“No,” she replied and defensively drew her arms around her, “I just—I?—”
He stopped her words as he slid a hand around her waist and pulled her close.
“It’s all right. I wanted to know if you had a boyfriend, that’s all. The rest is really none of my business.” He placed a kiss on top of her head, and she leaned her body into his.
“I just like to experiment.”More truth.He was peeling away her defenses. “I don’t date.”
“Ever?” He looked down at her.
“Ever.” She gave a firm shake of her head. She felt her cheeks heat as he let the silence linger and studied her face.
“Okay then,” he finally replied, “what should we experiment with first?”
Jake settled them onto a black leather couch tucked into the corner of the dungeon, with the riding crop still in his hand. Coral moved herself to the far side of the couch, out of his reach. He moved himself to the center cushion and then pulled her closer to him.
“Tell me why this is your favorite place.”
She looked up at him in surprise, as if startled he was asking her a question.
“What is it about this room that keeps you coming back?” he urged her to answer.
She let silence hang between them, and then, “Because no one asks me questions when I’m down here.”
He bit back a laugh at her defiant answer. While she had answered his question, she had also pushed him off all at the same time. “Maybe no one else you’ve been down here with has wanted to get to know you.” He placed his hand under her chin and turned her to face him.
“Maybe,” she conceded with a shrug, “I think I prefer it that way.”
“Well, I’d like to play a game.”
Her eyebrows rose at his statement, and her mouth formed a crooked smile. “What kind of game?”
“I want to know more about you. So the more you give me what I want, the more I’ll give you what you want.”
“What makes you so sure you know what I want?” Her voice grew husky and she leaned her petite body closer to him.
He pushed back so he could look directly into her eyes. “I’m just going on a hunch,” he said. “Now, do you want to play or not?”
Coral bit down on her lower lip as she seemed to mull over his proposition in her mind. But her body language said she already made her decision. He could see her hardened nipples peaking through her thin shirt.
“Okay, I’ll play,” she said. “But only because I have the rest of the afternoon free,” she added in a rush.
He smiled at her and placed the crop down on the couch beside him. “Good girl,” he said as he ran his hands down her arms. “I’m going to ask you some questions. Answer them as honestly as you can. Your honesty will be rewarded.”
“And if I’m not honest?”
“No rewards for dishonest girls.” He gave her a teasing smile as the color rose in her cheeks. He leaned in and whispered, “Girls who lie get punished.”
She swallowed and sucked in a deep breath. He was making her uneasy and turning her on at the same time.
Jake kept a firm hold on her arms. “First question. When was the last time you were down here?”
“Um, yesterday?”
“You don’t sound so sure about that.”
“It was yesterday,” she said more confidently. “Yes, definitely yesterday. Next question.”
He laughed at her new found confidence. “They aren’t going to be hard questions. Just relax and answer them honestly.”
