Beth Kery

by Sweet Restraint

  “What did you fix?” she asked sullenly.

  “Chicken noodle soup and turkey and Swiss cheese sandwiches.”

  “Will you take off these stupid cuffs?”

  “No. You’ll keep wearing the cuffs for now. I’m going to be restraining you again while I make love to you in a little while.”

  Laura spun around onto her back at his calm proclamation. “Oh you are, are you?”

  “Yes. Would you rather I didn’t tell you?”

  Laura hesitated. She supposed it was better to know what he planned but she didn’t relish the idea of waiting . . . anticipating the moment when he tied her down and touched and tortured her helpless flesh until she screamed for release.

  “If you would just give into it and let go . . . if you’d just give me control, I’d give you pleasure.”

  Laura bit her lower lip, tempted beyond belief by his low, husky voice. Luckily Shane didn’t appear to be expecting her to reply at the moment. He brought her another pair of the sweatpants that he’d bought for her and one of his T-shirts, laying them on the bed before he unfastened her last restraint.

  “Get dressed and come eat something,” he said before he left the room.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Laura went out into the kitchen several minutes later after dressing, using the bathroom, washing her tear-ravaged face, and rewetting and combing her hair. She wished she had some blush or lipstick to put on, but Shane had hidden her purse somewhere.

  His simple lunch of canned soup and a sandwich tasted just as good as the oatmeal had this morning. Laura couldn’t imagine why she was so ravenous. Maybe it was just the novelty of having someone prepare something for her. No one had made her a meal since she was twelve years old—when her mother had died. The fact that she was secretly enjoying Shane’s nurturance made her feel guilty.

  “I’ll make our dinner tonight,” she said as she took her bowl, plate, and glass into the kitchen. Shane already stood at the sink, rinsing out his bowl. Her eyes ran over him covetously, enjoying the opportunity to look at him uncensored while his back was turned. He wore a pair of well-worn jeans and a crimson-colored, casual long-sleeved shirt. She’d noticed earlier how the vibrant color enhanced his dusky skin color and brilliant blue eyes. His jeans certainly did their fair share in showing off his tight butt and long, strong thighs as well.

  Laura jerked her eyes away from the tantalizing sight of Shane’s denim-encased ass when he looked over his shoulder.

  “We’ll see,” he said as he took her dishes.

  His mellow tone irked her. “What . . . I can’t even make us a meal if I want to? I thought you wanted to make me into a sex slave or something? You’d think you’d want me kowtowing to you, feeding you grapes, and making me kiss your feet.”

  He chuckled and took her glass out of her hands. “I never said I wanted you as a slave.”

  “Well, what is it that you do want, precisely?” Laura asked.

  She was irritated, but curious as well.

  “I told you. I want you to submit to me. I want you to trust me enough to give me control,” he stated calmly before he shooed her aside so that he could open the dishwasher. Laura went still when he looked up and speared her with his blue eyes. “You could have all along, you know.”

  “How can I trust you when you’ve kidnapped me and tied me to a bed?”

  Shane considered her closely for a moment before he reached for the pan on the stove. “I brought you here and tied you to the bed because whatever you’re keeping from me is putting you in danger, Laura.”

  “Maybe I’m not telling you because I don’t appreciate you kidnapping me and tying me to a bed,” she replied petulantly.

  “So you admit you’re not being honest.”

  “I never admitted any such thing!”

  “Okay. So tell me what the deal was with Telly Ardos yesterday.”

  For a second she was confused. Had it really only been yesterday that she’d been to Carlotta’s party and Shane had saved her from that unexpected attack by Telly Ardos? She shook her head to clear it. “I told you I don’t know what he was talking about.”

  “You have no idea who it was Ardos said he wanted to take you to, or why he wanted to do it?” he asked, his tone thick with doubt.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Was he trying to bring you to Randall Moody, Laura?”

  She inhaled sharply as though she’d just been struck. Despite the fact that she now knew Shane suspected the venerated chief of the CPD, panic fluttered in her gut every time she heard him mention his name.

