In Full Bloom [Second Chances 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Michelle Roth

  She shook her head and said, “I’m glad the frustrating part is over.”

  He grinned and said, “Oh, not quite, Princess. I believe I made you a promise this morning that you’d beg.”

  The slight change in her tone was the only thing that gave her away when she said, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re a terrible liar, sweetheart,” he said.

  “I know. I am,” she said, wincing.

  “Just so you know,” he said, tracing a finger down her arm casually. “I keep my promises. You’re going to beg me for it.”

  And this was one promise he was looking forward to keeping.

  Chapter 9

  She stared down at the finger he traced over her arm and realized she didn’t stand a chance. She wanted him already. Last night she’d all but begged him and he’d only teased her for a few minutes. If the look of determination on his face was any indication, she was in for one hell of a night.

  Completely uncertain what he had in mind, she made the decision to go with it. Hell, she was sure she’d have fun eventually. So she shrugged one shoulder and said, “If that’s what you feel like you have to do, then I certainly can’t stop you.”

  His face a study in concentration, his hand moved up to toy with a loose strand that had come out of the hair clip she was wearing. Leaning in, he brushed his lips gently against hers. Once, then twice, until their lips clung together.

  She tilted her head slightly and wrapped her arms around his neck, willing him to deepen the kiss. As if he could read her thoughts, she felt his teeth nip at her lower lip. She parted her lips beneath his, and felt his tongue sweep into her mouth, exploring. His hand reached up to take the clip out of her hair. She heard the clatter as it fell on to the tile floor.

  A moment later their mouths broke apart as he pressed her back against the couch and stretched out next to her. Slipping her hands into his hair, she pulled his lips back to hers. He groaned into her mouth as his hand slipped up to cup her breast.

  She arched her back, pressing herself into his palm. He ran his thumb across the tight peak, then gave it a light pinch. She hitched her leg up and around his waist with a moan. The hand that had been on her breast immediately moved to grip her ass. He pressed her forward, grinding his erection against her.

  She realized she was now perched precariously on the edge of the couch and pulled away from his mouth. “Bedroom,” she said.

  “Yeah,” he said, slightly out of breath.

  They untangled themselves and moved into her bedroom. They stood at the end of the bed and quickly undressed one another. She let her hands roam over him, enjoying the feel of his muscles as they tensed under her fingertips.

  Evan captured her hands in his and brought them to his lips. “Lie with me,” he said.

  She crawled on to the bed and looked up at him, waiting for him to join her. He shook his head slightly and said, “Christ, you’re so beautiful.”

  Not knowing what to say, she watched him climb on to the bed next to her. When she reached out to him, he moved over her. Capturing her wrists, he pinned them above her head as he took her mouth. In between kisses, he moved her hands up, wrapping them around the rungs of her metal headboard.

  “Don’t move them unless I tell you to,” he said.

  She nodded.

  For what seemed like hours, the only thing he did was kiss her. He alternated between long, slow kisses and gentle nips at her lips until she was rolling her hips against him. By the time he finally started to work his way down her body, her desire was already at fever pitch. Or so she thought.

  When he took one of her tight, swollen nipples in his mouth, she cried out, her hands clutching at his head. Immediately he released her and said, “Hands on the headboard, Princess. Move them again and I’ll tie you to it.”

  On a helpless whimper, she moved her hands back up to the head board. She felt his five o’clock shadow grazing the underside of her breast and moaned. Her body felt like a live wire now. Each touch, each sensation brought her closer to the edge.

  She watched him continue to work his way down her body. When she felt his breath against her aching pussy, she moaned lightly and rolled her hips. She desperately wanted his mouth on her, his fingers inside her, his cock buried in her. Anything.

  When he sank his teeth into her upper thigh, her hands flew down to clutch the bedding as she cried out. It wasn’t until he had released her that she realized that she’d moved her hands. She let go of the bedding and moved her hands back up to the headboard.

