May
Knocking gingerly on Oran’s front door, I inhaled a deep, stabilizing breath and rocked back on my heels. Apprehension flooded my veins when I heard his steps through the barrier and I exhaled slowly. The door swung open and Oran’s handsome features washed in surprise when he saw me. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his tattoos distracted me for a brief second before he shuffled quietly to the side to let me in.
“I thought you’d keep your distance after what Carlyle did, after what I let him do.” Licking my lips as the gravel in his voice dried my mouth and made my abdomen clench with foreboding, I simply shook my head. Slipping past him and into his apartment, I set my purse on the coffee table and turned to him as he took off his glasses to squint at me. “Why are you here, May?”
“For my apology.” He put his glasses back on and I crossed my arms over my chest as the stillness between us stretched. My heart started to beat harder, faster, in the silence, and I worried he would hear it, it was so loud in my ears. After the seconds ticked by far too slowly, he stepped chest to chest with me, and my breath hitched when he cupped the back of my head. Drawing me into an intimate hug, my cheek above his heart, his hand tangling in my hair, he pressed his nose to my crown.
“Words can’t portray how sorry I am, May. Anything I could say is an excuse, but there’s not a single one that’s good enough.” My eyes stung at the true, solemn regret in his tone, and Oran inhaled deeply to squish my face against his chest. Against my will, my hands crept up his bare sides, and the powerful muscles there quivered and rippled under my palms. He smelled so good, so heady and manly, and my eyelids fluttered closed as this beautiful moment blanketed us.
“I talked to Sarah and she confessed that she confronted my mom about the money after hearing them talk about it. They kicked her out, but she said she wasn’t going to blow the whistle.” My declaration didn’t provoke any response from Oran that I could feel, and I rubbed my cheek against the coarse, thin layer of hair on his chest. “You’re right, you know— words can’t portray how sorry you are, Oran.”
Pulling back, Oran’s eyes sparkled brilliantly behind his prescription lenses, and I reached to gently pluck them from the bridge of his nose. His whole expression tenderized, and my heart rampaged against my ribs as I took his hand and led him to the stairs. He could see enough to know where the steps were, but he let me do this as he tangled our fingers together. Folding his glasses with my free hand, I climbed to the loft to set them on the nightstand, and he pressed flush against my back.
Strong, stiff fingers gathered my hair, and I bit down on my bottom lip when Oran brushed his lips along my shoulder. Our clasped palms cradled against my abdomen, and he reached a long, sinewy arm to pull open the small, top drawer. Heat flooded my veins, replacing my blood as it suddenly went silent in my ears, and he held up a wrapped gift. The small box was too long to be a jewelry box, but the shimmering, cream-colored paper hid the contents well.
“Open it.” The whisper flowed down my neck and under my blouse, and I took the box and scrunched up my nose at how heavy it was. I didn’t take Oran for one to buy senseless gifts just to give me something, so I carefully popped open the sides of the paper.
Underneath the pretty wrapping was a wooden box, adorned with a few flowers around the edges that’d been burned in. Inhaling a sharp breath to hold as my lungs shrunk with expectation, I unhooked the small, delicate latch, and the hinges didn’t creak in the slightest.
I don’t know what I expected, but the wide, wooden clamps sitting in two perfect rows in the box wasn’t it. Suddenly, my senses fogged and I dragged my fingertips along the dozen on their velvet seat. They were clamps, wide, smooth. They looked like fat laundry pins, I thought, but I really didn’t know what they were called. I had never seen them before.
Each one was engraved with a delicate, monogram ‘M’and a little flower— the same one on the top of the box. The amount of effort that must’ve gone into this stole my breath, and I exhaled a shuddering breath as emotion crumpled my lungs.
“They’re beautiful.” My voice cracked, and Oran wrapped his hands around mine on either side of the box. Gently lifting the box from my palms, he set it on the nightstand to turn me and sit me on his bed.
“You’rebeautiful, May.” I was kinda glad I’d taken his glasses off so he couldn’t see me tear up, and he nudged me onto my back to hover over me on his hands and knees. His eyes searched my face, and I cupped his jaw to guide his lips to mine only for him to pause just a hair’s width from me. “Let me know if you need to stop.”
“No.” My croak earned me a small smile, and Oran shuffled down to take off my shoes with the utmost care and gentleness. Goosebumps swept up my legs, and I gasped breathlessly when he nibbled the inside of my knee. Unzipping my skirt, he tugged the fabric down, and I lifted my hips as he kissed hot, open-mouthed kisses up my inner thigh.
