by Ava McKnight
She gasped.
“Just relax for a second. Trust me.”
Her lips pressed together. She nodded.
Something cool and unyielding slipped along her vulva and then nudged her opening. Cassidy’s brow furrowed. She couldn’t make out the shape or the length or…
Oh!
An oval-type toy slid inside her. A heartbeat later, she heard a click and the toy started to vibrate.
“Holy shit. Chase!” Moments later, she felt the tapping of the leather strips on her clit and labia again. The delicate vibrations within her were magnified by her arousal over the light flogging. Another click and the toy kicked up a degree of intensity.
Cassidy thrashed on the bed, her head rolling from side to side, her skin igniting, her hips lifting, her thighs spread wide.
“Chase. Oh God.” She panted and moaned. Suddenly, she felt his talented tongue on her nipple, swirling around it, flicking over it. He kept up the gentle ministrations with the whip but jacked the vibrator to a higher speed.
Every mounting sensation within her collided and erupted and she screamed as she came.
A hard, powerful orgasm that shook her from head to toe, searing every inch of her.
Another long, throaty moan tore from her lips. Her body bowed off the bed. She tugged against her restraints…and found it even more exciting that she couldn’t free herself.
She cried out, still trembling from the heat flooding her veins and the intense throbbing deep inside her.
Chase just kept taking her to all-new heights…
Chapter Six
Chase let her ride out her climax before removing the vibrator. While she was still quivering and panting, he hooked his forearms under the backs of her knees and hauled her to the edge of the mattress. He’d discarded his clothes and had sheathed himself earlier when he’d gone for the egg-shaped vibrator. Now he spread Cassidy wide and rammed her with his thick, throbbing cock, pushing the air out of her.
“Yes!” she screamed. “Fuck me.” Her hands pressed together at her stomach, her fingers twining so tight her knuckles turned white. Her head was back and her spine arched, thrusting her breasts upward.
He gripped her narrow waist while his forearms remained linked behind her legs, keeping her spread wide.
“Fuck me hard,” she demanded. “Please, Chase. God!”
Chase knew, in that instant, he’d do anything she asked of him. Anything at all, be it sexual or not. He wanted her, needed her, craved her. And he realized that whatever BDSM meant to anyone else, to him it meant the ultimate surrender. Not just on her part, but on his as well.
She might be the one in binds, but he was equally tied—to her.
“Cass,” he ground out.
His desire for her was edged with emotion. Yes, he was fucking her. But more than his cock was involved in the act. All of his feelings were twisted around this woman and the way he pushed her to the edge. So quickly. So vehemently.
“I’m going to come,” he told her on a sharp breath.
“Inside me. Yes, please. Chase, now. Now, now, now!”
He lost every ounce of restraint and surged inside her, thrusting deep, pounding hard. Coming with such force he couldn’t see straight. She absorbed the blows with raised, gyrating hips and the clenching of her pussy.
She damn near sucked the life right out of him.
“Holy shit,” he hissed. And thrust again.
Cassidy cried out and her body tensed, then spasmed as she came right on the heels of his body-racking orgasm.
“Chase,” she cried. “Oh God. Oh. My. God!”
Her breath came in staccato beats.
It took him a while to get his own breathing to slow. He remained hovering over her, heaving, pulsating.
Several minutes passed.
“Don’t move,” he finally said in a post-climax-roughened voice.
Despite all of his senses taking leave and his muscles all but liquefying, Chase withdrew from her, made his way into the bathroom, tossed the condom, tidied up and cranked on the faucet in the clawfoot tub. He added the scented bath gel and returned to the bedroom for the candles. He placed them on the granite vanity, lit them and then made one more trip to the master suite.
Once again, Cassidy hadn’t moved an inch.
He unraveled her from the sash and then scooped her up in his arms. He carried her limp body into the bathroom and lowered himself onto the lid of the toilet with her in his lap while the tub continued to fill.
He brushed damp strands of hair from her face. Kissed her temple.
“Are you okay?”
She sighed. Dreamily, if he weren’t mistaken.
“Lord, Chase. That was so beyond anything I’ve ever imagined.”
Her arms tightened around his neck. Her nose nuzzled below his ear.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No.”
“Cass—”
“You didn’t. I’m fine, I promise. Just really, really spent. And relaxed. And…sated.” She laughed softly. “Seriously, I’ve never been so drained and electrified at the same time. I just feel so tingly all over, but also so limp. I don’t think I could stand on my own.”
“I’ll help you.”
He lifted her and then carefully set her on her feet beside the tub. He shut off the faucets with one hand while the other kept his hold on her. He helped her slip into the warm water, capped with bubbles, then eased in behind her so she was between his legs.
“What do you want me to do about your hair?” he asked as he gathered up the long mass of curls.
“Just lift it a bit higher, twist a couple of times and knot it.”
He did as instructed, then gingerly massaged her shoulders and arms. Her wrists.
She leaned back against him and sighed.
“I can’t believe you let me do all of this to you.”
