“Fuck no.” His voice went gravel, forearms flexing like he’d already filed uses.
Her mind unhelpfully replayed the first time he’d mentioned spanking; heat climbed her throat. “Excellent.” She lifted her phone. “Standard documentation protocol includes—”
“No photos or video,” he said, immediate and unshakeable. “Ever.”
“Hmm. Interesting caveat, but okay.” She set the phone face down on the dresser. “Handwritten notes only. Incinerated by sunrise. Do the rules meet with your…satisfaction? If so, say yes.”
His shoulders softened. “Do I consent to having Frankie Peterson examine my follow-through? Hell yes.”
“That was a rather lovely comment,” she said, steady now. “We might circle back to your obsession with me if we have time. Tell me, Mr. Grant, what are your wants for tonight? Beware. If I sense you’re lying, there will be consequences. Truth earns a mark of approval.”
“I want you,” he said, no hesitation. “I want to cross the finish line—multiple times—with you.” He skimmed a knuckle down the knot of her hair like a promise. “If you want slower, I go slower. If you want more, I give you more.”
Her breath did scandalous things. She uncapped the lipstick and drew a tiny check at the edge of his collarbone. “Verified.”
“The next task involves kissing.” She rose on her toes. “I will name the type, you execute. We’ll start with the hello kiss.”
He brushed her mouth with the softest welcome, a graze that said I have all night.
“Promise.”
A thumb under her chin, eyes on hers, and then his mouth found hers slow, careful, like signing a contract in ink he didn’t plan to erase. “On the record,” he murmured against her lips, “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Hunger.”
His hands bracketed her hips and walked her back into the door. Cool wood at her spine, tilted glasses, the faint clink as a hinge protested. Her laugh slipped, and he caught it on his mouth. Heat rushed through her, bright and shameless. He started to ease away, and she fisted his hair, dragging him in until the sound in his throat vibrated against her lips and lower, turning thought to static. She rose on her toes, opened, matched the hungry pace they found together until nothing existed but pulse and pressure. He broke just enough for air, and she followed, and their foreheads touched, breath hot and shared.
She set her palms on his shoulders and eased him back an inch. The lipstick had fallen. She bent to pick it up and heard him groan. Rising, she placed a discreet lipstick check behind his ear. “Kiss differentiation achieved.”
“This one should present no problem,” she said, breath steadier than she felt. “We touch foreheads and match breathing for thirty seconds. Beginner exercise in rhythm.” Foreheads touched. She inhaled.He matched. She exhaled. He matched. Thirty seconds turned into a slow melt. She drew a check over his heart. “Physiological alignment complete. Next up. Hands placement.”
His pupils dilated. “I like the sound of that.”
“Normally, I would choose where your hands are placed, but your honesty earns a reward. You may place your hands where you prefer. Once placed, you may not move them unless I say. Can you adhere to those rules?”
He nodded.
“Choose.”
He studied her, heat and focus. “Open your legs for me.”
She widened.
He set one palm pressing through the silk between her thighs, the thumb of his other hand resting lightly over the pulse at her throat. Their gazes locked.
Desire swept her, and the heat in his smile said her heartbeat was telling him everything.
“You may use your thumb to stroke me…one time.”
He swallowed, then dragged a single, devastating pass exactly where she’d meant.
Her breath hitched. She stepped back and drew a lipstick check on the inside of his forearm. “Compliance excellent. Next up, truth and compliment,” she said softly. “One of each.”
“Truth,” he said. His voice came rougher than before, his eyes steady on hers. “I’m a selfish jackass.”
Something shifted in him. She felt it. “I hope your compliment can make up for that touchy-feely truth.”
Two fingers tipped her chin. “Compliment: when you tilt your head like that, I forget how to breathe.”
