“Easy now,” Julius said. “Just relax.”
She tried. She really did. But her body was coiling in anticipation of its coming release. Her flesh burned as Julius pushed the column past the ring of muscles. It hurt, not too badly, and not enough to ask him to stop. She bit the coverlet pressed to her face and clasped her fingers tightly together.
The forward pressure stopped, and Amanda was left with a feeling of fullness, a strangeness to which her body didn’t quite know how to adapt.
Julius groaned and ran his hands, slick with oil, over the cheeks of her bottom. He tapped the end of the column, and sensation shot through her.
“Your arse filled with my jade. Your body bound with my rope.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Absolute perfection.”
In one smooth glide, Julius filled her sex. They moaned in unison.
He dug his fingers into her hips and took off like a racehorse. He pounded into her, and Amanda knew he wouldn’t be pulling out of her body this time until he’d found his release. She was tied up like a package wrapped in string, and Amanda welcomed the idea that she was his present. His to use. His to enjoy.
Each time he bottomed out he nudged the end of the jade, and it felt like every opening was being taken. Blood pounded at her temples, and her head spun. It was too much sensation, too many nerve endings firing at once. Her brain couldn’t process if it was pleasure or pain. But cutting through the muddle was a deep, clawing need. She pressed her thighs together, desperate to relieve the pressure.
Julius grabbed the rope at her back, jerked her body into his hips. The ropes across her breasts tightened. Her skin chafed. Her lungs squeezed. Amanda opened her mouth to scream but no sound emerged.
Julius grunted. The sound of their flesh slapping together filled her ears. He thrust faster, harder, and she broke.
Waves of pleasure came crashing down. Her muscles pulsed around Julius’s cock, around the hard jade, and Julius’s tempo faltered.
He plunged once, twice, and with a groan held himself deep within.
Amanda wanted to scream, to whimper. She wanted to pound her palms into the bed or claw Julius’s back. Her mind was overwhelmed with the glut of emotions, and her body flooded with contradictory sensations. Too breathless to make a sound, unable to move, she did the only action left available. She cried.
Julius slid from her body and eased her to her side. The bed dipped as he crawled off. He returned moments later and untied the knots that held her. The rope at her hands fell away first, and Julius chaffed each palm, rubbed each arm. The harness around her back and chest slipped off, and Amanda sucked in her first deep breath since the silk had touched her skin.
Rolling Amanda to her stomach, Julius drizzled more oil across her back and kneaded her muscles, his fingers smoothing away any lingering soreness.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded. She turned her face to the side, her cheek resting on the soft pillow.
“It can be quite affecting, being bound.” He brushed his thumb under her eye. “But sometimes tears can be a good thing.”
She nodded again, feeling as insubstantial as a cloud. Like she could float away. Every inch of her was numb, every inch except the strips of skin the rope had crossed. Those tingled, as though the bonds yet remained. They were invisible marks, ones she hoped wouldn’t disappear anytime soon. She drifted, content to merely exist in the moment.
Julius caressed the entire length of her body, every toe receiving the same amount of attention as he’d given her shoulders. She barely noticed when he eased the jade from her body.
Lifting her hand, he pressed his thumbs into her palm, and a moan slipped past her lips.
Julius chuckled.“You like that?”
In response, Amanda threaded her fingers through his, and tugged him down. He settled by her side, his heat seeping into her skin, his breath whispering across her brow.
She rubbed his knuckle with her thumb. She’d never been more connected to another human being. Wrapped up in Julius’s arms, in his rope, she’d never felt safer.
But feeling safe was dangerous. That was usually the moment before disaster struck. She needed to keep up her guard.
She yawned. Her heartbeat slowed, like it was pumping syrup through her veins, making her sluggish and satisfied. Keeping up her guard required energy, and that was difficult to come by at the moment.
Julius wrapped his other arm around her waist and drew her tight to his side, his hand resting on her hip. Amanda buried her nose at his neck and inhaled his scent, as comforting as her favorite cup of tea. She wouldn’t worry about any danger now, would allow herself to enjoy the moment. Her eyelids drooped low. Just this once, she’d let herself revel in the feeling of a man caring for her, not just caring what he could take from her.
She knew thinking that Julius cared for her was foolish. Just because they’d lain together didn’t mean he had any depth of feeling for her. Men took their pleasure from women and affection had nothing to do with it. If he was a good man, he only took pleasure from willing women and did his best to give pleasure in return.
Which was why, when she woke up alone hours later, it was a good reminder that just because Julius made her feel warm and safe, he wouldn’t want to waste his time holding her. His heart, after all, had not been engaged.
Chapter Nine