A low moan escaped her lips. “Me, neither. Yet… I’d be so disappointed with myself if I’d have balked. I mean, I’ll admit I was a bit freaked at first. But then I realized you wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt me. You were pushing my boundaries. You were trying to help me expand them with a physical tactic that was tied to an emotional one.”
“Hmm, sometimes it’s a good thing you’re so deep in your brain. You see my motives for what they are.”
“A little nudge here and there helps,” she told him, not seeming to mind he’d done a bit more than nudge her this evening.
But he didn’t press his luck. Her body was languid against his, and he let her kick back and enjoy the soothing bath.
Her breathing finally softened and, at one point, he wondered if she’d drifted off. But then she stirred and said in a quiet voice, “A little more wine would be nice.”
He climbed out of the tub, helped her out and pulled the plug in the drain. They rinsed off in the shower and wrapped up in thick white towels.
Chase said, “Pick your spot. I’ll get the bottle from the fridge.”
She settled on the sofa in the living room, in front of the larger fireplace. The moonlight illuminated the glistening snowflakes falling outside the two-story windows. She’d turned on the CD player with a sexy jazz selection.
Chase delivered her glass and snuggled close to her on the couch, under the fur throw.
Her back pressed to his chest and her head rested on the rolled arm of the sofa. He was propped against the pile of pillows in the corner.
“So…what if I wanted to try other fantasies?” she mused.
He grinned, though she couldn’t see it. “Then we try other fantasies.”
She was quiet a few moments, then asked, “But what if mine aren’t imaginative? What if they’re not as hot as tonight’s?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Why do you worry so much that you can’t measure up, Cass? I mean, think of the two years I’ve had a hard-on for you that wouldn’t go away no matter what I did, and is now even… Shit. Harder.”
She gave a half-snort. “You ca
me up with something sexy, Chase. What if my fantasy is a total snooze-fest?”
“Really?” he demanded. “’Cause I’m thinking you and me on a Ferris wheel has more potential for hotness than most people would have on the Scrambler.”
Shooting him a look over her shoulder, she asked, “Are you saying that vanilla sex between the two of us would still sizzle?”
“Don’t you know it.”
She smiled. Though her amber eyes were a bit clouded. As if she weren’t so sure…of herself.
Chase understood her sexuality was actually something new and mysterious to her. Therefore, he comprehended the importance of his role in letting her sample a variety of positions and fantasies and whatever else she needed to spread her wings.
But what he also focused on was the fact that a woman like Cassidy Reynolds required emotional engagement. Likely the reason she hadn’t sparked with those two guys in college—or anyone else prior to Chase.
From the moment they’d met, they been tangled up in each other, through work situations and social functions and general friendship building. He’d staked his claim from the beginning and had cultivated the relationship into something that continued to bloom.
Chase was a patient man when it came to Cassidy. Whatever it took to help her believe in them as a couple, he was willing to do. Two years had led up to a weekend that had demonstrated they were compatible in every way—and even more entangled than he’d previously considered.
Cassidy had let him bind and blindfold her. She’d trusted him explicitly and that meant the world to him. He wouldn’t betray that trust. Ever. He knew that, coming from her, it was something special to have earned.
Besides, he was so damn crazy about her and the way she freely gave herself to him this weekend that he knew it was imperative to continue showing her that he might be a bad boy in the bedroom, but he was all heart in this relationship.
* * * * *
Cassidy woke the next morning with yet more contradictory sensations warring with one another. She and Chase had fallen asleep on the sofa, her body tucked nice and tight against his and his arms around her. His light snoring comforted her.
From head to toe, she hummed with a sexual energy she’d never experienced before. But every inch of her felt varying degrees of physical strain. She wanted desperately to wake Chase and ask him to make love to her. Conversely, she was one seriously sore woman.
The thought brought a smile to her face. She didn’t mind feeling as though she’d just competed in her first triathlon. Sure, her inner thighs and lower stomach burned—but no more than when she had a great workout with her trainer.
Yes, the soreness deep within her was a foreign sensation—it wasn’t like that part of Cassidy’s body had ever received quite so much attention. She wasn’t in pain, but surmised it’d be best to give herself a little rest. In fact, she was certain the warm bubble bath last night and Chase’s massage had alleviated a lot of the aches she otherwise would have experienced.
Her smile widened. Chase really was a dream come true. For all his wickedness, he was so…tender. Caring. Erotically and emotionally stirring.
Although she’d had a few moments of reservation over the weekend when it came to the sex they engaged in, something about Chase and the way he approached their interludes made her want to power through her conflicting feelings and inhibitions and just…let loose.
Christ, he’d even inspired her to talk dirty!
Cassidy Reynolds had used the “P” word when he’d gone down on her.
She stifled a laugh. Chase roused behind her.
“What’s so funny?” he asked in a sleepy tone that was damn sexy.
She bit into her lower lip as the humming through her veins turned into something more vibrant and thrilling.
To hell with being sore. She wanted him again.
“I was just thinking about how much I like you,” she said.
“And that made you almost laugh?”
“Nothing wrong with feeling lighthearted for once, right?”
