“If I pity anyone, it’s him for being such a bloody fool. He could have had this with you all those years.” His voice caught, but he remedied it so swiftly that she had to have been imagining it.
He kissed her palm without breaking eye contact, her wrist. She was getting dizzy as he continued, washed away in his warmth. And it wasn’t just physically. She felt herself yearning for more than just his touch. That was dangerous. It could only end in pain.
She wanted to stop it. To go back to the pleasure and not think about her heart. So in her mind she rolled through their conversation from the night before, searching for a feeling he’d listed off during his first offer. Something that would take away the connection she couldn’t want.
“Dominated,” she burst out at last, almost without thinking of the consequences. Both his brows lifted in surprise, and she raised her chin in challenge. “You say you want me, that he was a fool for not wanting me. So I want tofeelthat. I want to feel your drive for me. That you would do anything to have me.”
His nostrils flared a little and there was such a dark desire that came into his gaze that her hands started to shake. “Thatwill be easy, Etta.”
Before she could answer, he slipped his hand through her hair, cupping the back of her head, and tilted her face up. He took her mouth—that was the only way she could have described the way he kissed her. He took and her knees went weak at the passion of that action. His tongue drove, his other hand moved to cup her backside, draw her up tighter against him. It was rough and powerful and she felt like she could slip into this desire and allow him to just…take care of her.
But that couldn’t be right, could it? When he broke his mouth from his, sliding to kiss her neck, she shivered. “What—what do I do?”
He lifted his gaze a moment before he did the same with his head. “Enjoy,” he said softly. “You just do what I say and soak in the pleasure. You always have the power to say no. I will honor that no matter what. But as long as you like what I do, as long as you trust me not to take advantage of your surrender, then all you have to do is moan for me.”
Her breath caught. “That’s all you want? For me to moan?”
“You have no idea what that pretty little moan does to me,” he said, massaging her backside harder, letting her feel the stiffness of him trapped between them and all their clothes.
She gave him what he wanted, she had no choice…she moaned. His chuckle was low and husky as he returned his mouth to hers and kissed her with the same drive. She felt him backing her toward the bed, stumbled when her backside hit the high edge, barked out a surprised cry when he toppled her onto her back, gripped the back of her knees through her dress and tugged her to the edge.
He held her stare as he pushed her skirt up, but when he reached her thighs he stopped and those blue eyes went wide. “Your Grace, you naughty thing, did you forgo undergarments?”
The heat of her blush made her cheeks feel aflame, but she managed to nod. “Yes, Theo. You told me not to wear them at a place like the Donville Masquerade—I assumed that meant you didn’t want me to wear them if we were going to…to do this either.”
“Anticipating my every desire,” he murmured. “I don’t know whether to punish you for being so bold or reward you for being so accommodating.”
He straightened one of her stocking-clad legs and rested it against his shoulder. It made her dress fall higher, her legs open, and now she felt fully exposed. He bumped his hips against her bare sex and she gasped again.
“Would…would I like the punishment?” she gasped out.
He arched a brow. “You think you would?”
“I saw a gentleman spanking a lady’s bare arse at the hell, and she seemed to like it very much,” she admitted, and was surprised that her blush didn’t grow even hotter. Perhaps she was just becoming accustomed to talking about such sinful things with this man. He made it safe for her to do so.
For a moment, pure shock flowed over Theo’s expression. “You’re going to kill me.”
“What?”
“I just…didn’t expect your sweetness to also be so very wicked,” he said, and leaned in to kiss the inside of her calf, just below her knee. Even through the stockings, the damp heat of his mouth was magic against her skin. “Yes, to be dominated could mean a great many things. Some play games of punishment and reward and spanking might be part of that. Some participants like to be lightly choked.”
“They do?” she said with a gasp. “Why?”
He shrugged. “The edge of pleasure is often close to the bite of pain. I can show you if you’d like.”
“Maybe…maybe next time,” she said. “I have to think about it.”
She waited for him to become annoyed that she was denying him when he was supposed to be in control, but he made no show of that emotion. He nodded. “Whenever you like. Or never, if you prefer.”
“Do you like to be choked?” she asked.
His little smile was an answer even before he said, “I’ve been known to partake in a little bite before the pleasure. It’s never about hurting. It’s about that feeling of a loss of control.”
She nodded. “What else?”
“It could simply be me taking you very hard, very fast. Rough.” His voice was getting hypnotic now. “Or withdrawing your pleasure until I choose to allow it. Keeping you right on the edge until you’re mad with it. Sometimes it’s a combination of all those things. Do you still want to be managed? Dominated? To surrender entirely to my whims?”
“Yes,” she said, immediately and with strength. “I want that.”
