He wrapped his arms around her, and his fingers brushed against her back as he undid the tie on her bikini top. “What was that last part?”
Blood rushed in her ears, and she leaned into him for warmth when he removed her last stitch of clothing. “It’s stupid.”
“Nothing about you is stupid.” His embrace tightened, and his heart beat against her chest—strong and powerful, just like the boom of the fireworks. “Please tell me what you want. I’d do anything to make you come ’til you’re limp in my arms.”
Lily hid her flaming face against Kieran’s chest and squeezed her eyes shut. “When you grabbed me in the Octagon…”
“Yes?”
“It was—” Hot. Sexy. All at once petrifying and seductive and made her want to drop to her knees right then and there and take him into her mouth.
Are you afraid of me?He terrified her. He made her want things she’d sworn off. Needing someone. Being submissive to someone.
She shook her head, clearing it. “I liked the way you pinned me.”
“I think half the internet liked it.” His fingertips trailed up her back and floated across the base of her head.
A tingling of familiarity ran along her scalp, and her breath hitched.
His fingers fisted in her hair, tilting her face upward. “You’ll have to be more speci—”
“Stop.”
The word was barely past her lips when Kieran released her. He inched back enough so their chests no longer touched but his heat still enveloped her. His hands dropped and hovered over her waist, a hair away from gripping her hips and tugging her back into his arms.
Her chest hiccupped, and a strange, wild power whirled in her lungs. It hummed within her, breathing energy into every nerve. “You stopped.”
“You told me to.”
And it was that easy?Could she trust him? Was Kieran truly the man he claimed to be?
She cupped his hands with hers and guided them up the curve of her body, back into the soft tresses of her hair. “What I want—” she licked her lips, unsure of herself “—is to trust you. I want to believe you when you say all you want from me is my pleasure. I need to know if I say no, you’ll hear me.”
His grip didn’t tighten. Instead, his thumbs rolled soft circles, looping strands of hair before releasing and repeating once more. His jaw clenched, his lips turned thin, and a memory of the violence coursing through him during their shower and in the car after their hike flashed in her mind. Still, his hands were soft.
With a rough exhale, he settled into his skin and brought his lips to her neck in a wet, heated kiss. “I hear you, you know. I hear your silence on the phone when you don’t know how to express yourself. I hear your stutters and uncertainty when you’re afraid to tell me what you’re thinking. So, this.” He spread his fingers through her hair, framing her head until he rounded the underside of her jaw and held her face in hishands. “Is this a control kink? Do you want me to hold you down on your command and kiss it better when I’m done?”
His dark eyes held her, refusing to blink or look away. She nuzzled against his palm, nodding the confession her past kept chained on her tongue. “Just promise me you can stop.”
“I promise.” He covered her mouth in a searing kiss, and his tongue swept over hers, as if he could reach inside and undo all the shame lurking within her. “I want you,” he whispered against her lips, “on your knees. Hands behind your back.”
Anticipation bathed in desire flared within her, and Lily did as he bade. The dock was sturdy beneath her, and she heard the crinkle of a condom wrapper before Kieran’s palms crested the curves of her ass. He kneeled behind her.
“Are you still wet for me?” He teased the tip of his cock along the opening of her pussy, and she shuddered. One of his hands wrapped around her wrists, gripping them.
Startling, delicious pain sprouted from her scalp, and her head whipped back as Kieran’s hand curled in her long hair. “I asked you a question, Princess.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Kieran kissed and nipped the soft flesh along her neck, under her ear. “Louder.”
Pinpricks of pleasure wrapped in heightened sensitivity drew a high, needy gasp from her lips. She wiggled backward, rubbing her core against his rigid cock. “Please fuck me.”
He chuckled and tightened his grip on her wrists. “I’ll do what I can on short notice with no toys.” He rocked into her, coaxing forth a long moan of pleasure. He abandoned his hold on her hair in favor of gripping her waist, guiding her back into every thrust of his hips. His fingernails dug into her skin, setting off a chain of goose bumps that made her shiver with lust.
“You take me so well, don’t you? Such a good girl.”
“Yes,” she moaned between heavy breaths. “Kieran, yes.”
