“Oh… wow, I didn’t know you were into… that,” I say, choosing to be brave and pick up the cuffs.
Dalton chuckles but I don’t miss the hint of pink on his cheeks. “I guess I did complain when you cuffed me that first time at the Van der Horn manor…”
That night we shared feels like something that happened ages ago to someone much more ruthless than me. But it’s true. I used him. I wanted him to feel powerless and scared as he fulfilled my desires, andI’m ashamed of it. “Oh God, don’t remind me. Do you like it the other way around?”
“Um… yeah. Sometimes. Is that… of interest?”
I shouldn’t be getting flustered. This man has seen me in so many compromising moments, but I can’t help it. The wave of embarrassment only disperses when I realize how little I know abouthispreferences and wants.
From the start, I wanted to make everything in our relationship about me, and told myself Dalton was being paid handsomely in freedom, luxury, and my company. All lies born out of selfishness.
Dalton instead has been watching and listening to pick up on things that make me happy. Even now, he’s flipping the question on me, to please me. He’s always been asking about what I like in one way or another, pulling it all out of me with a gentleness that soothes my abrasive nature. I appreciate it. But now is my time to know more about him and show I’m not just a taker.
“Don’t do that, Dalton,” I say and kiss him when his smile falters. “Just answer the question. It doesn’t matter what I like. I want to know whatyoufind hot. Whatyouneed,” I add and crawl closer, until my hip sits against his.
I know I’ve hit the nail on the head when a new spark lights up his eyes and he bites his lip, so warm and alive against me. “You know I like to… take charge in bed. But I didn’t want to go this far with you, since you sometimes even get a bit twitchy when I hold down your wrists for too long.” Oh. So he’s noticedthat.Of course he did. “It turns me on to watch my lover—to watchyousquirm, and moan, and… handcuffs can raise the stakes. I like to feel like you have to depend on me to come. That I can push you to your limit. That you might have to beg to get off.”
I find myself listening to him with my mouth open, because he makes it all sound so tasty. “That’swhat turns you on? Having someone at your mercy?” I whisper, somewhat embarrassed that I can’t bring myself to talk any louder even though it’s just the two of us here.
He chuckles and nuzzles my ear. “Not in a cruel way.”
There’s a pulsing in my ears, and my skin burns where it’s touching Dalton’s. “Would you like to do that with me too?”
“Yes,” he says as he slides his hand between my legs. “If you want it. My biggest turn-on is to see you in pleasure. Trembling, and drooling into the pillow as you try to hold in the moans, but you just can’t. Because of me.” Sparks of arousal jet down my spine when the soft rasp in his voice caresses my ears.
I can’t deny him anything when he’s speaking straight to the wild, lusty animal inside me. Sometimes, I feel like there’s two of me, and Dalton is the only one who’s gotten to meet them both. “Only because of you. I only trustyoulike this,” I assure him, hands climbing his firm chest.
“Trust me enough to let me use these?” Dalton asks with a glint of excitement in his eyes.
I sneak a glance at the mattress under us. The yellow light of a single bulb above is painfully vivid, and anything but romantic, but as I sink into the depths of his warm green eyes, such details don’t matter. I want to be his. Here, in his space. I want him to never forget this day.
“Yes,” I whisper, pushing my forehead to his.
Dalton gently takes the cuffs from my hand. “But I’d like to leave that for another time. I… I just need to be close tonight. I love you.”
I don’t get to think it through. His kiss is so deep it goes straight to my head.
His breath is cigarettes and mint, and it feels only natural to take a deeper taste with my tongue.
Dalton is quick to take over the kiss, and soon I’m on my back, his bulky form keeping me warm in the cold room as we thrust together like two animals fighting for dominance. But it’s an illusion, because my lover knows how to make my body sing.
His lips never leave mine as he slides his hands over my sides, worshipping me with his touch. It’s always so intense with him, but somehow now, in this dirty room with a single radiator that barely functions, his touch feels like embers flaring up desires I haven’t let myself explore.
Hot breath on my neck.
I arch toward it, wordlessly begging for lips, tongue, teeth, and when he parts my legs, settling between them, I’m overcome by the sweetness of his weight.
I can’t ever allow myself to lose him again.
“I missed you so much…”
“I was losing my mind without you,” Dalton whispers under my jaw as his cool fingers slip under my sweater. How did I miss the moment he became my whole world? I broke all my rules for him, and I’ll never regret it.
We lose our clothes, breaking our kiss only when it’s necessary, and when I pull his sturdy form closer, rubbing my chest against his hairy skin, I’m relieved my hands are not cuffed after all.
I want to hold him. I want my nails to bite into his flesh when he enters me. I want to grab his ass and pull him in deeper.
“More, now,” I rasp when he bites the side of my neck. “Leave your mark.”
