by Kit Rocha
With her heels gone, Lex stood stretched up on her toes, naked and helpless. She turned her cheek to the soft fabric covering the bed and closed her eyes, waiting for the slow burn of continuously flexed muscle to start.
"You gonna let me be sweet to you now, Lexie?" His fingertips grazed the curve of her ass. "I don't think you are. I don't think you like it as much when I'm sweet to you."
He didn't wait for an answer--not that she was willing to give one. He crossed the room, footsteps fading bit by bit as he moved, and she kept her eyes shut. Waited.
It didn't take long for him to return. Sensuous silk slithered over her back, more like the fabric looped around her wrist. Dallas left it there and smoothed both hands down her sides until his fingers dug into her hips. One foot nudged the inside of her ankle. "Open wider."
It left her even more exposed, with cool air on her heated flesh and the teasing promise of Dallas's touch. "Like this?"
"Good girl." He slid one hand between her legs, fingers slicking over her pussy before he spread her outer lips wide and plunged one broad finger inside her. Pleasure buzzed in her ears, and she clenched around him. "How long have you been wet? Did it get you hot, fondling my dick under the dinner table?"
"Yes." She could barely move, but it didn't stop her from trying. "I wanted to fuck you then."
"Not much of a show, was it?" He worked his finger in and out, shallow, lazy strokes that brushed over sensitive spots without enough pressure to do more than taunt. "Those bastards couldn't handle watching you and Noelle writhe on each other."
"Neither can you."
"Smartass." He swatted her ass with his free hand, a mere warning slap before his hand fell again in earnest.
The third blow left her skin burning, and she bit her lip to hold back a moan. "Fuck."
"You'll have to settle for my hand tonight," he murmured as his finger resumed its leisurely thrusting. "Unless you come without asking. That might earn you a round with my belt."
Would he do it while he fucked her, lay the leather across her back every time an orgasm swept her into its clutches, mixing ecstasy and pain until she couldn't separate them anymore? "I don't need permission to find pleasure. You wouldn't stop me."
Rough fingers twisted in her hair, and he dragged her head up until she was forced to meet his gaze in the mirror. His expression was rough, a short step from wild. "I never used to." It was barely more than a whisper, but the words were stern. Hard. "But then, you weren't wearing my collar before, were you, love? You ask permission now."
It was instinct to struggle, to make him earn that control. He clenched his hand, his grip steady and implacable, and when she twisted he pulled his finger out of her and slapped her ass again. "Tell me you understand. I want to hear it. If you come without asking, you might get my belt." He leaned over her, his breath warm on her cheek. "Or maybe I'll just stop altogether. You'll have to take that risk if you're feeling bratty."
Lex met his eyes in the mirror without guarding her own hunger. "I understand."
"Good." He tugged at her hair, sending another jolt through her, before releasing it to fall around her face. "Because you're mine, honey. And I'm not in a sharing sort of mood tonight."
She bowed her head to rest her forehead on the bed. "I didn't ask you to."
Dallas dragged his hand from the nape of her neck to the small of her back. "I know, but I promised. I thought I'd be able to go through with it, but I couldn't. Not tonight. Not here."
Not in someone else's territory, when everything else was far from under his control. Lex hummed softly and rocked up against his hand. "You have me."
She watched his reflection as he retrieved one swath of silk and smoothed it between his fingers. "Crawl up on the bed. Kneeling, legs together."
She wiggled her hands in their bindings. "I can't. It's too high without my hands."
Dallas dipped into his back pocket and pulled out a familiar knife. The blade caught the light, twinkling dangerously, as he flipped it open. "Be still," he warned her, then slipped the steel beneath the silk. The flat of the blade brushed her arm, cool against heated flesh, but the sharp edge sliced through the fabric before she even thought of moving.
Her hands slipped free, and Lex rubbed her wrists. "Kneeling, legs together?"
Laughing, he eased the knife shut. "For now, love."
