Taking Him (Lies We Tell)(15)

Until Ellie. Until you picked up that drawing pin.

The guilt that ate away at him turned over in his gut. How could he do this to her? How could he make her into one of the women he used? And yet even as he thought this, his cock hardened still further.

Fuck, he was sick. He couldn’t turn her into one of those women, not when he’d been protecting her for so long. And yet he couldn’t keep going without doing so. Which left him with only one option.

Hunter reached out and covered Ellie’s hand. “Stop.”



Long fingers covered hers, a palm pressing down on the back of her hand, holding her still. Ellie sucked in a desperate breath, every inch of skin so sensitive that all he’d have to do was move those fingers of his a bit and she’d come apart.

She couldn’t stop shaking. None of what he’d asked her to do was in any way familiar to her. The sex she’d had with Cam had been straight vanilla. Nothing kinky, nothing too weird. Boring, if she was honest with herself. But this—following Hunter’s orders—oh God, she wanted it more than she wanted her next breath.

Because finally, finally, he was seeing her the way she wanted to be seen. Treating her the way she wanted to be treated. As a woman. And now he wanted her to stop? Was he kidding?

She didn’t open her eyes, some instinct telling her that if she did, no matter what he’d promised her, he’d leave. “Stop?” she asked huskily. “Why?”

“I said no questions.”

“You promised me you wouldn’t go.” She pulled her hand out from under his then quickly placed it back over the top, pressing his palm down between her thighs. The warmth of his touch made her shiver. “I want this, Hunter. Please. You can feel how much I want this. Want you.”

He remained silent, but there was tension in the hand that rested beneath hers. She didn’t know what had changed or why, didn’t know why he needed all these rules. But the whys didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he couldn’t leave her so hungry and wanting.

She pushed his hand down farther, shivering as the warmth of his fingers brushed the sensitive flesh between her thighs, pressing through the damp lace of her underwear.

“Ellie.” His voice sounded ragged, the tension in his arm altering subtly.

“Are you trying to protect me? Is that the problem?” Jesus, she really wanted to open her eyes. See his face. Try to see what he was thinking, what he was feeling.

His arm pulled tight and she knew he was going to move away. Ellie shifted her legs, closing them, her inner thighs right up against the hard, warm strength of his body. Trapping him.

“Don’t go.”

Hunter said nothing but she felt him go rigid with tension.

Oh bloody hell, the rules. She was talking. She was asking questions. And more importantly, she was touching him.

Ellie lifted her hand from his and opened her legs to free him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’ll be good, I promise. I…I need you to see that you don’t have to protect me.”

There was a long silence. He removed his hand from her but didn’t move away.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, sweetness,” he said at last. “Nothing about sex with me will be easy.”

Well, she’d kind of guessed that already. “If I wanted easy, I would have stayed with Cam.”

“You should have.”

“I couldn’t. It wasn’t fair on him.” She took a small breath. “I used to cheat on Cam with you. In my head. I used to imagine it was you touching me. You inside me. It was wrong but I couldn’t help it. I wanted you so badly.”

Another long silence, her whole focus narrowing down on the man who still knelt between her thighs. The warmth of him so close and yet so agonisingly far.

“Show me,” he said at last. “Show me what you did when you imagined me touching you.”

A wave of prickling heat whispered over her skin. She’d never done this before, touched herself in front of another person while they watched. But this wasn’t just any person. This was Hunter, and that made it different. Made it safe.

She lifted her hand and slid her fingers underneath the black lace of her underwear, touching the slick flesh between her thighs. Gently she eased a finger over her aching clit, gasping as the sensation struck sparks through her body. She arched back in the chair, stroking herself, pleasure pulling tight inside her.

And then strong fingers circled her wrist. Ellie whimpered in protest but even as one hand pulled hers away, another touched her, pushing aside the wet lace to touch her sex. Spreading her open, stroking her. She groaned as a finger pushed gently inside her, then another.