Popping the snaps of my shirt once my skirt was on the floor, Oran licked my abdomen sensually, and I grappled the blanket above my head with a moan. Arching into his mouth, I closed my eyes as he peeled the light fabric from my skin, and he skirted the cups of my bra with his nose. Straight teeth grazed the swell of my breast, and he unhooked the front clasp of my bra before kissing up my chest and neck.
“May . . . ” The searing kiss Oran planted on my lips sucked my soul right out of my body, and he bore down between my open legs with all the power he possessed. His tongue invaded my mouth, forcing its way between my teeth to wrap around mine, and my taste buds went wild with hunger. Trapping me under him, he dropped to his elbows on either side of my head, and I gasped into his mouth as he ravaged mine. Molten desire pooled in my abdomen, and he ground his bulge against my core to send shocks of pleasure up my torso.
Pulling back to pant harshly, Oran sat on his knees to nudge me deeper toward the center of his bed, and I scrambled to obey. He unfastened his pants to slide out of them, and he grabbed the box off the nightstand as dark desire twisted his sharp features. My heart thundered in my chest, and I sputtered when he grasped my breasts and squeezed them together, the box falling beside me to sit patiently. Hot pants stiffened my nipples and I moaned when he sucked a taut peak between his teeth.
A thin scrap of fabric was all that held my need at bay, and I reached between us only for Oran to grab my hands and fling them above my head. His growl reverberated off my sternum, and he bit down on the side of my breasthard. My cry tore from my dry throat, and he licked the spot to intensify the sting where he’d broken my skin. Pleasure rocketed through my chest, and I arched sharply as he dragged his palms down my sides.
Shivers lodged between my shoulder blades, and I reveled in Oran’s teeth and lips and the hardness of him between my legs. When he pulled back again, I dared crack my eyes open, and I panted furiously as he grabbed one of the clamps from the box. Caressing my neck with the closed end, he dragged the toy down to my chest, and I held my breath as anticipation rampaged through my veins.
Pain mingled with pleasure in my belly when Oran snapped the clamp on my nipple, and I gasped as my palms flew to grip his wrist. He just smacked me away, snatching a second clamp to assault my left nipple, and a moan bubbled up from deep inside me. He was merciless, a third clamp biting into the soft, sensitive skin on my abdomen, agitating the ugly, greenish-purple mark he’d so recently made.
“Get on your hands and knees.” The demand prickled my skin, and I rolled over to stick my ass up as Oran groaned in satisfaction. My juices leaked out of me when he peeled back my panties, and I buried my face in the comforter to stifle the guttural, needy moan that escaped me. His fingernails dug into my flesh as he spread my ass cheeks, and I clenched from the cool air flowing between my hot folds.
A fourth clamp clasped sharply around my clit, and my throat closed on the squeak that ripped through my chest. The intensity of it all sent an ache behind my eyes, and I clenched my jaw hard in an effort not to let go. Gripping the blanket with white-knuckle tightness, I shivered as pleasure and pain warred in my abdomen, and Oran slipped his fingers between my folds tantalizingly.
The bulbous head of his cock poised at my entrance, and he parted my folds with his thumbs as my heart stuttered. Oran’s hands shook . . . I shook . . . everything vibrated with the pent-up desire we hadn’t yet had a chance to unleash. Each spasm that strafed my muscles speared my abdomen with the sharp sting of the clamps, and he slowly sunk himself into my quivering channel. The clamp on my clit tightened as the bead gorged on desire, and I tensed when the pinch on my abdomen hurt when I clenched.
There were no words as Oran ground his hips against my ass before grabbing the globes as tightly as he could. His nails dug crescent shapes into my flesh, and he forced me back as he thrust forward. I choked on my tongue, the pleasure pricking my eyes and threatening to fall and stain his blanket. The coil in my abdomen tightened, and he scratched hard down my ass and up my thighs.
Nothing prepared me for the delicious sting when Oran smacked my ass cheek, theslapof skin on skin ringing in my ears. The shallow scores on my skin flared, and I cried out as wave after wave of pleasure rippled up my torso with icy prickles. My heart throbbed, my inner walls undulating around his hard, thick cock as he rode my orgasm. My ass cheeks flexed wildly, and I arched sharply as my cream dribbled down my thigh from the force of my release.
“I’m not done with you yet, May.” This time, the reverence in his tone was tainted by darkness, something deep and primal and all-consuming.