  “Shane, stay away from Randall Moody.”

  He turned slowly, his gaze on her intensifying, reminding Laura of radar closing in on a target. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Laura bit her lip uncertainly. Shit. She’d given him the scent. Shane would be ruthless about keeping it in his nose until he reached his quarry.

  “Ardos and Huey have been friends for years. I didn’t associate with him. He used to come into Sunny Days sometimes with Huey before we were married. He and—”

  Laura froze, realizing too late she’d lured Shane off the trail only to circle around and lead him right back to the scent. She’d just recalled that Huey and Telly Ardos were usually accompanied by Vince Lazar—that big, hulking man whose intense, hot stares used to leave Laura in little doubt of what he thought of her.

  And Vince Lazar was one of the cops that Shane’d had arrested along with Huey several weeks back—

  “What, Laura? What were you going to say?”

  She was so caught up in her anxious, chaotic thoughts that Shane’s deep, quiet voice took her by surprise. She looked up in slight disorientation when she felt his hand cup her cheek gently. He stood close enough for her to catch his male scent, for her to see the almost wild look of concern in his blue eyes.

  “I can see that you’re scared, baby. Why don’t you just tell me the truth? Why can’t you just let it go? I’ll keep you safe.” His thumb caught the single tear that rolled down her face, tenderly wiping it away. “I promise I will. But you have to be honest with me. Give me the reins, Laura. You’ve held on for too long.”

  “Oh, God.”

  The two words felt like they were ripped out of her choking throat. Her body convulsed violently. She stepped away from Shane, nearly tripping on her own two feet in her haste, fearful that she’d throw herself into his arms . . . terrified that she’d do precisely what he asked of her.

  Much to her surprise, Shane didn’t stop her from turning and staggering away from him.

  She was sitting at the corner of the couch when he entered the living room a few minutes later, her legs curled up in front of her. Her panic had faded somewhat as the heat from the fire warmed her skin and she stared at the heavy, gently falling snow outside the window. She’d been experiencing such a torrent of emotion for the past twenty hours that her energy seemed to be draining out of her like water trickling through a sieve.

  She glanced over at Shane warily when he sat down on the couch beside her and picked up the remote control, clicking the television on.

  “Are you all right?” he asked quietly after he’d found a station and returned the controller to the table. He spread his big hand on her thigh and rubbed her reassuringly.

  Laura hesitated. The last thing she needed at this moment was for him to persist in questioning her. She couldn’t give him the answers he wanted. She couldn’t give him the answers that part of herself longed to give him . . . so what was the point of the whole exercise?

  “Come here,” Shane said. When he saw what must have been doubt on her face, he added, “I’m not going to pester you with more questions right now. I just want to touch you.”

  Laura swallowed heavily. Would it be so terrible for her to give into it . . . just a little? She still hadn’t made a resolute decision one way or another but she found she didn’t have the will to resist when he reached for her.

  She leaned into his embrace, pre
ssing her cheek to his chest. His arms closed around her. She shut her eyes and listened to the crackle of the fire and the dialogue from the movie Shane had switched to—Raiders of the Lost Ark. Laura had always liked the Harrison Ford adventure but her eyelids felt too heavy to open in order to watch.

  It could have been like this between her and Shane—should have been—curling up together on the couch to watch a movie during a weekend snowstorm, cherishing each other, their only concern a hectic day of work next week or the prospect of shoveling a foot of snow off the driveway.

  It’d be a dream tomorrow. It was a reality today.

  She breathed deeply of Shane’s clean, spicy scent and felt herself melting against his flesh. It felt so good. Not to think. Not to act.

  Just to give over to sensation . . . to let go.

  Her lips opened but the protest never fell past her lips when Shane gently reached for her wrists and fastened the connector hooks. The ache between her thighs that had never fully dissipated since yesterday in the car flared to a dull throb.

