Bound Temptations: Stories of Temptation and Submission

by Shiloh Walker

  Around seven, he grabbed his phone from the table and texted a message to his manager, telling him he’d be late getting in. He silenced the phone next, anticipating Lou’s response—it came less than two minutes later. You sick?

  No. Personal. Be in later.

  Then he put the phone down, ignoring any other message.

  He was still studying Tania when she started to wake up twenty minutes later.

  She did it slowly, in small, sexy little increments that had his warm blood heated up to boiling real fast. First, she brought a hand up, curled into a fist between her breasts—breasts still encased in lace and satin since she’d never removed her bra. A few minutes after that, she arched her back and sighed, then curled in on herself like she was trying to resist whatever was dragging her awake.

  When that didn’t work, she rolled onto her belly and shot out a hand, grabbing a pillow and jerking it over head. It happened to be his pillow and he lifted up just in time to let her have it.

  Smiling, he pushed up onto his elbow and waited. She’d managed to kick the sheets and blankets away, but he didn’t care. He’d fallen asleep wearing his jeans—never a particular favorite way from him to sleep. It wasn’t like he was going to get cold or anything.

  Still, he wished he could reach the sheets and draw them up over her, cover her without disturbing her. The skirt had rucked up over that round, luscious ass. She had one knee drawn up and he could see the pink folds of her sex, the crevice of her ass.

  If there wasn’t that darkness behind her, that misery, he’d cover her body with his and bury his dick in her, have her halfway to orgasm before she fully woke up.

  As it was, he lay there, aching and hoped she remembered when she opened her eyes.

  Tania groaned, slowly growing aware of cool air dancing over her exposed butt, the fact that she’d fallen asleep in her bra, and that she had clothes twisted around her waist.

  The skin on the back of her neck prickled, making her aware of something else—she held still, catching her breath and forcing herself to wait as she took in her body’s reaction. She wasn’t alone—

  Her mind screamed out a mental alarm, and she almost bolted out of bed.

  That was what her mind wanted.

  But her body was content to lie there. She felt safe…replete. Rested.

  She made herself think back.

  And last night lit up in her mind like a marquee sign.

  Drake—

  Slowly, she tugged the pillow away and turned her head. Through the tangle of her hair, she could see him. She went to brush it out of the way, but he was already doing it, smoothing the tangled strands back from her face, behind her ear, smoothing it down her back.

  “Good morning,” he said, his voice neutral.

  Like he was waiting for her to either freak out or fall apart.

  Oddly enough, that was what she would have expected.

  But she found herself smiling at him.

  “Morning.”

  His hand rested on her cheek, his thumb stroking her lower lip.

  “I’d like to kiss you,” he said softly.

  Tania blushed. Then she lifted a brow at him. “You sure about that? I’ve got morning breath.”

  He shifted in the bed, moving closer, but doing it slow, watching her, gauging her reactions.

  She just waited.

  He rested a hand on her hip, stroking it restlessly. “Yeah, I want to kiss you.”

  “Then go ahead and do it,” she said, smiling at him, stroking a finger over his tattoo.

  He kept a careful distance between them, touching her only with his mouth, teasing the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue until she opened for him.

  It was light, soft and slow, nothing like the kisses from last night.

  A perfect good-morning kiss, she decided as he pulled away, smiling at her.

  She smiled back, caught off guard by the way her heart skittered and danced in her chest. This was Drake—Kyle’s buddy. Her friend too.

  Just a friend? That low, sly voice in her heart taunted her. He’s the one you automatically thought of when you decided to you’d grab this proverbial bull by the horns—and you’ve never done sex without emotional ties. Just a friend…and he’s the one you’ve called every time you’ve been down over the past few years. He’s the one you want to see on a bad day… Just a friend?

  But those thoughts were too complicated for an early morning, especially one without coffee.

  She continued to trace the tattoo on his arm, pushing up onto one elbow to study it closer.

  “Witch,” Drake muttered.

  She glanced at him and then grinned, realizing her shift in position had put one breast square on level with his mouth. There was naked, burning need in his eyes—intense need, she realized…

  Very intense.

  Abruptly, she asked, “Why did you agree to this?”

  A mask fell over his face. He pulled away, giving her his back as he sat up. “Because you asked me to,” he said flatly.

  “There’s more to it than that,” she said slowly. She wasn’t certain how she knew, but she did.

  He tossed her a scowl over his shoulder and shot up over the bed. “Hell. I get to have fantasy sex with a beautiful woman. Why shouldn’t I agree?”

  Tania blushed at the compliment, but she wasn’t thrown off track. “You and I both know there’s a good possibility I’m going to freak out at any given moment. Hell, the few times I’ve gone out on dates, tried to even kiss another guy—I’ve freaked. No reason to expect it not to happen now and we’re planning on a lot more than kissing. If I do freak out…well, I know you—that’s not going to settle easily on you. You’re going to blame yourself—hate yourself for scaring me. So why did you agree?”

  “Tania…”

  He stood by the window, his head bowed, the sun shining in around him, glinting over the blue-black highlights there. Shifting his gaze to her, he blew out a sigh. “Maybe I’ll give you an answer, if you answer me first.”

