“That right there!” she snaps, pointing an accusatory finger at me. “You tease me, telling me what you are going to do to me. Your constant dirty talk. I?—”
“Promises,” I correct. “I mean every word.”
She spins on her heel.Oh no, you don’t.I shackle her wrist and spin her back to face me. There are honest to God tears in her eyes. Charlie huffs at her lack of attention, but I don’t need him disrupting whatever breakthrough we are having right now. “Charlie, bed,” I order sternly, pointing toward my room. He huffs at me. “Bed.”
He picks his ass up and starts down the hallway, looking over his shoulder a few times before disappearing inside my bedroom. “Tell me what’s wrong, trouble.” I soften my tone, but it’s still a demand as I tuck a strand of her wild hair behind her ear.
Her eyes search mine, her anger barely covering her fear. “You left.”
“You said you weren’t affected, so I went for a walk. I don’t ever force myself where I’m not wanted, Eleanor. I don’t sit around and try to figure out mixed signals. If the words coming out of your mouth aren’t yes or some enthusiastic derivative, then my answer will always be no.”
“You don’t want me? After kissing me like that, after stealing my breath and making me dizzy, you don’t want me? It was a game to you.” Her voice catches, her anger overpowering her fear. “Is that what I am? A conquest to blab to your buddies about?”
I back her into the kitchen. There is so much to unpack in that statement, and it can’t happen in the hallway. “I want you, and I have never indicated otherwise. I kissed you like that because you fucking rule me, and it’s driving me fucking insane. No games, Eleanor. I speak the truth to you because it’s what you need. I don’t want you spending energy trying to figure out exactly what I mean, so I tell you. If you are unsure, ask. If you were a conquest, we both know I would have walked by now. If you don’t believe my words, believe my actions. I am constantly thinking about you. You are in my head, in my dreams, in my veins, twenty-four seven. I don’t want a quick and dirty fuck we forget about in the morning. Not with you. Never with you.”
She swallows as I crowd her against the island. My hands span her waist before I lift her onto the counter so we’re eye level. I’m a big guy, and she is having a crisis as I continue to poke at the cracks in her hard exterior. I want us on an even level, for her to see we’re on the same side and want the same things.
“Take a breath and tell me what I broke.”
A tear breaks free and spills down her cheek. My heart fractures in my chest.Oh, Eleanor.If I could take away the pain and get you to the point where you are living your fulllife, I would.But transformations aren’t easy, and the pain is a necessary evil.
“I tried to take care of myself when you left.”
I expected as much but having her admit it so bluntly still stings. “Okay.”
“I used my tried and tested, guaranteed method to get me there in five minutes flat.”
I try to keep my mind on the moment, not on the image of what she was doing with the toy she brandished at the airport. “I remember.”
“But it didn’t work.”
My head cants to the side. “You couldn’t come?”
She huffs, a little of her fire burning out now she’s talking about it. “Exactly. You broke me, so now you need to fix me.”
I stifle a laugh, her words reminiscent of thebreak it, you buy itpolicy. “How would you like me to fix you?”Come on, trouble, take a leap. I’ll catch you.
Her gaze is unwavering as it meets mine. “Make me come.”
There we go. Not a question. Not a shy hesitation. A demand. It’sas if she knows everything I’ve promised is true. My already semi-hard cock now strains against my jeans, but this isn’t about me. Eleanor Austin has gifted me with her trust, begging me to turn her frustration into pleasure and to prove two people orgasms are far superior to solo ones.
“Are you sure?” I check.No wiggle room, trouble. I’m not being careless with you for one second.
She nods, and I raise a brow. “Yes, I want you to make me come, Hunter. To touch my body and wring the pleasure out of it like you promised. Make me see stars.”
Mission fucking accepted. “If you say stop, or tell me you don’t enjoy something, I will stop at any point, do you understand?” This goes deeper for me than she realizes. I don’t want her to beg—correction, I would love to see her beg—butonly for more, harder, faster, deeper. I will give her everything she deserves and more.
I start unbuttoning her shirt, heat thrumming through every inch of my body. She grabs my hands, and I freeze. “Stop?” Already?
She shakes her head. “No, but can we move it to the bedroom?”
“No.” Not with what I’ve got planned. I don’t want to waste precious seconds moving.
“Lights off?” she asks with such vulnerability it floors me. The confident woman that flashed her naked breasts at me and barely blushes at the bouquet of sex toys she carries is not a sex in the dark kind of girl. There’s something more at play here.
I lean my forehead against hers, maintaining eye contact. “I want to see what I’m touching. Asking me to do this blindfolded while I’m trying to get to know your body is not going to work.”
She swallows, then nods, her breaths short for all the wrong reasons. I don’t move. “Okay, lights on. Proceed.”
