“You really believe that?”
“Want me to prove it?” The glint in his eyes was irresistible. The irrepressible bad boy dangling the promise of something both decadent and divine.
A quiver speared low in her belly. Whatever he had on his mind, her body was more than ready and her mind adequately piqued. “Prove it how?”
Snagging her hand as he straightened, he pulled her from her chair and tugged her toward the bedroom. “Oh, this is a show, not a tell.”
She half-heartedly dug in her heels and glanced back at her computer. “But I haven’t finished.”
“You’re finished. You just haven’t admitted it yet.” With that, he swung her around, backed her against the edge of the bed and devoured her mouth.
As diversion tactics went, his kiss was the ultimate ploy. Especially, those when he took complete control.
And he was definitely in command now. From the hand at the back of her head holding her firm for his mouth, to the other one anchored on her ass, there was zero give in his embrace.
Not that she cared. In that second, the whole damned building could have crumbled around them and she’d have hesitated in finding shelter. His kiss was that good. A drugging caress that smoothed all the wrinkles of reality away and left only a silken pallet for her spirit.
With a casualness developed over their recent days and nights together, he had her T and sleep shorts off in short order and her body humming and primed. That was the thing about Knox—in life and in sex, he defined what he wanted and went all in. And oh, how she loved it when what he wanted was her, mindless and aching for whatever he wanted to dish out.
She reached for his waistband, keen to return the favor.
He snagged her hands, spun her and pinned both wrists behind her back. “Nope. Not yet,” he growled near her ear. “I’m not done getting you ready.”
She wriggled her ass against his more than ready cock, just hearing the promise in his voice enough to leave her drenched. “Ready for what?”
He snagged two of her thickest pillows, stacked them in front of her on the side of the bed. “Bend over, sweetheart. We’re gonna put our communication skills to the test.”
As tall as the pillows were stacked and the way they’d angle her ass for him, she seriously doubted there’d be any communication beyond her saying, Yes, and, More. Still, she leaned forward, rested one cheek against the soft comforter and peeked at him over her shoulder. “The last time you took me from behind the neighbors weren’t happy with our enthusiasm.”
“Which just proves your walls are too thin. Gonna deal with that inconvenience after I get you to see reason on work.” He smacked her ass and nudged her feet apart. “Right now, I want you to spread for me. I need room to work.”
Like he’d need to ask her twice for that one. Fingers, mouth or cock, Knox worked her with the same proficiency he did everything else. One hundred percent dedication and vehemence.
He crouched behind her and squeezed the firm grip he’d kept on her wrists. “Lace your fingers and keep your hands behind your back. You know how I hate distractions.”
“That’s so not true. You’re a distraction junkie.”
He chuckled and spanked her other cheek, this one packing enough sting her sex clenched. “Keep it up, sweetheart. Seeing your skin pink from my hand’s a fucking huge turn-on.”
She did as he asked but wiggled her butt while she did. “Then you should probably stop talking and give me more.”
“Oh, I’m going to give you more.” He skimmed his hands down the backs of her thighs, then the swish of plastic sliding against the carpet sounded from beneath the bed. The next thing she knew, he was standing behind her and the plastic tub she kept stowed beneath the bed was beside her on the comforter. “The question is how far you’re going to let me go.”
Dimly, her mind registered him moving behind her and the weighted rustle of his jeans tossed to the floor, but the bulk of her attention was centered on the box. Or more accurately, the toys inside it.
The front of his muscled thighs pressed against the backs of her legs and he skimmed his hands in an indolent caress up along her hips. “Anything in that box that’s off-limits?”
Her heart kicked so hard she swore its pulse echoed through the mattress beneath her cheek. It wasn’t anything in that box he was asking about, but one thing in particular...because they’d used all but one already.
But she’d sure thought about the one item remaining. Had imagined him working the slender plug inside her. How it might feel to have even more.
Only one man had ever inspired such thoughts. And now was her chance. “Nothing.”
A low, approving rumble filled the room and he guided his impossible hard cock along the seam of her ass. “What about what’s not in the box?”
She groaned and rolled her head so her forehead pressed against the mattress, angling her hips up and back for more of his teasing strokes.
“Love the sound of that, sweetheart, but it’s not an answer.” His fingers delved between her folds and slicked the ready wetness up and around her clit. “Give me limits, or give me a green light.”
Limits? With Knox? Maybe if he’d asked her before he’d touched her. Before he’d kissed her senseless, stripped her bare and bent her over like a conqueror ready to stake his claim. But right now, she couldn’t come up with any boundaries. Not in her mind or her body. “No limits.”
The rumble escalated to a growl and he pumped two fingers inside her sex. “You sure?”
Yes.
No.
Maybe.
All three were answers that pinged in her head, but her libido took the reins and gave the response it wanted. “Shut up and fuck me, Knox.”
The sass earned her a sharp smack straight between her legs, the sting mingling with the cool air against her slick folds. “Just for that, I think I’ll skip the plug and stretch you the old-fashioned way.”