  Looking down at him, even in the dim light, she could see the gleam in his eye. She could feel the exhale of each word against her sensitized flesh as he quietly said, “We talked about this.”

  She nodded, her breath caught in her throat.

  He moved up her body to stretch out next to her. He said, “Obviously, I’m not going to do anything you don’t want. I think you’ll enjoy this, though. Trust me?”

  She studied his face. She was surprised to see how serious he looked, waiting for her to respond. Unable to communicate the thoughts running through her mind, she simply nodded.

  He pressed his lips against hers and said, “Let me know if it’s too much.”

  Again, she nodded.

  He got up off the bed and poked around, looking for something suitable. She saw him walk toward the laundry basket. She’d done the wash this morning. He pulled one of the fishnets she’d worn last night from the top of the pile, then walked back toward her.

  She watched him, unsure what to expect. Her breathing became more rapid as he crawled back on to the bed. Maybe, if it had been someone else, she could have said that she was frightened. Here and now, she acknowledged, it was pure arousal.

  Cupping her face, he said, “Stop me if it’s too much.”

  His face was so earnest that she said, “I promise. I’ll stop you.”

  Apparently liking her response, he said, “Good girl,” and gave her a brief, hard kiss on the mouth. He then began to bind her wrists together. Once that was complete, he tied them to one of the metal rungs of her bed frame.

  “Too tight?” he asked.

  She gave the bindings a gentle tug and said, “No.”

  She had been worried that she would feel constricted and out of control. She, as a rule, didn’t do out of control. She didn’t feel either of those things, though. She felt anticipation, desire, maybe some nerves about the unknown, but no fear.

  He worked his way back down to her thighs. Swiping his tongue against her upper thigh, he licked away some of the stickiness of her arousal and said, “Christ, Princess. You taste so good.”

  He proceeded to run his mouth and tongue around the outside of her soaked pussy, groaning against her flesh as he lapped at her. Leaning back, he parted her with his thumbs and blew gently against her.

  Her hips snapped up in response as she attempted in vain to press herself against his mouth. He pressed her hips down with one hand, and said, “I didn’t say you could move those.” She gave a soft moan as he continued to blow gently against her sensitized flesh. Rolling her hips, she sought relief, knowing there was only one way she’d get it.

  When he delivered a light slap against her pussy, the delicious shock went straight to her core. Crying out, she said, “Oh, fuck. Evan.”

  He looked up at her and asked, “You like it when I smack your pussy, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she moaned, completely lost.

  He gave her a slightly harder slap and asked, “Is that what you needed?”

  “No,” she panted.

  “Tell—me—what—you—need,” he said roughly, his words punctuated with a series of light taps that brought her right to the edge of sanity.

  “Please. Please,” she cried as she rolled her hips. “I need you! I need you to fuck me. Hard.”

  She no longer cared about the game. She just needed him. Desperately.

  He sighed with relief and then asked, “Should I take the e
dge off first or do you want me inside?”

  She rolled her hips, hoping to ease the ache as she said, “Inside. Inside.”

  “Condoms?” he asked, looking at her.

  “Top drawer of the night stand.” She panted.

  Quickly he retrieved a condom and rolled it on. In one smooth motion, he propped her legs up on his shoulders and buried himself inside her.

  They both cried out in relief. She said, “Oh god, that’s what I needed.”

  “You held out for long enough. I was going out of my mind,” he said as he slammed back into her. He continued to thrust into her at a hard, steady pace. With each stroke, the friction sent another wave of pleasure straight to her core. Feeling the familiar tightening low in her belly, she moaned.

  “Fuck, Princess,” he ground out. “That’s right. I can feel you clenching around me.”

  A few strokes later she shuddered against him, crying out in release. He continued to pound into her, his hips slapping against her. Her body became one throbbing mass of sensation and pleasure. She felt another release coming quickly on the heels of the last.