Her head fell back, her hips lifting. White light burst behind her eyes as his fingers slid in deep then out again. Oh God…this was too much. Too intense. Would it be like this every time he touched her? She’d fall apart.

“Don’t speak,” Hunter whispered, keeping up the gentle movement of his hand. “Don’t move.”

She began to shudder then gasped as she felt him cover one breast with his palm. He pinched her nipple, at first softly, then harder, the pleasure sharp and bright as a shard of glass.

A light pressure on her clit at first, growing more firm, his thumb stroking, circling. Ellie groaned, unable to keep quiet. Unable to keep still.

“Ellie,” he said and the darkness in his voice, the quiet dominance of it, spoke to something inside her. Calling something from her.

She cried out, the climax crashing over her so suddenly and unexpectedly she couldn’t do anything but shake, sobs gathering in her throat.

Hunter’s fingers slipped out of her, the withdrawal making her nearly forget the rules and reach for him.

Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t leave me.

He didn’t, his hand coming to rest on her thigh. Stroking in a lazy, unhurried movement.

“Can I open my eyes?” she asked, a thousand cracks running through her voice.

“Not yet, sweetness.”

“I want to. I want to see you.”

“No.” And then, quieter. “I did warn you this wouldn’t be easy.”

She swallowed, her mouth dry, her heartbeat still out of control. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Aren’t you going to…?” Unaccustomed shyness gripped her and she could feel herself blushing like an idiot. “Uh…have sex with me? Or something?”

“No,” he said again.

“No? Just like that? No?”

“Yeah, just like that.”

“But…but why? I thought…I thought you wanted me.”

“I told you no questions.”

“Hunter.”

She heard him shift. “I’m not having sex with you and I’m not discussing it. That’s the way it is, sweetness.”

“Is this some kind of weird protective thing again? Are you—” The pressure of his finger on her mouth, stopping the words in her throat.

“Shut up, Ellie,” he said softly, without heat. His breath whispered beside her ear, the warmth of it chasing across her skin. “And stop pushing me.” His finger fell away.

“But it’s not only about me, Hunter.” It had to be said. “It’s about you too. I don’t want to just take.”

“No, that’s my job, and believe me, I’ve taken, sweetheart. But I’m not taking anymore today.”

She heard him shift again and felt cold suddenly as he moved away. Like he was taking all the heat with him. “You didn’t come,” she said starkly. “You didn’t get off.”

“I got what I wanted. And so did you. That’s enough.”

She stared into the space where she thought he was standing. Stared into the blackness behind her closed lids. “I don’t understand. How can it be for you?”

He didn’t reply. And it was only when the silence lengthened for far longer than it should have that she realised she was alone.



Hunter walked down the hallway then swiftly up the stairs to his bedroom. The only thought in his head was to get away. Away from the woman sitting in his office. Away from the desire hammering in his skull and turning his body inside out.

Yeah, he’d promised her he wouldn’t walk out on her like that, but shit, he couldn’t stay.

He’d embraced the choice to see her as a woman, treat her as a woman. Touch her in the way he wanted to, the way she wanted him to. But he hadn’t fully thought through the consequences. Hadn’t realised quite how desperate he’d be after hearing her name her fantasies about him, after watching her touch herself like that, after touching her.

She’d felt hot and wet and tight around his fingers. The scent of her arousal. The weight of her breast in his hand. The sounds she’d made…

Hunter closed his eyes, having to stop and take a deep breath to get himself under control.

On occasion, if he needed the power trip, he’d get himself off with the woman in the room, making sure she had her eyes closed or was blindfolded. But to do the same with Ellie felt wrong.

She wasn’t a stranger he’d never have to see again. An unknown woman he’d objectified for his own private pleasure. She was someone he knew. Someone who knew him.

And that had made him feel vulnerable in a way he hadn’t been since he was sixteen years old. A way that almost made him…afraid.