  “Is it so terrible a thing . . . to give me the control, Laura? You know I’ll take care of you,” he murmured in a low, sexy rumble that she found blatantly irresistible.

  She couldn’t stop it. Shane forced her to it. Slowly, almost imperceptibly her muscles relaxed and she ceased her resistance—at least for a little while.

  He furrowed his fingers into her hair, stroking the length slowly. When he pressed down on her shoulder she dropped her head to his lap, her cheek resting against a hard thigh. How long she lay there with her hands restrained in front of her, her legs curled up while Shane played with her hair and gently stroked her neck and scalp with calloused fingertips she couldn’t say. She didn’t sleep—she was too caught up in the sensuality of the moment, feeling wildly anticipatory and paradoxically relaxed at once.

  Her body became warm, heavy . . . pliable. Wetness accumulated between her thighs as her consciousness followed Shane’s touch with a tight focus. He massaged the shoulder that wasn’t pressed into the couch along with her upper back, kneading her muscles until she became so relaxed she wondered if she could move voluntarily.

  Laura was only minimally aware of the rollicking score that always accompanied a chase scene in an Indiana Jones movie. It seemed that almost her entire self existed on the surface of her skin just below Shane’s massaging fingertips and rubbing palm.

  The fire crackled and snow silently blanketed the cabin while her sensual entrancement deepened. Shane’s hand slid down the length of her arm, molding her shape to his palm. Heat emanated from his lap into her cheek. When he lightly ran his fingertips over the leather cuff, arousal stabbed sharply between her thighs, the strength of her reaction surprising her.

  But then he continued to caress and stroke the fire-warmed skin of her arms, lulling her. She sighed deeply, much of her remaining resistance seeping out of her with her exhaling breath while another type of tension crept just as surely into her muscles.

  It didn’t surprise her when Shane matter-of-factly slipped his hand beneath the waistband of her sweatpants. This is what he’d been asking her to do, wasn’t it—for her to melt at his touch? Why wouldn’t he reward her for giving in to him? Was it so terrible to want to submit . . . to give herself wholly to him at least for a short while? Laura wondered desperately as he worked a finger between her cream-coated labia and she moaned softly.

  Having Shane Dominic touch her was stuff straight from her most well-guarded, sweetest fantasies, after all.

  He put a hand beneath her and turned her until she rested on her back, never stopping the delicious movements of his fingers on her clit. His other hand slid beneath her T-shirt and cradled a breast in his palm. His thumb and forefingers plucked at a nipple, making it peak—stiff and achy.

  He circled, slid, and pressed on her clit until her body grew tense and rigid. She could feel how wet she was by the ease with which he glided over her burning flesh.

  Her eyes remained sealed tight beneath her clenched eyelids. She was thankful that Shane didn’t demand that she open them, that he gave her that small measure of protection as she lay in his embrace in the fire-warmed room and he strummed her most sensitive flesh until she panted shallowly in stark need.

  His finger stirred in her cleft more forcefully, causing a wet rhythmic clicking sound to mix with Laura’s breathy, uneven pants. The tempo of his pinching fingers on her nipple increased, causing fire to sear downward, amplifying the ache at her pussy.

  She burned unbearably; she strained to ignite.

  “Shane,” she whispered in agony as her hips pressed desperately against the delicious friction he wrought.

  “You can let go now, Laura. I’ve got you.”

  She exploded at his words, orgasm blasting through her. She left reality for a moment as pure sensation electrified every nerve in her body.

  Laura sagged into the couch a moment later, stunned by the violence of her climax. Shane’s deep voice sounded distant as he soothed her in her turned-inside-out state.

  “You were meant to come for me. God, you’re filling my hand with honey . . .”

  Laura cried out when Shane worked a thick finger into her drenched slit. All the while he continued to rub her clit, coaxing wave after wave of delicious shivers from her flesh. She whimpered in pleasure, turning her face into his lap, drawn to his heat. Her nose and lips found his erection, mindlessly nuzzling and kissing the hard column of flesh that pressed against his jeans while Shane continued to nurse her through the most powerful orgasm she’d ever experienced.