  She arched her back as wave after wave of release pummeled her until she was almost unable to breath. He reached forward between her thighs and rubbed his fingertips against her clit. Just as the tension became unbearable, she shattered around him, screaming out his name.

  A few strokes later he froze above her, groaning as he emptied himself into the condom.

  He shifted slightly, pulling out of her. When her legs slid down from where they had been propped against his shoulders, he leaned in to give her a quick kiss. Then he groaned slightly and got up off the bed. As he moved into the bathroom, she heard him mumbling.

  Taryn lay there, still a little bit in shock. She had never come like that before. It had always been fun, but after tonight, she suspected perhaps she’d been doing it wrong. She could still feel it down to her toes.

  Evan returned to the room and quickly untied her hands. Lying down next to her, he gently rubbed her wrists until the slight redness faded. All the while, he inspected her face.

  Finally he said, “You’re awfully quiet. You doing okay over there?”

  Taryn gave an utterly relaxed smile and said, “Fantastic.”

  Less concerned now, he flashed her a grin and said, “Good.”

  Her eyes drifted closed as he tucked her up against his side. Snuggling against him, she said, “That was amazing.”

  “It was,” he said, his voice gravelly. “By the way. You’re most definitely a screamer.”

  She heard the note of male pride in his voice and laughed a little sheepishly at herself. She agreed, “I was tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever come that hard before.”

  “The tying up. Did it add to the experience?” he asked.

  “Definitely,” she said. “I didn’t know if I’d like it. I was worried that I would freak out. Not sure if you noticed, but I have some control issues.”

  His hand played with the back of her hair as he said, “No kidding. Totally missed that.”

  She thumped his side playfully and said, “Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor.”

  “…She said, sarcastically,” he added, dryly.

  They drifted into a comfortable silence for a few minutes until she finally spoke. She said, “At the risk of being tacky, I’m going to say that I assume that you’ve done the whole tying someone up thing before.”

  He showed no signs of being at all surprised by the question when he said, “I dated a girl who was really into the BDSM scene a couple years back. She introduced me to it. Some of it I found I really liked. Some of it, not so much.”

  Curious now, she asked, “What parts didn’t work for you?”

  “Well, she wanted to push things further than I did for one thing. I’m all for consensual adults doing what they want, but I didn’t want to physical hurt her. She was into caning and shit that I could never do to another person.”

  “Ouch,” she said, grimacing.

  “Yeah,” he said. “She was very into the whole D/s dynamic, too. I very much enjoy being in control in the bedroom, but that’s about where it ends. Outside the bedroom, she would almost…I guess, wait for instruction. It was more like having a pet sometimes. I want an equal, ya know? Needless to say, neither of us were very happy so it ended pretty quickly.”

  “Well, rest assured. Being someone’s pet isn’t on my list of requests,” she said, a smile playing on her lips.

  “Good,” he said. A moment later he asked, “Would you want to experiment more with that sort of thing?”

  “I think I would,” she said. “Knowing you had total control was incredibly sexy. Also, it was kind of a relief. I don’t even know if that makes sense.”

  She felt his lips brush against the top of her head, then heard him say, “I think I understand.”

  She yawned and said, “By the way. Cora and Jamie set the whole thing up last night. I had twenty texts waiting for me this morning. They were a mix of Cora prying for information and apologizing. She’s terrible at handling guilt.”

  “I kind of picked up on that. Jamie has the shittiest poker face of all time. As soon as I asked him, he crumbled,” Evan said. “Speaking of. You and Cora are invited over tomorrow. We’re doing beer and pizza again.”

  “Aw. Like a double date?” she asked, laughing.

  “Totally Jamie’s idea. I’m a bit past the double dating stage.”

  “She’s being quiet about it, but I think she really likes him. Your brother isn’t secretly a douche, is he?” Taryn asked.

  “Nah. He’s a good guy,” he said.

