Purgatory Masters(58)

For a moment, time froze after his last thrust inside her. In a surreal almost out of body experience, she listened to her name fall repeatedly from his lips. Sweat glistened across the taut muscles of his arms and she imagined all of his muscles working equally hard. What would it feel like if he didn’t wear a condom when he came? Her stomach clenched.

Maggie winced at her own thoughts. Just because Tucker enjoyed displaying a fair amount of possessiveness during sex, didn’t mean either one of them were ready for anything too serious. Reading anything more into it than what she could physically see would not be smart. She’d done enough not smart things lately.

“Now that’s what I call a breakfast of champions.” Tucker withdrew from her body and began to clean up.

Maggie rolled her eyes. “That’s the best line you could think of?”

His head swiveled sharply in her direction and for a second the look in his eyes pinned her in place. She wasn’t sure what he would do next. She had a sudden vision of the big bad wolf in her mind, then a smile broke out across his face and she heaved a sigh of relief.

“Such a smarty pants you are.” He returned to between her legs with a warm cloth he’d retrieved from the sink and proceeded to clean her.

With the excitement of sex cooling off, the weight of embarrassment pressed down on her. She was still sprawled out across his kitchen counter with every inch of her body exposed and vulnerable. She struggled to sit.

“Not yet.” He pressed a hand to her torso and pinned her back in place. “I’ll let you know when it’s time to move. For now let me finish taking care of you.”

“But—”

His eyebrows rose again, “You enjoy arguing don’t you? Sure you ended up in the right profession?”

Maggie forced herself to lie back and relax and think of anything other than the gorgeous hunk of man between her legs studying her more intently than her gynecologist did.

“Obviously not,” she admitted. “I never really loved teaching as much as I loved my research and until the University asked me to leave, I assumed I’d found my calling.”

“That’s a mighty powerful “but” hanging in the air. How do you feel now?” He discarded the cloth and began a slow and easy massage of her thighs.

“Things are quite a mess. I had to go into hiding to escape the wrath of a few obsessed reporters, I doubt any University would take me on after the scandal, which isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.” She took a deep breath. “I thought I’d miss everything being a professor entails…”

“But you don’t.”

There was a lot of sadness with that realization. “My entire adult life up to this point has revolved around the University in one way or another. I used to enjoy the rules and rigidity of being a student, then a teacher and then even married to a fellow professor.”

His magic fingers continued its path along her entire body until he reached her arms and hands. First, he freed her from the entangled fabric of his shirt, then he returned to the delicious massage that had her muscles melting into the table.

“The submissive in you loved all those rules.”

Her body went rigid at the implication of his words. “Relax. No one is judging you. It’s not uncommon for many submissives to find themselves in jobs where rules and protocols dictate much of their lives. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Maggie wasn’t sure about his analysis. Where were the facts and figures to support it?

“C’mon. You’re about to undo all the hard work I just did.” He scooped her from the island and headed toward the door.

“Wait. What are you—?” He bent at the knees to grab the door handle. “No, I don’t want to go outside. Without my clothes I’ll freeze to death!” she cried.

Tucker shook his head. “Ye of little faith.” Despite her protests, he pushed open the glass door that led to the back deck and stepped out of warm safety of the house.

Maggie grit her teeth against the impending cold, waiting for the blast to take her breath away. The sudden change in temperature she expected never came. Instead of an outdoor deck like she’d assumed, she now realized the entire area was enclosed by glass and judging by the lack of freezing temperatures, climate controlled.

“You could have told me you had a sunroom where I wouldn’t freeze my ass off,” she huffed.

“Where would the fun be in that? Watching you panic and squirm was way more fun.”

Maggie frowned at him. “Oohh… At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you really are mean.”

Without breaking stride, or putting her down, Tucker stepped down the stairs into a steamy hidden hot tub. He sank down into the heated water taking her with him.