He passed it to her without hesitation and she was pleased to see that he trusted her more than he had before. She dialed Dan Mitchell, Kendals’ chief auctioneer. “Dan, I’d like to know the seller’s name of the item I purchased today.”
“I’m sorry that information is private.”
“Dan, I’d consider it a personal favor. And you know I can be discreet.”
At her words, Kane raised an eyebrow. Let him wonder. She wasn’t about to explain how last year her intoxicated mother had palmed a million-dollar brooch out from under Kendals’ security guards’ noses. Fallon had returned the item and no one had ever known about their security lapse or her mother’s indiscretion.
“Art Drayson? Okay. Thanks, Dan. I owe you one.”
“One what?” Kane asked.
“It’s just an expression. Another way to say thanks.”
Fallon dialed her personal assistant next. “Janet.”
“Oh, thank God. Your mother wanted me to call the FBI and report you’d been kidnapped. You all right?”
“I’m fine. I need you to—”
“Your sister was arrested last night and her lawyer won’t bail her out until—”
“Not now.”
“But your mother is hysterical.”
“Janet, I need you to call my travel agent. A Mr. Art Drayson departed Logan airport this morning. I want you to find him for me.”
“Yes, ma’am. What do you want me to do about—”
“Tell them I’m at a high-level conference and cannot be disturbed. I’ve got to go.” Fallon hung up before Janet could tell her about any other emergencies and she gave in. The more time she spent away from the constant business of her life, the more she realized that she allowed her family too much leeway. Jaycee had already been trying to tell her that she wasn’t responsible for everyone else, but letting go was hard. It was her nature to fix problems, to help. Perhaps her good intentions with her family had made them dependent on her. Without her there to fix things, maybe they’d learn to cope on their own. And no matter how difficult it was for her to let go, this was the perfect opportunity to allow her family and employees to stand up for themselves. She’d spent years building an efficient organization and had good people in place. If she let them run things for a day, surely the Hanover empire wouldn’t fall apart. Surely the research for a cure for cancer wouldn’t end. And it might do her sister some good to spend a night in jail—maybe then she’d admit she had a problem and get some help.
Fallon tossed the cell phone back to Kane and was surprised by how liberating it felt to be rid of the machine that kept her at the beck and call of others. “Janet will find Nigel and call back.”
“Do you know you’re amazing?” Approval glowed in his eyes and she sucked in her breath as his heat washed over her.
“For helping you find Nigel?” she asked.
“For getting what you want.”
“Excuse me?”
“You cleared my calendar and yours. So we have nothing to do for a while.” He eyed her with a look she couldn’t read, as if he was thinking five steps ahead.
“That’s a good thing, right?” She was suddenly a bit less sure of herself. Perhaps she should have allowed herself to be satisfied with orgasms orchestrated by gadgets. Perhaps she’d been wrong to long for Kane’s personal involvement. But just thinking about him kissing her and holding her made her pulse leap with excitement.
“You know it suddenly occurred to me that you are wearing way too many clothes.” He fingered the tied shoulder strap of her dress and it unfastened as if by magic. Then the whole dress disappeared, leaving her standing before him in nothing but gold glitter, the dangling chain and spiked heels. “Ah, better.”
Although she’d spent a good part of her time with him in an undressed state, the suddenness of losing her clothes while he remained fully dressed reminded her of how much personal control she’d ceded to him. And as much as she wanted to fling herself into his arms, unbutton his shirt and tear off his slacks, she’d agreed to yield control of the direction and timing of their touching to him.
The rings attached to her most sensitive places were dormant now. However, she suspected from the gleam in Kane’s eyes that wouldn’t be the case for long.
“Come here.” His tone went husky, making her steps to obey him shaky and difficult.
But she held her chin high. Didn’t rush. In fact, she managed to sway her hips a little more than necessary. But she paid for that sway when the chain tugged and a tingling jolt arced through her flesh.
“It also occurred to me that I haven’t introduced you to the discipline of remaining still while I taste you.”
Desire rippled through her. “I am ready to do whatever you ask.”
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Do not move.”
He dipped his head and she thought for certain he would kiss her lips. But he didn’t. Instead, he bent farther, until his breath fanned her breast. With almost no warning he took half her breast into his mouth and the exquisite warmth and his clever tongue flicking over her nipple caused her to gasp.
She almost reached out and clutched his shoulders to steady herself, but just in time remembered to hold still. And then her eyes closed at the wonder of his lips and tongue laving her breast, tugging on the ring of her nipple. And suddenly the pleasant tingling began to pulse, as if his mouth had activated a totally new sensation. Her breast became more sensitive than she’d ever imagined. Each cell vibrated with energy that reverberated deep inside her and thrummed in rhythm to her heartbeat.
And when he switched his mouth to her other breast, the delicious sensations began all over again. Standing became an effort.
She longed to reach out, clutch the back of his head and thread her fingers through his hair. At the same time, she wondered how much longer she could remain still. And just when she thought that she might pool into a puddle, he took her nipple between his teeth and lightly bit her.
“Ow,” she complained.
