He took her hand. “You need to find this out, once and for all.”
Whatever. By tomorrow they’d both know the truth. He’d know he was wrong. She
nodded.
“We need a safe word,” Jack said.
“All right.” She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. She’d read enough to know what it
meant. “If I say the word…swamp, you’ll stop everything.”
He nodded, dark hair skimming his wide forehead. “You say swamp, and we’re done.
But before you use the word, be certain you’re in actual pain beyond your bearing. Mild
discomfort isn’t good enough. Either physical or mental. I’m going to challenge your
traditional notions about sex. I will dare you to give more of yourself than you ever have.
There’s no place to hide here, Morgan. I want to be totally clear. Are you ready for that?”
No. “Ready to show you that you’re wrong about me? Sure.”
Jack fought a smile tugging at his mouth. “Good.”
With that, he stood and tore off his shirt. His rippling shoulders straightened.
Expression dissolved from his face. An air of authority, impenetrable and intimidating,
surrounded him. As fast as lightning, as forceful as thunder.
Morgan shivered, even as she told herself to hang tough.
“You know the rules, Morgan. I’m master. Everything I say is absolute. You do what I
tell you, when I tell you, how I tell you. You don’t question. You simply do.”
He clutched the velvet ropes in his hand, his thumb caressing the soft length of one.
She tried to forget the feeling of those soft ropes at her wrists and ankles, holding her
down tight, keeping her in place to do with her body as he pleased. Even the thought
made her gut cramp with lust.
No, no, no. It wasn’t sexy, just…weird.
A ghost of a smile graced his mouth when he caught her staring at the velvet
bindings. “Very good.”
A shiver went down her spine, and she looked away. But it was too late. He’d seen her
gaze fixed on the ropes.
His voice, unusually gravelly, rumbled as he demanded, “Take off your thong.”
#
Jack watched Morgan tense, hesitate, her arms still wrapped around her knees, as she
struggled mentally with his command. Normally, this sort of faltering would be a
punishable offense. She was new to all this, her mind still pushing back from the mastery
her body begged for. For now, he’d stay patient… as much as he could. But the reality
that Morgan would soon be under him, spread wide, his to do with as he pleased, was
driving him to the brink of control.
Swallowing down a lump of choking lust, he regarded her with a hard expression.
“When I give a command, I expect it to be followed immediately. Take off your thong
now or use the safe word.”
She bit that lush lower lip. The sight made his cock throb inside his jeans. God, he
wanted that mouth of hers around him, those bee-stung lips stretched wide to take him,
pull him in deep, that little tongue darting over the head. Patience, he steeled himself.
“I thought… Don’t we at least kiss or something first?”
Damn, she was naïve. She really had so much to learn if she was ever going to
successfully submit. And he was dying to teach her everything.
Sometimes that meant playing hardball.
“You’re questioning me,” he warned. “If I thought now was the right time for a kiss, I
would have demanded one. You’re behaving like a petite fille, a little girl too scared to
face her own wants. And you’re wasting my time.” Jack turned his back on her.
He took a step toward the door, then another, and began to wonder if this gamble was
about to explode in his face.
“Wait! I’m scared. This is new for me,” she said softly. “I…I don’t want to like it.”
Jack turned back to her. Finally, some honesty. That was a step in the right direction.
“What do you call me in the bedroom?” he challenged.
“Sir.” The word trembled from her lips, and it seared him like a hot poker, shoving a
hot slam of desire up his cock.
To reward her, he moved to her side and cupped her cheek in his palm. “You need to
face yourself, cher. I’m not the enemy here. I can help you.”
“I just can’t stop thinking that—”
“You know the rules. Don’t think. Just obey.”
She sighed. “I’ve never been good at obedience, sir. Ask my mother.”
Smiling, he promised, “I’ll never ask you to clean your room or take out the trash.
Obeying me will be a lot more pleasurable.”
Morgan smiled back and sent him a shaky nod, innocence and need both shining
from her blue eyes.