Her heart slammed inside her chest as the meaning behind those words sucked the air from her lungs. He’d used that intimately playful nickname again. He hadn’t called her Kat since the day he’d kissed her in the kitchen. Was he thinking about kissing her again? By the way he watched her beneath his heavy-lidded gaze, the way his unnaturally blue eyes raked over her, lingering on her breasts that suddenly felt heavy and tingly, she’d guess he was thinking of more than kissing.
Her throat felt ash dry. “Don’t you, umm . . . think we should do this out there?” Suddenly the thought of climbing into bed with Cole didn’t seem like the greatest idea. After weeks of avoiding her, limiting their interaction to passably polite, he seemed to have suddenly flipped a switch, assaulting her with the full weight of his seductive charm. Gripping the tube of cold therapy gel like it was her lifeline, she told herself to stop being such a wuss. You can do this, Katie. He needs your help, and he won’t break his promise.
Cole shrugged. “There’s more room in here. This way I can stretch out.”
Well, she couldn’t really argue with that logic, now could she? Tentatively, she moved closer to his bed. He wouldn’t hurt her. She was safe under the guise of wanting to help him. As she sat on the very edge of his bed, she couldn’t help but remember the last time she was in his room—staring at a very naked, bare-assed Cole.
His brow arched in a look of wry amusement and something a lot less playful. “Are you planning to use your bionic arm to rub my back?”
“What?” Oh, seriously, her palms were actually sweating.
“Having second thoughts?”
“No,” she denied a bit too quickly. “I’m waiting for you.” Maybe if he’d stop looking at her like that, she could catch her breath. “Quit being such a smartass and roll over.”
The bed bounced beneath her bottom as he rolled onto his stomach. His husky chuckle was muted as he wrapped his arms around the pillow and propped his chin against the fluffy down. Katie scooted farther up the bed. When she reached his hips, she popped the lid on the bottle and squirted a bright blue strip down the center of his spine. He flinched as the cold gel hit him, and she let out a little malicious giggle.
“Think that’s funny, do ya?” His muffled voice playfully growled into the pillow.
“Maybe just a little.” She began rubbing the gel in with slow, small little circles, starting at his shoulder blades and then working her way down his spine. He exhaled a moan that sounded part pleasure, part pain. Lord help her, he felt incredible. It was like touching flesh-covered steel—hot, flesh-covered steel. “You have pretty bad knots.”
“Before my injury I’d go in weekly for deep-tissue massages. It helped to keep me loose and maintain my flexibility. It’s been a while since—oh, yeah, right there.”
She couldn’t get at the knot beneath his shoulder blade from this angle. Focused now on loosening up his back, which was imperative for his healing, she crawled over him and straddled his hips so she could center her weight and get more pressure on the knot.
He tensed, his whole body going rigid beneath her bottom. Burying his face into the pillow, he groaned, the muffled complaint a tortured-sounding exhalation.
“I’m sorry. I know this hurts, but we have to get these out.”
He didn’t respond, but she knew he was suffering through it. His breathing had become irregular. After several more minutes of silence, Cole finally said into the pillow, “Katie, how long are you going to keep doing this?”
Oh God, was it that bad? “I don’t know. I’m almost done. You have a few more tight areas in your sacrum—”
He lifted his head so she could hear him more clearly. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Her hands stilled on his low back, her pulse jumping. She resumed her task, the heat of the Biofreeze tingling against her palms, heating her touch as she used her thumbs to follow the mapping of muscles across his flanks. She tried not to think about his heat radiating through those neoprene shorts, warming the insides of her thighs and the sensitive juncture between them.
“Then what are you talking about?”
Without warning, he rolled beneath her. Before she could catch her breath, Cole was staring up at her. The solid length of his erection was wedged firmly beneath her ass. The tip of him was pressed tight against the bead of her sex, and it took every last bit of her willpower not to shift her hips.