But when he sucked away the tiny pain and wondrous heat flooded through her, she gasped in awe. “I’ve never felt…anything so…incredible.”
He moved to bite her other nipple. “If you move…I’m going to start over.”
“Start ov—oh…my…” His words hit her at the same time as the heat. No mere mouth or tongue—no matter how skillful—could be teasing and taunting her like he was. He had to be manipulating her through the rings and chain attached to her flesh. But between feeling the delicious sensations coursing through her and willing her muscles not to move, she couldn’t think clearly. But one thing she knew for certain: she couldn’t stand still too much longer. Yet the idea of him beginning the sweet torture all over again kept her motionless, trembling, wanting.
“My legs won’t support me much longer,” she warned him. “You feel too good.”
“I’m just getting started.”
He couldn’t be serious. She’d never been more ready to make love. She wanted him inside her. Now. She wanted his flesh against hers. Now. She wanted him to be pumping back and forth as frantically as her own heartbeat. Now.
But he, as usual, was in complete control, albeit breathing a little heavily. And as lovely as the anticipation zinging through her was, she simply wasn’t accustomed to this intense stimulation.
“Kane, please. I am…oh…oh…trying to do…what you ask, but I am not…used to…I cannot—”
She didn’t think it was possible, but she was going to orgasm from his touching her breasts and only her breasts—but then he lifted his head and his gaze seared her. “This is what you wanted.”
“I wanted to make love.”
“You said I would set the terms.”
Her breasts ached, her nipples hard as her thoughts swirled. “I didn’t know waiting could be so…” She licked her bottom lip, trying to find the right word. “I didn’t know waiting could be so difficult.”
He checked his watch and she wanted
to smack him. “It’s only been a few minutes.”
He had to be wrong. She was going to explode. Her pulse was racing. Her legs trembling. She was slick and ready. Delaying longer would do nothing but irritate her. “What are you waiting for?”
His stare bored into her, demanding that she understand. “It is not your right to question me. However, if you cannot support yourself, I will solve that problem.”
She expected him to lead her to the bed, or a sofa, or a chair. Instead, he picked up a stool and set it on the desk, then placed his hands on her waist and lifted her until she sat on the stool, her heels on the desk.
“Part your legs.”
Excitement raced through her. But then she realized that making love in this position wasn’t likely. Obviously, he intended to keep right on teasing her.
“My mouth is going to trace every inch of those chains,” he promised.
She didn’t see how. The chain went directly between her legs and she was sitting on part of it. But she opened her legs and when he reached between her thighs, she prayed that his touch would give her a measure of relief from the need holding her strung so tightly.
Instead, he yanked out the stool from beneath her. She let out a shout, expecting to fall. But she didn’t. He’d suspended her in the air over the desk. Totally open to him, she instinctively tried to close her legs—and couldn’t.
“What have you done?” she asked.
“You no longer have to worry about supporting your weight,” he told her, offering no explanation at all.
She couldn’t close her legs. Couldn’t stand. Couldn’t run. Her hands rested on her parted thighs. She couldn’t move them, either.
“In fact, since you can no longer move,” he grinned at her predicament while he tweaked both her nipples between thumbs and forefingers, “you are totally at my mercy.”
She was naked, totally helpless and all she could think about was that her nipples wanted more of the same. She was craving his touch like an addict. But she could do nothing but wait for whatever he did. And despite that she craved his touch, he looked so damned satisfied and smug with his bright-eyed expression that if she could have closed her legs, she would have. “I’ll let you do whatever you want.”
“Now, you no longer have a choice.”
She swallowed hard as he pointed out the subtle difference. It was one thing to yield to him. It was totally different to be entirely at his mercy. And her body was wringing with need, trembling at the idea that he could touch her, where, when and how he liked and she could do no more than wait and anticipate.
And when he tilted her position in midair, he did it slowly, thoroughly enjoying her realization that her most private parts were now tipping up toward his face. His gaze focused on her neatly shaved mons, then lower to her lips dusted with golden sparkles, and finally to her pulsing clit that he’d branded with his rings and chain.
And she’d never felt so wanton, so wanted. She could see his desire reflected in his eyes. See how alluring he found her. And then his mouth seared a path up her leg. He nibbled and nipped and she gasped and would have squirmed or pulled his head closer. But she could do nothing—except enjoy every lick, every nibble as he edged ever closer to where she wanted him most.
“You like having to wait on me…don’t you?” he asked, his tone low and husky, leaving no doubt he was totally enjoying himself.
“Yes.”
“You even like it when I don’t give you what you think you want. Correct?” he demanded.
“Yes.” As much as she hated to admit he was right, she couldn’t lie when his mouth was so intimately pressed to the inside of her thigh. She was quivering with the need for release, but he wasn’t in any hurry at all. His hands cupped her bottom, his fingers tracing up and down the chain and driving her as wild as his lips and his tongue, which finally landed exactly where she wanted.
He seemed to know exactly what she needed to reach orgasm but deliberately denied her. His lips and tongue teased and taunted. She was panting, feeling so much tension that she would have been shaking with it if he hadn’t trapped her there by unknown forces.
