I clean myself with some toilet paper and perch on the edge of the bath. A moment away, just one, is what I need. To center myself—something that doesn’t feel possible.
“Stay.”
“You know I can’t.”
“I have a spare room. Stay there.”
“Don’t.” I hold my hand up to him. “Don’t push this and make it more than what it is.”
“Offering you a bed to sleep in for the night isn’t turning it into something more,” he replies, buttoning his jeans.
“It’s barely eight o’clock. I think I’ll be okay to go home.”
Tyler stops in the middle of the front room and stares at me. “Fine. But I’m calling you a car.”
“I would hope so.” I snatch my panties from the floor and hold them up. “Because there isn’t a chance in fucking hell I’m walking through the streets of Seattle with no panties on.” I scrunch them into my fist, ready to put into my coat pocket.
A smirk stretches across his face. I raise my eyebrows, grab my heels, and stroll into the front room with them dangling from my fingers. I fetch my coat from the hall and tuck my panties inside the pocket before buttoning it up. It would be more than a little embarrassing if they fell out.
“That was the first time, wasn’t it?”
“The first time for what?” I glance over my shoulder.
“You’ve been tied up.”
“I wasn’t exactly tied up. That would imply that I was tied to something, and I was only tied to myself.”
“Stop avoiding the question, Olivia.”
“Call me by my full name again and I’ll…” I pause. “I’ll think of something. I like your cock too much to hurt it.”
Tyler laughs loudly. It reverberates throughout my whole body with its deep richness, and I fight my shiver. Damn.
“Good to know,” he manages through chuckles. “Answer the question, Liv.”
I lean back against the wall and fold my arms across my chest. “Say please.”
He pauses.
“You said you wanted to control my body. You’ve done that. Hell, honey, if you keep fucking me that way, you can control my body to Mars and back. But that’s all you get. Don’t even start to think you can control me.”
“The thought never even crossed my mind.” He steps in front of me.
“Good thing, too.” I push at his chest. “Did you call for a car for me?”
“Are you going to answer my question?”
“Did you call for a car?” I smirk, folding my arms again.
Tyler sighs and picks up his phone. He speaks briefly into it, directing Allen to collect me from his apartment in five minutes.
“Happy?” he asks, setting the phone back down.
“Very.” My smirk turns smug.
“Now,” he says, his voice hardening, setting a hand on either side of me on the wall. “Please answer my question.”
I blink a few times, drawing the moment out. For some reason, my lips don’t want to follow my mind. They don’t want to admit to him that, yes, it was the first time someone has ever tied me. But I force them to, and the word falls from my lips in a whisper.
“Yes.” My eyes hit the floor—wanting and needing to look anywhere other than at him.
“But you’ve wanted it?”
I nod.
“Dreamed of it?”
The flush that rises in my cheeks is all he needs to know.
“Hey.” He cups my face in his hands and lifts it so we’re eye to eye. There’s only a glimmer of lingering heat left in his gaze. It’s overshadowed by certainty and honesty. “Don’t look at the floor like you’re ashamed of it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Sex is sex, and spicing it up with a little light bondage is just like adding extra flavor to your chili.”
“I just never found anyone who was even remotely into it before, so I never asked.”
“Well now you’ve found me, and you can ask me as often as you like. In fact, I promise to tie you up every time you ask.”
My face breaks into a grin, matching the one on his. “I’ll be pissed if you don’t.”
“As long as you promise me you won’t go home and be ashamed of it.”
“Oh, I won’t.” I lower his hands from my face.
His phone rings. “Hello? ... Yes, okay… Thanks, Allen.” He looks at me. “Allen’s waiting downstairs for you.”
“Okay.” I walk to the door with him, and he tugs on a lock of my hair.
“So what are you going to do when you get home?”
Stringy. I raise an eyebrow. “I’m going to go home, have a hot bath, and crawl into bed.” I shrug my coat on.