  “Oh, good. And, uh. Could we maybe not do pizza?” Taryn asked.

  His hand paused midway down her back and he asked, “What do you have against pizza?”

  “Nothing, really. There’s just that huge space upstairs. It seems like a perfect time to use it. There’s a grill right there.”

  “Mmm,” he said softly. “You make an excellent point.”

  “Of course,” she said, yawning.

  When she woke later, they were under the covers and his body was tucked behind hers, pressed against her back. She wondered how he had gotten her under the covers without waking her.

  She felt his lips graze her shoulder and smiled sleepily. “Hi,” she said softly.

  His voice roughened by sleep, he said, “Hey.”

  “What time is it?” she asked, unable to see the clock on the bedside table.

  She felt him pull away and turn to look. “12:08,” he said, “And, I’m pretty awake now. Maybe a four hour nap wasn’t the best idea.”

  “Probably not,” she agreed. “So what now?”

  “Hmm,” he said, “As tempting as it would be to stay in bed, maybe we could actually leave the building.”

  “That’s a novel idea,” she said slowly. “I’m not feeling very social right now, though”

  He pressed a gentle kiss to her shoulder and said, “I’m not either. I kind of want to keep you to myself.”

  “That’s not going to make me want to get out of bed,” she said, unable to stop the smile from creeping on to her face.

  “No?” he asked casually. A moment later his hands crept up her ribs and started to tickle her without warning.

  She tried to squirm away, laughing as she said, “No no no. No tickling!”

  “Better think of somewhere, then,” he said, tickling her ribs with relentless precision.

  “Stop, stop. I can’t think when you’re tickling,” she said, gasping the words out as she tried to wiggle free of his grasp.

  His hand stilled and he said, “Very well. Where to?”

  She sat up, scooting out of his reach and hugging her knees to her chest. Then she gave him a baleful look and said, “It’s late. I’ve got nothing. Leaving was your idea.”

  He thought for a second and then said, “Get dressed. Bring a jacket.”

  “Kay,” she said. “Can I have some sort of hint?”

 
“We’re going to the beach,” he said. “I haven’t seen the ocean since I’ve been back.”

  Thirty minutes later they were in Evan’s SUV headed toward the beach. The music played low in the background, only occasionally interrupted by conversation. They slipped into a comfortable silence as Taryn started to go over the events of the past few days in her mind.

  They had gone from avoiding each other to whatever this was that they were doing. She’d assumed that the previous night’s conversation was him trying to tell her he didn’t want a relationship. She hadn’t known what to think when he’d invited himself over.

  The fact that he’d immediately zeroed in on her confusion had been a little unnerving. For someone who didn’t know her all that well, he was incredibly perceptive. In bed it was turning out to be pretty awesome. Out of bed, however, she wasn’t entirely sure whether she wanted anyone that close to her.

  As if he somehow sensed her uncertainty, he reached over the center console to take her hand. She gave his a squeeze and looked up at him. Even in the dim light, he was absolutely gorgeous. His perpetual five o’clock shadow was a little more pronounced. The slight pout of his lower lip made her want to nibble on it.

  He gave her a quick glance and said, “You getting sleepy on me?”

  She shook her head and said, “No. Wide awake. Just trying to remember the last time I went to the beach. God, I think it must’ve been high school.”

  “Really?” he asked.

  “Really,” she said, smiling. “I was taking a full load of classes and then some the entire time I was in school. So there wasn’t a whole lot of down time.”

  “I’m still amazed you finished a freaking doctorate in that amount of time,” he said, awe evident in his voice. A second later he added, “It’s kind of intimidating.”

  She shrugged and said, “My last foster family kicked me out the second the state stopped paying. I didn’t really see any other option than doing what I did.”

  He flicked his glance over to her for a second, then returned his eyes to the road. “You had plenty of other options. You just picked the best one and then you managed to succeed. So, take the compliment, Princess. You deserve it,” he said.