She climbed on the bed, knees together, but instead of leaning forward on all fours, she sat back on her heels. It wasn't what he'd meant--he wanted her bent over, so he could touch her pussy even after he tied her up--but he wasn't the only one with demands tonight.
He'd get exactly what he commanded. No more, no less.
In the mirror, his reflection watched her with an impassive expression and unreadable eyes. Anything could have been going on behind that blank mask as he put his knife away and reached for the silk again. He lifted it...
And settled it across her eyes.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as he tied it, his knuckles brushing her hair. The world drew in on itself, condensed until the only thing that existed was waiting. Anticipating the next touch.
It came in the form of roughened fingertips tracing along the front of her throat. "You see everything, don't you?"
"I--" Her voice broke, and she had to clear her throat. "I try to."
"You've had to."
"Yes."
His hand closed around her throat, over her collar. Not tightly enough to restrict her breathing, but his grip was firm. Possessive. "Not anymore. Not with me."
A lifetime's habit didn't stop like that, with words. "You'll have to show me how."
He laughed right next to her ear before his touch disappeared. Steps circled, soft and muffled. The next time he spoke, he was somewhere to her left, and she turned her face toward the sound of his voice. "I'm going to show you a lot of things, Lexie."
She bit her lip to hide a smile. "Like what?"
No answer. Leather whispered over leather--his belt pulling free of his pants--followed by silence. Then he said, "Hands and knees, Lex. Crawl toward my voice."
Right in front of her.
They'd flirted with this game before, and Lex knew how it went. Soon, her body would respond effortlessly, without thought. For now, she'd have to make the conscious decision to obey.
She reached out, creeping forward until her hands hit the bed. Then she began to crawl.
He stopped her with a hand in her hair. He wrapped the length around his palm this time and used the grip to haul her head up until only her fingertips brushed the mattress.
His mouth on hers was a shock, as much a shock as the gentleness of his kiss while he held her neck craned back at such a severe angle. She barely remembered to leave her hands on the bed as she parted her lips and traced her tongue over his lips. He caught the tip of it between his teeth in a warning bite, and his groan vibrated through her as he chased her tongue back into her mouth with his own.
Harder now, almost punishing. Lex whimpered as thought vanished, and she reached up to thread her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck.
Dallas bit her lower lip as he eased back, but only far enough to whisper a rough directive. "Fuck yourself with your hand. Not slow, either. I want to hear that slick, delicious sound. Fingers shoving deep into a hungry pussy."
Not being able to see magnified everything--the sound of his breaths, slow and measured, and the smell of him, leather and spice. Even her own touch, cool fingers on warmer skin. She started at her throat, slipped over the collar that marked her as his and down, pausing to brush one nipple as she eased her knees apart.
Stomach, hip. She tracked her progress with a shiver and then a startled moan when she reached her pussy, wet and aching with the kind of arousal that took only a touch to spin off into desperate hunger.
Quickly, she circled her clit, but just once, and moved on, low enough to slide inside. She thrust two fingers deep and held them there, the heel of her hand pressed hard against he
r slippery flesh.
"No wonder Noelle's such an unrepentant brat. You're a bad influence." Disapproving words, wrapped in amused warmth. Dallas jerked on her hair, hauling her fully upright. "Maybe I should ask Jas how he feels about that."
As if she gave a damn. "Should I care what he thinks about it?"
Suddenly, Dallas was there, his breath against her ear, his free hand covering hers where it pressed between her legs. "What if he wanted to take his belt to your ass for it? Would you want the collar gone if I tied you over my bench and let him whip you over the edge? Or maybe Mad or Bren. Or all three of them."
She wanted to say yes, to give him a line he couldn't cross--but this wasn't it. "No," she whispered. "I wouldn't want it gone."
He sucked in a sharp breath, and the hand blanketing hers trembled. Simple words of submission, but if his groan was any indication, they inflamed him. He cupped her breast, his thumb and forefinger closing on her taut nipple. "Fuck yourself, Lex. Now."
