made her uncertain, that didn’t mean she didn’t go for them. That’s how the big events in life happened. Sometimes you just have to go for it.
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Just go for it, Maggie. There isn’t much else to lose. “You’re not wrong,” she admitted. For some reason the attack she expected didn’t come. Where she’d thought he’d touch her more, he withdrew. Maggie frowned, unable to disguise her confusion.
Tucker cupped her chin with his palm and titled her head to stare into her eyes. “Don’t look so disappointed, Miss Maggie. You know as well as I do that this needs to go slow. That means tonight you are going to take a long, hot bath after you finish your drink. You’ll wash your body while thinking of me, then you’ll slip between the cool sheets of your bed before midnight and go to sleep without touching yourself. You’re going to need your sleep.”
Her intake of sharp breath caught her off guard. Her body immediately warmed to his instructions and her erogenous zones began to tingle and pulse.
“I mean it, Maggie. No touching. You’ll fall asleep with your nipples poking at the thin fabric and moisture pooled between your legs because what you can’t yet have is all you’ll be able to think about. You’ll ache with need and your fingers will clench in frustration as your body riots out of your control. Under no circumstances will you be allowed to touch your pussy or your breasts. Do you understand me?”
Of course she understood, he wanted to torture her. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because it’s what I want. Your focus on my words and desires will please me. When I crawl into my own bed tonight with a dick hard enough to hammer nails, I will feel your pain and know that tomorrow you will come to me for what you need.”
“Tomorrow?” she squeaked. It was hard to concentrate on the words she wanted to say when her pulse pounded so hard she thought her chest might burst. She breathed deeply, hoping the extra oxygen would cool the sizzling in her veins. No such luck. Her body buzzed with an electric current that had nowhere to go.
“Yes, Maggie. Tomorrow.” His dark eyes held hers in a lock stronger than an invisible force field while his finger traced a path along her check, her neck and across the swell of her breasts.