  He moaned, low and rough. His hand spread at the back of her head, pressing her closer. Laura welcomed the pressure, moving her lips anxiously over the steely length of his cock. When she scraped her teeth over the stiff ridge he growled and tightened his fist in the hair at her nape.

  “Go to the bedroom,” he ordered thickly.

  Shane released her wrists and watched Laura while she stood. Her dark hair hung in a mussed cloud around her pink-stained cheeks. She glanced at him uncertainly before she began to walk to the bedroom, but Shane saw desire shining in her exotic green eyes as well.

  He thought of her quaking in his arms as an obviously powerful climax shuddered through her flesh. He closed his eyes and took one deep, fortifying breath in an attempt at restraint.

  When he entered the bedroom a few seconds later, she stood at the foot of the bed. She cast an anxious glance in his direction, but otherwise said nothing.

  “Get out of your clothes,” he directed quietly.

  His cock swelled even thicker in his straining jeans when she complied, revealing every inch of her flawless, honey-colored skin to his hungry gaze.

  “Go lie down,” he said when his T-shirt joined her sweatpants on the carpet.

  His eyelids narrowed on the tantalizing image of the back of her naked body as she followed his instructions and went to the bed. For Shane, Laura defined female perfection. Her waist and rib cage were narrow but her hips and ass curved deliciously. Every time he saw her bare ass it sent an electric jolt of excitement through him, made him crave the sensation of her taut, rounded flesh in his palms.

  The line of her backbone was delicate and graceful. He wanted to encircle her rib cage in his hands, to feel her heartbeat thudding with excitement into his palms while he cherished the exquisite knowledge of her existence.

  “No. Leave it on,” Shane said when he realized that she was unfastening her necklace. She glanced over her shoulder in mild surprise at his tense tone, but didn’t argue.

  He shrugged out of his shirt and dropped it in an upholstered chair as he passed, his eyes never leaving the sublime image of Laura lying on the bed naked, doing so of her own free will versus being forced there at his hands.

  Her belly was a pale, smooth harbor. Her breasts rose and fell with her shallow, uneven breathing. The firm globes seemed to glow in the dim light of the bedroom. Shane saw no defined tan line to suggest that she’d sunbathed anytime in the
past year or two, but years of covering them had left them paler than the rest of her honey-hued skin.

  He saw the hesitation clearly on her face as he approached her. Nevertheless, when he nodded once she placed her wrists on the pillow next to her head. The submissive gesture made his cock lurch furiously. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to finish restraining her to the bed and fuck her until they both died together in a blaze of pure bliss.

  And maybe he’d do just that but he had something else in mind first. He needed to take Laura deeper . . . to gently, firmly goad her until she ceded just a bit more of her control over to him.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Laura watched Shane with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety as he restrained her wrists to the bed. What did he plan to do this time when he had her at his mercy? Would he make her hunger unbearably once again, only to leave her ravenous and empty? Despite the explosive, intense orgasm he’d just given her, Laura was surprised to realize how excited she became as Shane bound her.

  She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. He made a compelling sight as he went about his erotic task, dusky skin on his taut abdomen, shoulders, and arms gleaming over flexing muscles as he moved with methodical, sure movements.

  His cock strained beneath his jeans, the shape and contours of the thick shaft clearly visible next to his right thigh. Laura experienced the familiar sharp stab of arousal at her clit.

  After he’d finished restraining her he came to the side of the bed and leaned down over her. Her breath stuck in her throat when he kissed her eyebrow and then her closed eyelid in a whisper-soft caress. The brief touch of his lips seemed to make her heart swell inside her rib cage. How could such a small kiss make her feel so indescribably cherished?

  “You showed me trust out there on the couch, baby,” Shane whispered gruffly next to her lips. “I want you to know that I realize how hard that was for you. Now I’m going to ask you to give me more trust. You can put yourself in my hands . . . and not with just your body. With the truth. Do you understand, Laura?”