The creak of the door opening grated across her skin. He carried something she couldn’t make out through the shadows. She watched him move across the room, unable to tear her eyes off that unidentifiable object.
When he set one knee on the bed and knelt over her, her ability to breathe failed completely. A pair of her pantyhose looped between his strong hands. She stared at him with wide eyes. “What are you doing?”
He gestured for her to sit. “Up.”
Like strings on a marionette, her body obeyed the beckoning. Warily, she watched that length of black nylon.
“Hands in front of your breasts, wrists together,” he ordered quietly.
“Brad, I’ve never—”
He arched an eyebrow. “Trust me.”
She snapped her mouth shut and did as he directed. He rested two fingers against the back of her left wrist, used his free hand to loop the nylon around them both, before he slid his fingers free. Then he tied off the toe of her hose, effectively binding her with just enough room to twist her wrists but not fully separate them. His harsh breath fell over her shoulder, making her shiver.
“What are you doing?” she asked again.
Raising both brows, his gaze fastened on her as he dragged his mouth down the swell of her breast and captured a nipple between his lips. One firm pull had her gasping all over again. Her entire body throbbed from head to toe. A low moan escaped her.
Desire flashed hot in Brad’s gaze, but once more he withdrew. Moving behind her, he wrapped an arm around her waist, drew her down onto the mattress, and tucked her neatly into his embrace. His lips dusted over the side of her neck. She parted her legs at the feel of his thick erection pressing into the backs of her thighs, and with a nudge of his hips, he tucked that hard length against her aching flesh.
The arm he held around her waist tightened. “Get some sleep, Cassie.”
Sleep? He’d lost his ever-loving mind! She needed to orgasm so badly she could cry, and he wanted her to sleep?
Full understanding crashed into her. Discipline, punishment…Oh, God. He wasn’t just proving that she could control her body, but that he had total control over it. He wouldn’t grant fulfillment tonight, no matter how aroused he might be. He intended to make her wait. And by binding her hands, he made it impossible for her to relieve the pressure herself.
Cassie closed her eyes to a groan as another rush of heat infused her veins. Involuntarily, her hips angled toward the mattress, yearning for one prolonged press that would end the excruciating torment.
Firm fingers trapped her hips in place. “No, Cassie,” he murmured. “Not tonight.”
…
Brad was in hell, no way around it. Cassie had finally drifted off in restless slumber, but it would be several hours more before he could dampen his own arousal enough to sleep. That same unending desire, which triggered at her slightest whimper, had him wrapped in chains.
He no longer had control over his reaction to her. Sure, he could hold back, force himself to mentally withdraw enough he didn’t surge over the edge. But he’d lost the ability to keep the initial rush of need at bay. It struck hard and fast and left him fumbling for explanations why.
And the sympathy that pulled through his mind, the tug to give in, take her punishment away, and lead them both into release once more, bugged the hell out of him. He shouldn’t be that weak. Couldn’t be that soft.
He eased out of the bed, careful to keep his eyes fastened on the fireplace instead of her naked body and the way her bound wrists tucked innocently beneath her chin. What was it about her that picked away at him until he couldn’t think straight? Why her as opposed to the many other women that had drifted through his bed.
The answer struck as he tossed another log in the hearth and the fire crackled to life. And he didn’t like it at all. In the process of setting her desires free, she’d granted him his own freedom. For too long he’d played at this game, tumbled through a night of role-play, barely tapping into his darker urges. Everything he’d needed lay in that bed. This was real, no longer a fantasy, and for the first time in his life, he felt like he had no influence over what was happening around him.
He glanced back at Cassie, feeling the pull of arousal all over again. Frustrated with his inability to quench that unending thirst, he stalked out of the room. He’d let lust and passion rule one too many times lately, and if he intended to ever pull himself back together, he couldn’t give in so easily. He had work to do, a promotion waiting that he’d chased his entire career. Yet instead of focusing on that work—which his client was paying nearly a grand a day for the trip here—he was letting it slide, giving it anything but his full attention. At this rate, someone would discover their involvement, and he could kiss that promotion goodbye. He was fucking up all over the place.