She moved, rocking her hand in a grind that gave way too quickly to fucking, sharp, hard thrusts of her fingers that splintered tingles up her spine until only his grip on her hair kept her upright.
That, and the fact that he hadn't yet given her permission to sink to the bed.
She had no warning before his mouth closed around her nipple. He was simply there, rough heat, his teeth digging into soft flesh and his tongue lashing back and forth, flicking over her in time with her thrusting fingers.
Her shaking legs would barely hold her. She gasped his name, and the sound was still dying on her lips when she orgasmed. It singed her all over, a burning pleasure quick enough to wrench a cry from her throat but deep enough to curl her toes. Lex crooked her fingers, desperate to prolong it.
He let her ride the waves, but when the final one shuddered through her, he gripped her wrist and dragged her hand away. "Looks like you need a lesson in asking first, don't you, love?"
Fuck. She swallowed hard. "I forgot."
"I noticed." His lips brushed her ear in a teasing, reassuring kiss before he planted one hand in the center of her chest and pushed. "Fold your arms behind you and lie back."
She was still kneeling. Bending back on the bed, especially with her arms beneath her, would leave her helpless and at his mercy. "I'm trusting you," she murmured, then yielded to the pressure of his hand.
Once her head and shoulders rested on the bed, Dallas drew both hands down her body, pausing to tweak her nipples before his fingers came to rest on her upper thighs. He circled his thumbs, stroking her pussy before spreading her outer lips wide.
Not just at his mercy. On display, open and bare. Helpless. He gave her a silent eternity to feel it before answering, "Trust is the point, love."
His tongue found her clit.
Her legs flexed, but he held her hips still. She was still buzzing, and the inexorably direct contact almost hurt...for a heartbeat. Then the buzzing mellowed into heat, and Lex moaned. "Dallas..."
No reply beyond the clever swipe of his tongue. He knew how to toy with her, when to ease off and build anticipation with slow licks that dragged the rough flat of his tongue over every sensitive spot, and when to return to hard and fast to work her clit with arrogant assurance.
He hauled her closer and closer to the edge, until it was sharp enough to cut. Heat built in her belly until her entire body tensed in anticipation--
And he lifted his head.
She groaned and gripped the bedspread in one fist. "Don't stop, damn it."
His chuckle flowed over her. "I'm saving you from yourself, Lexie. I don't think you were about to ask if you could come."
She'd thought that his reasons didn't matter, but the knot in the pit of her stomach said otherwise. "Tell me why first."
The bed tilted by her head, and she could feel him looming over her, his weight braced with one hand on the mattress. He tugged at the silk, lifting it up and away from her eyes. His face filled her vision, a strong jaw with a day's worth of stubble, his crooked nose and those dark, dangerous eyes.
"Because I'm a selfish bastard," he answered, stroking her cheek. "When a woman's mine, she doesn't take pleasure. I give it to her."
Selfish, yes, and conceited. But she'd half expected him to need to prove there wasn't anything he didn't own, including her, so the answer filled her with relief instead of rage. "Then give it to me." Her gaze locked with his. "Let me come. Please."
"Mmm." He straightened and stroked her trembling inner thighs. His thumb touched her clit, jolting her back toward arousal as he worked two broad fingers into her body. "Not yet. Remember to ask when you're close this time, and I'll consider it. Or we can do this all night."
Lost in desire, she rocked her hips. "I will. I'll ask."
"We'll see." The tattoos wrapped around his arms rippled with his flexing muscles, each one working in graceful concert for the sole purpose of fucking into her, faster and harder with each advance, but when she tried to push up, he planted his other hand on her belly and pinned her against the bed.
Caught again, and this time Lex didn't hold back. Waves of hot, insistent bliss began to build, teasing her with how very, very good she could feel--if she'd only let go.
"Please," she whispered, writhing against his hand. "Can I--holy fuck, please. Please let me come--"
"Who gets to decide, Lexie?"
"You." She squeezed her eyes shut as her breath tangled on a sob. "You do, you decide."
