“Yet you’ve barely touched me.”
Tyler breathed out through his nose, his expression gentle but hiding something savage. “The lass I fell for suffered an assault. I’m not even thinking of my own sexual appetite. How could I?”
I stared at him. Fell for? For a long minute, I didn’t speak. It was such a turn-on that he was holding back. That he cared so much. “A week ago, I couldn’t even consider sex, but when I’m with you, it’s on my mind. Only with you. Different in every way.”
He released a pained groan.
“What if I want you, Tyler? Gonna refuse me?”
His jaw tightened.
On the table behind him was a box, partially open with some of my possessions on display. I still hadn’t sorted through them, but I’d taken a peek in this one. It had a collection of items from my tiny kitchen, including ribbon from a drawer. I drew out a length of black satin. Wrapped it around my hand.
Tyler followed the movement. “I don’t fuck often. I’ve told ye how I can react when emotional.”
The dead traffickers. The kidnap. Right. That’s what he meant by not causing harm.
“What are you worried about with me? Hurting me? I know you’d stop the second I ask. Being too intense? Sorry to tell you, but that ship sailed.”
The air tightened between us.
“I don’t know how to be good at this.”
My mouth popped open. “At sex? Baby, the only time a man can be bad is if he thinks he’s God’s gift.”
He released a laugh. “No, doll. That isn’t what I mean.” His voice lowered to a darker pitch. “I’ve already done damage. If I have my way, I’ll be a fucking monster.”
Those words had no right to be consuming, but they wrapped around me in an embrace. “You’d never hurt me.”
“Never. But there are people out there who did, and if ye make me yours in the same way I’ve made ye mine, that’s licence to do whatever I want to them.”
Because I’d be his property.
I ducked my head in understanding. Or an attempt at it. Tyler wasn’t being dramatic. He was the most competent man I’d ever met. He was asking for help in working out this thing between us. It wasn’t just a warning to me, but also to himself.
Then there was something else. An edge I didn’t quite get. I wasn’t the only one who needed to take this slow. Not knowing why was going to drive me insane.
I prowled until I was behind him, drew my touch across his shoulders.
He shivered. “Going to use that blindfold on me?”
“I was thinking about it. May I?”
“If it helps.”
I hesitated for a second, hovering over my next step. I didn’t want to provoke him. I only wanted to feel safe while being desired. A deep breath had me brave.
With care, I slid the ribbon over his eyes and fastened it at the back of his head. Tyler didn’t flinch. Only the faint tilt of hishead towards me. A man positioning himself by Dixie-shaped instinct.
That stillness did something to me.
I stayed where I was for a beat, watching his chest rise and fall, the way his jaw flexed as if he were holding himself in check. He trusted me enough not to rush or demand. Neither of us needed that.
I stepped closer.
His breath deepened.
I brushed my mouth at the corner of his. Close enough that our breaths tangled, and so that he could feel me.