A muscle ticked in his jaw as he ground his molars together in what she feared was flagging restraint. When he spoke again, his rough, husky voice was audible foreplay. “Pretending you don’t want me just as badly as I want you.”
He shifted beneath her as if to make his point, rubbing the blunt head of his cock against her clit. She gasped in surprise as electrical shock waves shot up into her core, making the muscles involuntarily clench.
“Are you trying to see how far you can push me before I break? I promised I wouldn’t touch you again, but goddamn, you’re killing me, Kat.”
She didn’t know what to say. Her body was literally weeping for his touch. Could he feel the hot moisture of her desire gathering between the thin barriers separating her sex from his? Her pulse was clamoring in her veins, screaming at her to let go, but she just couldn’t bring herself to take that step. “I’m . . . I’m sorry. I do want you, Cole. I’m just so scared.”
He reached up to cup her cheek in his battle-scarred hand and whispered, “I know you are, sweetheart, but eventually you’re going to have to trust someone again. You can’t keep going on like this. And if not me, then who? I’m not going to hurt you, Kat. I want to help you get past this.”
“But what if you lose control again? You’re so big . . . the sight of you thrills me and terrifies me at the same time. You could hurt me without realizing it.”
His top lip quirked up in a flirtatious grin. “You think I’m some clumsy youth that doesn’t know how to handle a woman? I promise you, Kat, one night with me and you’ll retire that shower head you’ve gotten so friendly with.”
She gasped in outrage, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Before she could muster up a convincing denial, he said, “I have an idea. My jujitsu belt is in my gym bag. Go grab it, will ya?”
Well, that wasn’t what she was expecting to hear him say. More than a little curious as to where he was going with this, Katie climbed off the bed. She could feel the heat of Cole’s gaze watching her as she crossed the room and unzipped the CFA bag. She dug through it, pulled out a black cloth belt, and held it up to make sure it was what he wanted. Cole nodded. She brought it over, but he didn’t take it from her.
“Now come back up here.” Curiously aroused, she climbed onto the bed. When she got closer, he reached for her, his hands circling her waist as he effortlessly lifted her the rest of the way up, depositing her back over his hips. The intimate position sent her already clamoring pulse kicking into a serious case of tachycardia. As she stared down at Cole, she became acutely aware of her false position of power. She was sitting on top of two hundred pounds of rock-hard muscle and primal strength that could strike at any moment, and she’d find herself on her back, completely at Cole’s mercy. At the thought, her traitorous core clenched with longing but the adrenaline flooding her veins sent her fight-or-flight instincts into overdrive.
She felt a little like the unsuspecting fly suddenly caught in the spider’s web, helplessly stuck, waiting for the superior species to descend and devour her. She couldn’t do this. Her grip on his belt tightened as she struggled to rein in her panic. Perhaps he sensed her spike in fear because he took that moment to present his wrists to her—held together as if they were already bound.
“I tell you what, we’ll do this slow, okay? I’ll give you this one night of total control, Kat. You can bind my hands. That should take away your fear of me losing my restraint with you. You can have full access to my body—learn it, discover it, use it for your pleasure.”
Holy. Shit! Was he actually serious? “Why . . .” She swallow
ed past the lump in her throat. “Why would you do this?”
“Because . . . I want you, Kat. I want you so damn bad it’s killing me. And this is the only thing I can think of that might get you to let your guard down long enough to realize I’m worth the risk. But I’m telling you right now, this is a now-or-never offer I can’t even believe I’m making, because I never submit—not in the cage and not in bed.”
She couldn’t believe she was actually considering this. He was offering her the one thing that threatened to break through her fear and shatter her resistance—total control. She’d be a fool not to take it. To have Cole at her disposal, to do whatever she wanted with . . . just the thought of it sent a jolt of longing flooding every cell in her body. Her core wept at the prospect of being filled by this gorgeous man.