He nibbled the side of her neck and whispered against her skin, “You realize that everything about you turns me on, right? Even when you’re being super-serious and a huge pain in the ass.”
“Huh. Should I be flattered or offended?”
He chuckled. “You know I’m crazy about you.”
“Prove it.” She wiggled in his embrace and shifted so she faced him. “Make love to me again.”
He grinned. Kissed the tip of her nose. Then said, “Nope.”
Her gaze narrowed on him. “What?”
“You heard me.”
Cassidy’s insides twisted. “Done with me so soon?” She didn’t miss the bite in her tone.
Neither did he, apparently. Chase groaned. “No, damn it. And you know it. But you’ve got to have some aches and pains this morning. Besides, I don’t want you thinking all I’m interested in is sex. That all we’re doing is fucking.”
He gave her a hard, unyielding look that backed up his words. Plus, she’d felt his erection when he’d been curled around her, so she didn’t get mired in her insecurity.
Chase added, “The truth is, I’ll never get enough of you, Cass. But I bet your body could use a respite. For a few hours, anyway.” He winked.
“I can’t really argue with that. And we need to get moving. I have to be out of here by eleven and I want to do some cleaning up.” She’d been informed a service would come in after she departed, but she wanted to wash the bedding and make sure every single item that had come from Chase’s goody bag ended up back in that bag. Not accidentally swept under the bed or anything…
Christ, she’d totally die of embarrassment if the property manager called to tell her they’d found her vibrator.
“How about I make breakfast?” Chase offered.
“That would easily make you my knight in shining armor.” She kissed him. “I need food.”
“I’m not surprised.” He let out a sexy groan. “Goddamn, you were amazing last night. And the night before. Seriously, Cass,” he said as he stroked strands of hair that had worked loose of her knot during the night. “You are unbelievable.”
Her heart wrenched. The corners of her mouth quivered. And—oh God!—was that the sting of potential tears at the backs of her eyes?
She squeezed them shut. “Chase,” she murmured. He rattled her cage with his sensitive side. Not that she didn’t love it. But… Well, love wasn’t supposed to be a part of their equation. So she didn’t want to love that he was so gentle and tender with her.
In that case, she reasoned, she shouldn’t love how stimulating and thrilling he was either. How thoroughly he fucked her and left her wanting more. So much more.
Ooh. Danger.
Big-time danger.
She unraveled herself from him and stood. The towel was still wrapped around her. She pulled it even tighter.
“So, um, you make breakfast and I’ll tidy up and then we’ll head back to Scottsdale.” She bustled about, racing off to the bedroom.
Two hours later, they were cruising south down 1-17, humming along to classic rock tunes. Cassidy was infinitely grateful for the reprieve from conversation. Just as she’d suspected, everything had shifted for her as soon as they’d left Flagstaff. She was back to mentally obsessing over work and all that she didn’t get done this weekend.
But her gaze continually slid to Chase, and she conversely felt giddy over all that she had accomplished.
Multiple orgasms could do that to a girl.
When they pulled into Chase’s driveway, he cut the engine on her SUV and rounded the front to open her door.
“Wanna tour?”
“Sure.” She was curious to see what his private space looked like.
He showed her the open floor plan with the stunning spiral staircase and the breathtaking views of the mountain preserve backing the house.
“Quite the gem,” she said.
“It’s a decent size and the location is great. Not
too far from the office.”
Ah, the office.
Cassidy wrung her hands. How, exactly, were things supposed to go tomorrow when they returned to their professional environment?
Why couldn’t this be one of Chase’s travel weeks? She’d be less unsettled if she didn’t have to face him tomorrow in front of their coworkers.
How would she sit across from him at the Monday morning meeting and not think of the fact that she’d been tied up and he’d used a vibrator and nipple clamps on her?
The room started to spin.
“How about a drink?” Chase asked, clearly unaware of her sudden freak-out.
“Thanks, no.” She headed toward the door. “I’ve still got some files to get through and well, you know. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She couldn’t get out of his house fast enough. She climbed into her SUV and was off like a shot, not even checking to see if Chase had followed her out.
Reality crashed down around her. Hard. From the onset, she’d suspected it would. But she hadn’t given consideration to how fierce that crash might be.
Because she’d never given consideration to how out of control things could get with Chase.
Monday morning was right around the corner. She had to work with this man whom she’d gotten all kinds of wicked with the past two nights—and not blush or lose focus when she sat across from him at meetings or went toe-to-toe with him on account issues.
Nervous anxiety compelled Cassidy to troll her Grayhawk estates, north Scottsdale townhome and organize every square inch that was already OCD-organized. She tossed her clothes from the weekend into the washer. Hung her party dress in the closet. Buried the goody bag in the empty cabinet under one of the dual bathroom sinks in her master suite.
She poured a glass of chardonnay and tried to relax. Her body was all molten and languid, but her mind raced.
So she picked up the phone, knowing there was only one solution to her dilemma.
“Damn, I’m glad you called,” Chase immediately said.
Cassidy sank into her favorite chair on the patio and sighed. “That’s good to hear.”