When her phone rang, she figured he’d ignore it. She damn sure intended to. If only he’d increase the pressure of his wondrous licks on her most sensitive flesh. But no, he pulled the cell from her purse and left her aching. “We don’t need to talk to anyone right now,” she complained.
“But it’s Janet.” He smiled wickedly. “She may have information about Nigel.”
She could think of nothing but him putting his mouth back where it had been before the phone call and her frustration escalated. “I’ll call her back.”
“Talk to her now.” He held the phone to her ear with one hand. His other plunged straight into her heat.
“Helloooooh.” She practically moaned into the phone.
“I found him.”
Kane’s fingers moved cleverly over her clit, rubbing the ring, and a current sizzled along the chains all the way up to her sensitive nipples, making it almost impossible to think.
Oh my…He was going to make her come. Right while she…she had to wait. “Where is he?”
“Vegas.”
She had to get off the phone fast. “Send me the hotel and room number.”
“Where are you?”
Kane replaced his fingers with his tongue and she almost screamed. “Text message me.”
“Okay. You have a call from—”
“Bye.” Without her hands free, she couldn’t hang up. Luckily Kane did it for her. But he also straightened to do so, once again denying her completion. She glared at him. “You’re insane. How could you do that to me when I was on the—”
“Did you want me to stop?” He was laughing at her, totally enjoying his domination.
She was so hot, she could barely form words and sputtered, “I didn’t want you to stop, but you have.”
“So you want me to continue with my insanity?”
He was teasing her and all she wanted was to reach for his hips, tear off his clothes, wrap her legs around him and draw him closer. But she couldn’t move. Couldn’t even squirm as he raked her with his gaze, ending with a hungry stare between her legs. One glance at the gleam in his eyes and her irritation died, replaced by a lovely glow of anticipation.
He raised his eyes to meet hers, then slowly inserted one finger into her warmth and rested his thumb lightly on her clit. Between his heated stare and his skillful hands, he made the gesture gentle and intimate as well as erotic, and all kinds of heat flowed into her.
“You know why you are enjoying yourself so much?” he asked, his voice filled with lazy tension.
She had no idea. She didn’t want to talk or think. All her energy focused on his sliding thumb and the delicious stirring of her senses.
When she didn’t answer, he tapped her clit.
“Ah,” she sighed, knowing she needed more to find release and wondering how long he would hold her right on the delicious edge.
“Well?” His voice deepened.
“I need more. But I want to come with you inside me.”
“Why?” He tapped her clit several times, then stopped, waiting for her answer.
“It’ll be better.”
“Why?”
“Sharing…ah…pleasure…oh…is better.”
“Wrong answer.” He withdrew his hand.
She was quivering, trembling, and had to bite her bottom lip to keep from screaming at him as ever so slowly the heat he’d built receded and the roaring in her ears ebbed.
When she could finally speak, she forced words past her lips. “Why did you stop?”
His stare pierced her. “You wanted to give me pleasure or you wanted to take back control?”
She would have shrugged if she could have moved. Her thoughts swirled but she sensed her answer was important to him. She shut her eyes so she could think. Why did she want to make love? Did she truly want to give him pleasure or did she want to take back some control?
“I don’t know,” she told him, opening her eyes. “I’m not the kind of person simply to take pleasure and not give back.”
“But I want you only to take. Watching you yield gives me pleasure. And you just denied me.”
His words made her chest hitch. “But…but…don’t you want my touch? Don’t you want to make love and have an orgasm?”
“You still don’t understand. You are not responsible for my enjoyment. What I want, I will take. What I want, I will demand.”
He wanted her to do absolutely nothing but what he asked, not even give him something in return. No wait. Her total submission would be his pleasure. He was enjoying her submission more than she’d realized. But what frightened and thrilled her right down to her toes was the freedom of doing as he demanded. She wasn’t responsible for his pleasure or her own. It was all about enjoying the moment. She didn’t have to do one little thing and the concept was so absolutely selfish that she had never even thought of it.
With him in control the sex was all about her. He was giving her…everything. All she had to do was accept.
She raised her gaze to his. “I didn’t truly understand until now. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The nod of his head was almost imperceptible, but his eyes darkened with pleasure. A rakish grin twitched his mouth into a crooked line.
And then he spun her over in the air until her forehead and knees were almost touching the desk. With her hands on her thighs and her legs still parted, her bottom was now tipped upward. She could no longer see him, but from the heat on her bottom he still stood over her, looking at every inch of exposed flesh.
She held her breath, wondering what he would do. Very consciously she let go of her embarrassment and vulnerability to embrace the pleasure he would give her. He rested his hand on her bottom, lightly played with the chain that tugged on her breasts and her clit and every sensitive place in between.
She couldn’t hold back a moan of pleasure as every single nerve in her fired and demanded more. But with no idea what he would do next, she could only wait.
She heard him drag a chair to the desk, and the leather creaked as he took a seat. Once again he fingered her chain, but almost absentmindedly, lightly, not enough to come close to giving her release.
Beyond the Edge Page 11