  “I asked first,” she said, scowling. She scooted around in the bed, sitting on the edge with her legs crossed and the sheet wrapped around her like a toga. Then she shrugged. “Okay. Shoot.”

  He came back to her, watching her with that weird, hungry look. “Why did you ask me?”

  He stopped in front of her and sank to his knees, still staring, still watching.

  She jumped as he reached up and laid his hands on her thighs, rubbing them with small, slow circles. Her heart skipped a beat, her breathing constricted in her lungs and for about ten seconds, she couldn’t even remember the question.

  “Why you?” Then she glanced away, licking her lips. Taking a deep, slow breath, she looked back at him and said, “Because I had a feeling you’d get it. You didn’t look freaked out by what you saw five years ago.”

  She squirmed a little because this next part was embarrassing. “And…well. Hell, you’re gorgeous, Drake. I know I can trust you. I like being around you…and…um, well, there are times when I see you looking at me and I see something—kind of like the way you’re looking at me now.”

  His hands flexed on her thighs. “And how am I looking at you?” he asked roughly. Slowly, he used his hands to lightly tug her thighs apart.

  It never occurred to her not to let him.

  “Like you want to eat me alive. Like you want me—so much.” Her voice shuddered out of her and she jerked her gaze from his face. “Sometimes it scares me, when I’m out and I noticed a man who notices me, you know? But not with you. You’ve never scared me. And…well, like I said—you’re gorgeous.”

  She licked her lips and shrugged, going for casual but failing. “I figured if you already found me attractive, and I know I find you attractive. So if you weren’t opposed to the kind of games I like, maybe you’d be okay with this.” She met his gaze and held it. “Was I wrong?”

  “No.”

  It was his turn to look away. His turn to search for words.

 
She’d been honest, and he felt laid bare—she’d noticed.

  As much as he’d tried to hide how he wanted her, she’d seen it.

  “Finding you attractive barely touches it,” he said gruffly. As he spoke, he eased his hands higher, higher, watching her face. “And yeah…your games don’t bother me in the least.”

  He gave her a strained smile, watched as her lashes fluttered when his fingertips grazed the naked flesh between her thighs. “You have no idea how many wet dreams I’ve had about you over the years, Tania—dreams that involve you, that pretty mouth of yours. Then after what I saw you with you and Kyle…hell. After that…well. You can figure it out. But it’s not just because I wanted to get you naked and on your back or your knees.”

  He pulled his hands out from under her skirt, cupped her face. Truth time.

  “I’ve been crazy about you for as long as I’ve known you…but you were taken,” he said quietly.

  “You…ah…what?”

  Drake laughed. “You heard me. And you asked, there’s your answer. I’m doing this because you asked me to, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. And more, I’m doing this because I want you more than I want to breathe.”

  The look on her face vaguely resembled the way she might have looked if she’d walked into a wall—stunned confusion.

  “You…you what?”

  She wasn’t jerking away, he noticed. Maybe this was a good thing?

  Lowering his head, he rubbed his mouth over hers. “I’ve got a thing for you. Always have.” Then he looked at her. “So here’s another question. And it’s one that just occurred to me—is there any possibility this could ever go further?”

  Further?

  Tania stirred the bacon in the skillet and turned that question over in her mind.

  She was still trying to figure it out.

  Part of her wanted to snap, No, it can’t go further. I’m using you to figure out if I can ever have sex the way I like it again. The thought of giving her heart away again, risking that pain if she lost it again, it terrified her. She didn’t know if she wanted to even think about that yet. Didn’t know if she could think about it, could consider it with Drake…of all people. Kyle’s best friend.

  But the rest of her… She remembered how easy it had been to go to him.

  How it felt to wake up next to him.

  How it had felt to fall asleep in his arms.

  There had only been one other time she’d felt that at ease…and it had been with Kyle.

  Could this go further? Or maybe it was already going further and she hadn’t even seen it.

  She was also thinking about admitting to herself why she’d turned to him to begin with. Yeah, she was attracted to him, and yeah, she trusted him. Okay, so she’d be a fool not to acknowledge that maybe this could go further…if she wanted it to. And yeah, she did want to know what could happen.

  She was curious. She was scared.

  One thing she did know? Thinking about trying something with Drake didn’t terrify her. It didn’t make her want to cringe away, or wince, or fill her with dread…or boredom.

  It made her wonder. It made her nervous.

  Hearing him behind her, she turned around and stared at him. Without even realizing she’d been planning it, she put the fork down and moved to meet him. “Maybe,” she said softly.

  His eyelid twitched—the only reaction she saw. He held still, his blue eyes resting on her face like he could patiently wait the rest of the day, regardless of his job, regardless of the bacon sizzling behind her.

  Licking her lips, she twisted her hands and tried again. “I think maybe I wouldn’t mind seeing if this could go further, and I think maybe it’s already moving there. I don’t know. I don’t know much of anything. I don’t really know where to go from here, but the thought of trying it doesn’t freak me out or anything.”

  “High praise,” he said, crooking a grin at her.

