Silence behind her.
“I hurt you.”
She let out a breath. “It was fine.”
“No.” His arms tightened. “It wasn’t fine.”
Shit, was he going to make her explain? She hoped to God not. Explaining she wasn’t experienced was one thing but admitting she was a virgin was quite another. “Hey, it’s no drama. Can we just forget—”
“Tell me.” Beneath the rough edge, iron lurked. Iron and absolute authority.
Pandora scowled, the good feeling seeping away. Jesus, she was so sick of people telling her what to do. “What would you do if I didn’t tell you? Spank me until I did?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
A small, electric thrill shot through her. Would he really do it? Shit, she could probably make him. “Why not? I might like it.”
He let out a breath, tension in the hard body at her back. “I lost control. I caused you pain. That should never have happened.”
She turned in his arms, looking up at him. His eyes were shadowed with genuine regret, which kind of annoyed her. “What should never have happened? You doing me over the arm of the couch?”
“I was rough. I hurt you.”
Oh, no. He wasn’t going to turn this into something bad just because he couldn’t handle it. Not the most intense, incredible, best night of her life.
“So?” She lifted her chin. “Yeah, it did hurt. But only because that’s the first time I ever had sex.”
He went still. “You’re a virgin?”
“Well, no. Not now, I guess.”
His blue eyes glittered with sudden anger. “You were a fucking virgin?”
“Interesting choice of language.”
“Don’t screw with me, Snow. Not now.”
“Yes, I was a fucking virgin. So? What’s the big deal?”
“What’s the big deal?” He released her suddenly. “The big deal is picking up a complete stranger in a bar, then going home with him and letting him bend you over his couch and fuck you. That’s not what a first time should be about.”
“And you know what my first time should be about, do you?” She didn’t hold back with the sarcasm. “Please, do explain to the poor ex-virgin who’s too stupid to know what she wants.”
A dull flush stained his cheekbones. “It shouldn’t be with someone pulling your hair.”
“Why shouldn’t it be like that? What if that’s what I happened to want?”
He cursed, wadding up the condom with a tissue from a box on the coffee table, then pulling up his pants and setting his clothing right. “You can’t want that.”
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t want.” She felt suddenly furious with him. For questioning her and the choice she’d made. The one that had made her feel so powerful and strong for the first time in her life.
He looked down at her, still dressed in his suit. Like he was on his way out to the office or wherever it was he worked. As if he hadn’t just given her the orgasm of the century. While she was naked and bent over his couch, almost broken apart by the pleasure he’d given her. “How can you even know what you want without any experience?”
“You patronizing prick.” Hell no. She wasn’t going to put up with this. She wasn’t going to let him question the sex they’d just had. “My first time can be however I want it with whomever I damn well choose! On the floor, over the couch, on a kitchen bench, wherever! If I want it rough, then I’ll have it rough. Or slow. Or tender. Or with whips and chains, if I like that kind of thing.”
The red staining his skin deepened, a dark fire burning in his eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Is that so?” Completely ignoring the fact that she was naked, she stalked over to him and jabbed a finger at his chest. “Perhaps you’re the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Mr. Uptight.”
Hunt’s dark brows descended. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Yeah, he was scowling but she could see the dark glitter in his eyes, not to mention the bulge in his pants. She let her finger trail down his chest and over his abdomen, brushing his cock, loving the shiver that shook him as she did so. “Uh-huh. Ridiculous. Right. So, have you ever done any of that? The kitchen bench? The whips? Or the chains?”
“Jesus Christ,” he hissed, grabbing her wrist and holding her tight. “Don’t do that.”
“Well? You haven’t, have you?”
“Stop pushing me, Snow.”
“Bullshit. I think you could use a good push.”
“Not tonight, I don’t.”