"That's right." His fingers crooked, working her G-spot, shoving her toward oblivion. Testing her. "Why, honey? Tell me why."
She barely had the wits to answer, and her voice sounded far away and strained. "Because I'm yours."
"You're mine," he agreed. So warm, so approving. His voice wrapped around her as his thumb settled on her clit, the perfect, piercing counterpoint. "So come for me."
Lex tensed, and her eyes snapped open. How did he do it, have her body responding to the words as if triggered for exactly that? Her arms were going numb, her muscles were cramping, and she didn't give a flying fuck. All that mattered was his hand, his fingers, and the sheer, overwhelming ecstasy flooding her.
"Just like that, love." He dragged her through her climax with relentless stroking and his thumb working in circles that wouldn't stop. "Feels so good to let go, doesn't it?"
Good didn't describe the torturous pleasure. "Dallas--" Her voice shuddered, broke.
"Want something, honey?"
So satisfied. So smug. "Fuck you," she panted.
Laughing, Dallas pulled his fingers free of her body. "Not unless you ask nicely." He traced his slick fingertips over her nipple. Before she could respond, he bent to capture the stiff peak between his lips, sucking the taste of her from her skin with an appreciative rumble.
She'd given him so much, and still he wanted more. Everything. "I won't ask."
"You will." Rough hands closed around her shoulders without warning. She barely had time to smack his arm with one numb hand before he dragged her from the bed and flipped her to her stomach.
The edge of the mattress bit into her abdomen as he braced his thighs on either side of hers and pinned her in place. Lex struck at him, but he caught her arms and held them tight. "You will," he echoed, "but maybe not tonight."
He'd fuck her like this, pinned down and protesting.
He'd do it.
The thought shuddered through her, echoing in rhythmic pulses of hunger that left her wetter than ever, her pussy swollen and her upper thighs slick. "No." Another pulse as she breathed the denial. The plea. "Don't."
Dallas gripped both wrists in one hand. The other trailed up her spine as he ground his leather-encased cock against her ass. "I know this is the game you want to play, but that's not how it works, honey. You don't get to skip straight to this. You're not ready."
She had to bite her lip to hold back a cry of sheer frustration. He not only craved her submission to his touch, he had to define exactly how she gave it to him--and her clumsy offerings alwa
ys seemed to be wrong. "Then can I get up now?"
"No." He stroked her back. "I want to fuck you, just like this. I wanna hold you down and ride you so damn deep we're both screaming for mercy. You don't have to beg. You don't even have to ask, not tonight. But you have to tell me you want it, because you're not the only one who isn't ready for that game."
The hint of vulnerability in his words melted her resistance. "How can you still wonder? I want you. I always want you--I always have."
The backs of his fingers grazed her ass as he jerked at his pants, and she knew she'd won. Maybe more than one battle, judging from the rough way he pushed her feet wide and repositioned himself between her thighs.
"Someday." He guided her arms down to her sides and folded her fingers around the edge of the mattress. She had no warning before his fingers twisted into her, driving a cry from her throat, pushing deep as his thumb teased between her ass cheeks. "Someday, we'll play your game, Lexie. Right out to the edge and over it. That's a promise."
A promise, and Declan O'Kane never went back on his word.
Lex gripped the mattress. "I need you with me this time."
He pumped his fingers lazily--once, twice--only to withdraw them and trace one slick fingertip up to push against her ass. "You'll get my cock as soon as I decide where I want to put it."
She hissed in a breath. "Anywhere."
"That's what I like to hear," he whispered as the blunt head of his cock prodded her pussy. One long rock took him inside, thick and hard and stretching her inner muscles, and he groaned and wrapped both hands around her shoulders. "You'll let me fuck you any goddamn way I want, won't you?"
Lex couldn't answer, not with Dallas walking the edge of her darkest fantasies. She tried, went so far as to open her mouth, but all that emerged was a pleading whimper. In response, he tightened his grip on her shoulders, holding her in place for a single hard thrust--rough, claiming.