All too readily, her mind conjured a picture to match his words, and a shudder rocked her so hard her knees nearly buckled.
The crinkle of a condom wrapper sounded, followed by an appreciative hum.
And then the thick head of his cock nudged her sex.
“Christ, Darya. Need to find a way to fuck you like this so you can see what I do.” His shaft sunk deep and she rose up on her toes, lifting for more. “Just like that. Your pretty pink pussy taking everything I give it.”
“Knox!” Too frustrated with his slow and deliberate pace, she released her hands, braced them on either side of her head and pushed back into his thrusts.
As second later, his hand was at her nape, pinning her in place, and his heavy voice grated near her ear. “Be still.”
Holy hell, that was hot. The complete mastery behind his simple command and the thick stretch of his cock in her sex nearly pushing her over the edge.
Slowly, he rebuilt his rhythm, still slow like before, but each stroke filling her completely. With her face angled away from the box, she couldn’t see what he was doing, but something thumped against the hard plastic. “Love it when you get greedy, but tonight you take what I give you. Understand?”
“Then stop talking dirty. I can take your cock, or your filthy mouth, but not both at the same time.”
He chuckled and a muted click of hard plastic sounded behind her. “You sure?” Cold moisture dribbled at the very base of her tailbone and slipped between her cheeks.
The lube.
God, this was really going to happen.
The click sounded again and the bottle landed beside her on the bed.
“If I can’t talk while I fuck you then I can’t give you a visual.” As if he had all the time in the world and no clue how taut and ready to explode she was, he coated her in the moisture. Up and down, circling her anus and pressing ever so s
lightly, before dipping across her perineum and repeating the hypnotic path. “You always tip your hips for me like this, but tonight you’re begging for it.”
“Knox, stop it.”
His thumb stilled, but not his hips, the thick head of his shaft scraping deliciously inside her. “Stop?”
“Just your mouth. Everything else, keep going.”
“Hmmm.” Spoken like a man who had no intention of listening. He circled his thumb again, but this time added more pressure and didn’t retreat. “You sure you don’t want to know? Because I’m committing the way my thumb looks slipping inside your ass to memory.”
He pushed inside and she whimpered. Her pussy trembled around his thick girth in a way that promised the orgasm rushing toward her would be huge. “I’m going to come.”
“Not yet.” He shifted his hand and eased two fingers inside her, insistently stretching her. “Hold on to it for me.”
“Knox.” She fisted the comforter and moaned. “Please. It’s so close.”
“Oh, baby. So am I.” The stretch in her ass increased and the ache between her legs escalated to a demanding pulse. “But I want to be right here when you go off. Want to be the one that makes you come this way the first time.”
“Then do it.” She’d meant it to sound more demanding, but it came out as a plea, her voiced as tight and ravaged as she felt. Sweat coated the back of her neck and the stretch of skin where his quads brushed the backs of her thighs. Every inch of her body quaked. Primed. Ready. Wanting.
Still pumping his shaft slow and methodically, he eased his fingers free and he picked up the lube. “Do what, sweetheart?”
God, she didn’t know whether to kill him or praise him. For all his devious machinations, he always knew exactly the right approach to push her to the very edge. To wring every last sensation from their play. But she wasn’t without her own skills. Her own power. Which was exactly the point he’d set out to make. “Take that glorious cock and fuck my ass with it. Now.”
The sound he made as his cock slipped free of her pussy and prodded her anus was pure primal predator. A barely leashed animal, hungry and intent on claiming its prey.
He drizzled more of the cold lube along her crevice and slicked it where he wanted it with his shaft. “Glorious, huh?” He tossed the bottle back to the bed and palmed both cheeks, fully exposing her for his perusal. Somehow just knowing his eyes were on her, watching as he prepared her, pushed her that much closer to the edge. Made her wish she could watch as well. “Can’t deny you when you put it that way, can I?”
The fat head of him slipped past her tight ring and she whimpered, braced for the stretch and the burn.
“Easy.” He smoothed one strong hand along the base of her spine, the gentle touch a stark contrast to the viselike grip of his other on her hip. “Relax and let me give you what you want.”
She let out a shaky breath and his shaft sunk deeper. Filling her. Claiming her in a way she didn’t dare acknowledge.
“Perfect.” A dark encouragement. Praise and temptation from her very own blond devil. “Slow and easy until you take it all.”
His words moved through her, the subtle sub-context stirring possibilities she’d fought hard to ignore. To keep ideas of the future locked up tight until things were more stable between them.
But he was right. She trusted him. Physically. Emotionally. No matter what happened between them, he’d act with integrity. Honesty and openness.
And she wouldn’t fight him.
Not in work. Not in sex. Not with her heart.
He slid to the hilt and her body sung with completeness. As if the physical connection served to confirm what her mind and emotions already accepted.
Holding himself in place, he squeezed her hips and ground out, “Talk to me.”