As Katie unfolded his belt and began to wrap the black cloth around his wrists, her gaze anxiously flickered to Cole’s for reassurance. It surprised her to see the melee of emotion swirling in his stormy eyes—passion, triumph, anticipation . . . and perhaps a small measure of uncertainty. Like he’d said, Cole wasn’t the kind of guy that gave up control—ever. And that he was desperate enough to suggest this told her just how much he wanted her, how desperate he was to help her. In that moment, another layer of the ice she’d built around her heart melted. She was almost finished binding his wrists when he spoke and she froze midtie.
“I only have one rule, Kat.”
Of course he would. She should have known it was too good to be true. Her anxiety was gearing up to make a swift and devastating return when he said, “No sex.”
What?!
“You heard me.”
Oh hell, did she just say that out loud?
“No sex,” he reconfirmed.
Just in case she wasn’t clear? Oh, she was crystal. She just couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What kind of a game was he playing?
“If you can’t agree, then the deals off.”
He was really serious. Well, this confirmed it, Cole had officially lost his ever-loving mind. She couldn’t believe it. He was actually telling her no sex? And then it suddenly hit her. Cole wasn’t out of his mind at all, he was flipping brilliant. By taking sex off the table, he was retaining some of his precious control, while at the same time axing a chunk of her fear. He was dividing it into more palatable chunks for her to conquer. All the while, baiting her human nature to want the one thing she couldn’t fully have—him.
She didn’t think it was possible, but in the span of a few seconds, Cole had just managed to up the ante by substantial proportions. No sex, huh? She’d make him regret that stipulation and was thrilled at the idea of seeing him eat those words. The challenge he posed certainly helped to quell her last lingering doubts and fears. With a jerk of her wrists, she cinched the knot of his belt tight and said, “No sex, huh?”
He shook his head, looking as determined as ever. “No sex. When we’re together for the first time, you’re going to know you’ve been well and thoroughly loved.”
The bonds were as much for Cole’s benefit as Katie’s. Truth?—he wasn’t sure he could trust himself to keep his hands off her without them. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and he was nothing if not that. He couldn’t very well renege on his vow and then expect her to trust him, nor did he completely trust himself not to break it if she didn’t get off him. She’d straddled his low back to work out his knots, but was only succeeding in tightening the knot in his groin.
Unable to bear the torture another minute, he’d finally confronted her. Frustrated with her response, he’d rolled beneath her and immediately realized his mistake. Her cush little ass and searing heat of her core was centered directly over his cock. The damn thing bucked in response to her pressure. She must have felt it, because she gasped at the intimate contact and tensed, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.
He’d tried to shift his weight beneath her, which only succeeded in grinding her more tightly against his straining member. Biting back a growl of frustration that would wholly succeed in frightening her away, his mind raced with options, desperate to keep her here and force her to finally confront the attraction they’d both been fighting like hell to deny.
Enough was enough. He’d had all he could stand of pretending this elephant didn’t exist. It was time to take the bastard out—with a fucking bazooka, if necessary. But then perhaps a gentler approach would yield better results.
It’d been an epiphany of genius in a moment of flagging desperation. He’d taken one hell of a gamble and only time would tell if it was going to pay off. With any luck, Katie would take advantage of his body and get herself worked up past the point of her fear. It was a great plan—if it worked.
Right now, tied to the bed and at Katie’s mercy, Cole was rapidly rethinking the wisdom of his less-than-well-thought-out strategy. He’d told her no sex, determined to hold on to at least some semblance of control. Perhaps she would be more confident if she didn’t have the added pressure of worrying he might have expectations about where this was going to lead. But now, Cole was starting to wonder if she wasn’t going to use his clause against him.
His arms were stretched above his head, his wrists fastened together by the length of his belt and secured to one of the thick rungs on the headboard. It was by sheer will he remained at her mercy. Though she’d bound him tightly, he was plenty strong enough to break free if he’d had a mind to escape, but in doing so, he’d also be breaking Katie’s trust and forfeiting any chance of being with her.