  She blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  He stroked a hand down her hair. “I know what you meant. And I know exactly where we go—to a movie. Tonight. I’ll pick you up at six, if that’s okay. Then I’ll bring you back here. In a few days, I’ll call you and we’ll try another date, see what happens.”

  “Ah…okay.” She bit her lip, then asked, “What about the rest…?”

  He used his finger to lift her chin. His mouth hovered just a breath away from hers. “Right now, the rest, as you call it, is in your hands. You let me know when you’re ready for more.”

  The slow, deep, gentle kiss he gave her left her nerves sizzling, burning…and if she wasn’t already so frazzled, she might have decided right then and there that she was ready for more.

  Five times that day she almost called, almost backed out. She didn’t, though. Remembered the way he’d looked at her as he explained why he was doing this. Not just because he liked the idea of screwing her.

  But because he had feelings for her—

  It was humbling, even as it awed her. He’d felt something for her for a long time, even when she’d been married. All these years, and it hadn’t faded.

  This was Drake, and it should have weirded her out.

  The fact that it didn’t was why, in the end, she didn’t back out of the date.

  When he knocked, she answered the door wearing one of her favorite little black dresses. Sweet, simple, sexy, without being too dressy.

  “You look gorgeous,” he whispered.

  “Thank you.” She blushed, accepting the flowers he held out, touched. It had been so long since she’d received a gift from a man, so long since she’d gotten a simple, honest compliment. It made her heart race, even as it warmed some dark, cold spot in her heart.

  She’d missed this, she realized. A lot.

  “So what movie are we going to see?” She turned back to him with a nervous smile, unsure what else to say, what to talk about. Dating was something else she was no longer comfortable with.

  But then he caught her hand, lifted it to his lips.

  And she forgot all about being uncomfortable.

  Watching a movie could be foreplay.

  Yeah, logically, Drake knew this, but he’d forgotten it.

  And this movie involved next to no physical contact, either. He could remember movies where he’d all but had sex in the back corner, back in his wilder youth.

  Nothing more risqué happened this time than him holding her hand, but he was so acutely aware of Tania, that was enough.

  He found himself wondering what color her bra was, what sort of panties she wore.

  All throughout the movie.

  And because of that, when it ended, he didn’t trust himself to go into her house with her. Ending it on a chaste note seemed wise.

  She smiled at him, bemused when he kissed her good-night after unlocking her door.

  “That’s it? No necking, no nothing?”

  He pinched her chin. “In your control, remember?”

  And before she could say anything else, he nudged her inside and closed the door behind her.

  My control.

  Tania woke up Friday, after a wet dream so vivid, she’d been on the verge of climax.

  Okay, this was unreal.

  Two dates. And whatever Monday night counted as.

  They’d had two dates and Monday, and she was already so hot for him, she was masturbating in her sleep.

  She’d hoped for more Wednesday night, had even worn a shorter skirt, a sexier shirt. Flirted. And he’d responded with a brief kiss. A whispered good-night.

  Groaning, she grabbed the phone.

  Then she stopped.

  If it was really in her control, then she needed to make the move.

  Right?

  Chapter Five

  When Tania came into his garage late Friday, Drake was in a foul mood.

  Bad enough that he was dying of sexual frustration, but work was going to hell in a handbasket, too.

  The payroll had gotten screwed up, a delivery ha
d gotten screwed up, one of his customers had been the biggest asshole and it had taken everything he had not to tell the guy to shove it—if he was going to abuse his car like that, then he was going to have to expect some hefty price tags when it came to maintenance.

  What Drake wanted most was a beer, a dark room and silence.

  At least that was what he’d thought.

  Until Tania walked in.

  They’d had two dates that week. A movie on Tuesday. Dinner on Wednesday. And Monday. He couldn’t forget Monday if he tried.

  Nice, friendly easy dates that ended with nothing more than polite, almost chaste kisses.

  They hadn’t had anything planned for today, though. Right now, Drake was trying to figure out why. Just looking at her made everything better.

  Her heels rang on the tile floor as she stopped in the doorway. “I saw Lou leaving on my way in. He said he was locking up. Everybody else gone?”

  “Yeah.” He leaned back, smiled at her, although he knew it was probably tired and strained. “I was going to call you later, see if you want to go out tomorrow.”

  She licked her lips.

  His heart skipped a beat as she reached up and trailed a fingertip down her neck, pausing at the deep vee of the coat she wore.

  It stopped just above her knees.

  Fire-engine red leather, he noticed.

  Just about the same shade as her heels.

  Just about the same shade as her lipstick.

  She’d twisted her hair up into a complicated twist that left her neck bare, and pretty gold spirals hung from her ears.

  “You look awful nice tonight,” he said, his voice strained. “Maybe I could shower. Take you out tonight. Since you dressed up.”

  “I didn’t dress up to go out, Superman,” she murmured.

  Superman—

  His brain went all hazed and hot.

  Then she straightened away from the door and reached for the belt of her jacket.

  All the blood in his head drained away as he realized she was naked under that thing—naked save for a pair of red lace panties and those oh so sexy fuck-me shoes.