“No talking.” She moved what little she could within his unrelenting hold, reached back with one hand and dug her nails into his hips. “Please give me what I need.”
He moved. Slow and shallow at first, but escalating quickly. Reading her response and building on it. Rolling his hips and driving inside her as though his only thought was to her pleasure. Her needs.
Pushing up on her forearms, she met each thrust, letting the foreign, but delicious contact sweep her deeper. Beyond thought. Beyond constraints or worry for the future. Beyond anything but right here and now and the impending explosion between them.
She slipped one hand between her legs, the light touch of her fingers against her throbbing clit almost painful. “I’m done waiting.”
“Fuck. So goddamn greedy.” With nothing short of a snarl, he fisted her hair, yanked her upright and collared her throat with one hand. With his other hand, he knocked her questing fingers out of his way, not once breaking the compelling rhythm of his cock inside her. “Oh, no you don’t. This pussy’s mine.” He slicked his demanding fingers through her drenched folds and circled her clit. “When you come, it’ll be because I’m the one that took you there.”
He plunged two fingers deep and powered harder inside her ass, each stab commanding her to relent. To surrender.
And her body obeyed.
Her sex pulsing and clenching around his fingers. Muscles quivering with the onslaught of endorphins. Mind and soul drifting on a black velvet sky broken only by garnet, emerald and sapphire shards.
“Yes. Love it when you come. That’s mine.” He pumped once. Twice. Then plowed to the root and held himself deep, his cock jerking inside her. He buried his face at the crook of her neck and ground his hips against hers, his breath coming fast and hot against her skin. Despite the tension in his arms, he leisurely screwed his fingers in and out of her sex, drawing out her release with each precise stroke. “Mine because you trust me. Because what we’ve got works.”
He was right. He’d proven it just as he said he would. But he was also a dominant man used to getting his way whenever he set his mind to it, and her past had already been impacted by too many men like him. If she took this step it would be because she chose it. On her time and no one else’s.
Easing her so her torso was once more braced on the bed and him blanketing her, he gently swept her hair off her back and nuzzled the sweet spot at the base of her neck. Only when she’d fully relaxed and let out a soft sigh did he speak again. “You okay?”
Fabulous. Empowered and confident, and yet sheltered and protected, too. The combination was heady. Disconcerting and pleasant all at once. “I’ll be sore, but it’ll be the good kind,” she murmured.
“There’s a good kind?”
She shifted and peeked back at him. “I’ll feel it, and I’ll smile because I’ll remember.”
He grinned and nipped her shoulder, clearly pleased with her explanation. “How about if I run you a bath and you can soak for a bit before we call it a night?”
“I still have work to do.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Knox—”
Still buried inside her, he rolled his hips and claimed her mouth to silence her. “You know this is right,” he said after a long kiss. “Say yes, and I’ll run you bath.”
“Run me a bath and give me a week.”
The calculating glint in his eyes reignited, and he skimmed his lips along her jawline. “Three days.”
Stubborn, genius, beautiful man. “One week.”
“Five.”
Five days was reasonable. Especially considering she already knew her answer.
“And I want to ditch the condoms,” he added before she could agree. “Whatever you need to be comfortable going there, I’m in. Zeke can test us, or we’ll find someone else to do it.”
Flutters rippled through her belly and the space behind her sternum swelled as though her heart had doubled in size. Just the thought of feeling him inside her like that—of feeling his slick release mingl
ed with her own—nearly made her cave. “A bath now and five days for my answer, but we lose the condoms faster if we can.”
He smiled huge, palmed the back of her head and pressed a triumphant kiss to her lips. “Then I guess I’d better get my butt in gear and get you a bath, because we’ve got a deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Knox scrolled through what felt like an endless list of log entries, the black text against his dimmed white background not even penetrating his otherwise occupied thoughts. The clock in the upper right-hand of his screen showed 3:23 p.m. A whopping five minutes later than the last time he’d checked the time and going nowhere fast. Kind of the same feeling as when he couldn’t sleep and the night went on forever. Except instead of staring at the ceiling and thinking about everything from app ideas to possible data vulnerabilities, this time all he could think about was the answer Darya had promised him by the end of the day. Two more hours—three at most—before she’d let him know if she’d dump her skip tracing gigs and join his crew full time.
Shoving his mouse out of the way, he pushed back from his desk and stared out the thick tinted windows with a straight-line view of the busy street out front. Over two months, she’d poured herself into the training and opportunities he’d given her and made more ground in that short time than even the most gifted coders he’d worked with. To say that watching her devour information was a turn-on was the grossest of understatements. More like serving up napalm to a guy determined to dance in a bonfire. Add to that how things had gone between them on a personal level in the last month, and he was more determined than ever to tie her to him any and every way possible. Now he got why Jace had taken the tack he had with Vivienne. Hell, if he’d known then what he knew today, he’d have just packed her shit and moved her in with him on day one.
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