At first her touches were shy—timid—as the soft pads of her fingertips trailed the path of his triceps to his chest. But from the very beginning, her gaze devoured him, searing every place she intended to touch, ratcheting his anticipation for what was to come. It didn’t take long for her feather-light caresses to grow firmer, bolder. She traced his collar bones with her thumbs, her hands moving over his chest as she took in every muscled dip and curve of his flesh. She missed nothing. It was erotic as hell . . . Never in his life had a woman studied him so intently, so thoroughly. As she touched his pecs, her pressure increased, and when the blunt tips of her nails dragged over the flat discs of his nipples, he knew he was in trouble.
A jolt of white-hot pleasure seared through his veins, he couldn’t bite back the groan of delicious pain arrowing into the twin weights throbbing between his thighs—pressure building, making his shaft swell with the demand of release.
Her eyes nervously darted to his, but at seeing what felt like an inferno blazing inside them, her lush lips parted into a bold, sassy grin that ended with her catching her bottom lip between her teeth. She looked starved to taste him and the offer for her to do so hovered so close to the tip of his tongue he bit the inside of his lips to keep silent.
He wouldn’t interfere—and as much as he wanted to give her bold, ear-blistering directions on where to place her hands and mouth next, he had to let her do this at her own pace. He had to allow her to work through her insecurities and discover the woman she’d buried deep beneath those hurts and fears—the woman she didn’t believe existed anymore, but Cole knew was fighting for a chance to be set free.
As if Katie had read his mind—or perhaps she just wanted to drive him crazy—she dipped her head to his chest and slowly dragged her tongue over the nipple she’d just abraded. He hissed in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. His muscles drew tight, his back bowing off the mattress. The headboard creaked as he pulled against the tethered cord, his belt stopping him from lowering his arms and fisting his hands into Katie’s pale, silky hair, desperate to guide her head down to his throbbing cock.
The thought of those lush lips, that hot, wet mouth tasting his cock, brought a bead of anticipation rising to the tip. Mercy, she was killing him—slowly and torturously killing him. Cole wasn’t sure how much longer he could withstand this erotic agony without shaming himself by coming like some inexperienced adolescent.
The protesting headboard sent Katie’s gaze darting t
o his bonds. She was checking to make sure they were still holding firm. Seeming satisfied that she’d adequately secured him, she gave him a seductive grin and dipped her head, tracing the trail blazed by her hands with her tongue. She mapped his abs, tracing the muscular ridges. It didn’t take her long to discover he got off on the feeling of her teeth grazing his flesh, mixed with the softness of her sucking kisses. Each nip tore a tortured groan from his throat that seemed to fuel her fire, emboldening her exploring caresses.
“You have the most amazing body I’ve ever seen,” she whispered against his stomach as her hands dragged over his hips, skimming the waistband of his gym shorts.
He would have responded, said something like Thank you. Coming from this woman it was a hell of a compliment, considering she’d spent a good portion of her career around athletes. But Cole couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought in his head, let alone put one to voice. Her fingertips followed the line of his waistband, her thumbs teasing the indents of flesh at his hips. His breath stalled in his lungs as he waited to see if she’d have the nerve to do it—would she take them down?
Seconds felt like minutes. Eventually he had to take a breath, and the gasp of air ripping into his lungs broke the tortured silence in the room. The headboard creaked once again as Cole wrapped his hands around the belt, already stretched to its limit, and pulled tighter still. His back arched up just enough to lift his hips off the mattress, silently begging Katie to do it.
She hesitated another moment, before he felt her fingers slip beneath his waistband and the satiny neoprene slide down his thighs. His breaths were coming in quickened pants, as if he’d just finished a ten-mile run in the blazing heat of the Nevada sun. He was ready to explode, and she hadn’t even touched it. No woman had ever affected him like this, and in truth, his reaction to her unsettled him. Desperate to rein in the last scraps of his control, Cole closed his eyes, forcing his breaths to slow as he began to recite grappling techniques in his head—anything to delay the inevitable release bearing down on him.
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