“I want you so bad all the time,” he said as his hand curled around her bottom, slipping his fingers inside her, the way he liked to hold her.
“Mmm-hmm,” she said, way beyond conversation.
“I want you always willing and open to me.” His voice was low in her ear, and her body responded as it always did to his dirty talk, clenching around his fingers, warming to his words.
“I have an insatiable hunger for you.” He nipped at her earlobe. “You know what I want?”
“What?” Her voice came out unsteady. She never knew what he’d come up with next. The man had made her howl.
His tongue traced her ear, and a hot shiver ran through her.
“What?” she prompted, pulling back to look at him.
“Never mind. It’s geeky.”
“I don’t want to know.”
“It’s a science experiment.”
She grinned. “Sexy.”
His fingers stroked inside her, and she moaned, instinctively moving with him. “It could be if you let me test my hypothesis.”
He slipped another finger inside, and her brain clouded with sensation. She closed her eyes.
His voice reached her dimly. “Every morning you’re ready for me just from talking. I tell you to say my name, right? I barely have to touch you. I hypothesize I can use words to get you ready at other times. If I’m right, I could easily and quickly take you wherever, whenever. I could train you with a conditioned response.”
She stiffened, but found it impossible to pull away with the way he held her. “I’m not a dog. You can’t train me.”
“You want to bet?”
She licked her lips, fully alert now, and met his eyes. They were dark with hunger. He couldn’t wait to wager for what he wanted so badly. Her.
“I can’t think with your hand like that.” Her body throbbed around his fingers, even as her mind rebelled against this crazy idea of his.
His fingers did a slow roll inside her. “I don’t want you to think.”
“Bare, please,” she gasped out, but she wasn’t sure what she was asking for.
He released her, and she tried to go back to their conversation. The bet.
“What do I get if I win?” she asked.
“I’ll rent you an art studio for a year.”
“That was a quick answer. How long have you been thinking about this?”
“Just since I was waiting for you to wake up this morning. I thought it would be awesome to have you as much as I wanted, and believe me, that is every time I look at you, and you like when I’m in command so…”
He waited, letting her fill in the blanks. Did she want to give him that kind of control? She glanced at him, and he smiled encouragingly. Oh, what was she worried about? This was Bare. She trusted him. Besides, it wouldn’t work anyway. She couldn’t be trained. And she’d get an art studio. All of her canvases and paints spread out. Now they cluttered up her apartment, but her own space was a dream come true.
She bit her lip. “And what do you get if I…lose.”
“You. Anytime. Anywhere.” There was no encouraging smile this time, only a smoldering gaze into her eyes. His gaze dropped to her mouth. He leaned in, kissing her gently, tenderly, until she fully relaxed again.
She sighed. He turned, rolled on a condom, and returned to her. Side by side again, he pulled her leg over his hip and pushed inside her just a bit, just enough to make it hard to think.
“Will you take the bet?” he asked, pulling out. “I promise to always have condoms if you promise to test my hypothesis.” They were going through condoms by the dozen. She should probably go on the pill soon.
“Hypothesis,” she echoed, unable to think clearly when he teased her with the tip, in and out. Her body contracted involuntarily, trying to hold him.
“That I can train you to take me whenever, wherever,” he said. “In a week.”
Oh, God, he was making her so hot just talking about it. Even if he was right, there was no way he could do that in a week.
“Yes, test it,” she said because she wanted him. She wanted the art studio. She wanted.
He pressed in again, just a bit. “I’m going to say, Amber, here, now every time I take you until you hear the words and you’re hot and wet and ready for me.”
She got hot and wet just hearing that. She nodded.
His hand cupped her bottom, pressing her close. “You have to wear a skirt for me all week.”
“Okay, okay.”
His eyes burned into hers. “Amber, here, now,” he growled before thrusting inside her. She gasped at the intensity of it, the suddenness, and then she was along for the ride, hot and cresting as his fingers reached between them and brought her to the edge and beyond.
Even knowing what he was going to do, the words he used, the wager, she didn’t fight it. Just stayed in the moment. Because the moment he said it was always one where she was already hot and ready for him. For the rest of the week, every night, every morning, sometimes twice in a morning, he said the words in his growly voice, “Amber, here, now,” just before he entered her.
Still, when she had a moment to think about it—when he was at work, because the rest of the time his hands were all over her—she was pretty sure his hypothesis wasn’t working because she was already hot when he said the command. The words just added heat to what was already there. She could already picture the art studio in her mind.
~ ~ ~
Barry threw himself into rehearsal on Friday night feeling every bit the Pirate King with the greatest treasure in the world. Amber was his, absolutely his, and he already knew he wanted to marry her. They just fit—physically, humor-wise, annoying sibling-wise, just everything. He liked who he was with her. He was that guy that took charge and made women beg for more, instead of the guy always being told to hurry up and finish. He’d wait until after the show to propose just to be sure it wasn’t the pirate effect swaying her in his direction. He pushed that thought aside. That was stupid. He didn’t always act like a pirate with her. He was the stud muffin version of himself, which was fast becoming his true self. It worked very well for both of them.
He wiped the sweat off his brow. Jasmine was working their tails off on this musical number with the police. Most of them had two left feet.
“Take five,” Jasmine said before heading over to the piano to talk to Will.
Barry stepped off stage and headed to the band room, where he kept a large water bottle. Amber was off-site at a costume shop with Edith. He should probably tell Amber, sooner or later, that the reason her painting sales had slowed down was because he was too busy to keep checking the website and buying them. She’d mentioned her sales dwindling a few times now. He took a long drink, considering. No, he wouldn’t bring it up. Why hurt her when he didn’t have to? She was happy painting, so she could just keep doing that. He finished drinking and mopped the sweat off his face with the bottom of his T-shirt.
“Found you!”
He turned and smiled at Amber. She walked right up to him and kissed him. He still couldn’t believe she was really into him. It was like a goddess hooking up with a nerdy earthling. But this nerdy earthling was a quick study, and this goddess was his favorite subject.
“I’ve got a surprise for you.” She grabbed his hand and pulled. “Come on.”
“I don’t have long. Jasmine is going to want me back on stage in a few minutes.”
“I just came from there. She and Will are still arguing.” She pulled again, and he followed. “It won’t take long.”
They went down a long hallway and stopped at a small storage area with a wooden wedge holding the door ajar. It was all the costumes. He already had his pirate costume, so he wasn’t sure what she—
“Ta-dah!” she said, pulling a costume off the rack.
It was a large cow costume—white with black spots. Just like his old one, but better.
She held the costume up. “Do you like it? I bought it for you when we were at the costume sh
op.” She held it up to him. “It should fit.”
He swallowed over the lump in his throat, overwhelmed with emotion. Before, Amber hadn’t seemed to like him as a dancing cow. She’d called him a bird-cow man. But this gift said she accepted him. Understood him.
“Amber…” His voice came out in a growl.
She flushed and looked around the small space. “I don’t think we have room here.”
He shook his head. He hadn’t meant that, though it was interesting that just her name was a trigger. He took her hands. “Thank you.”
“Oh. You’re welcome.” She smiled up at him. “Your voice. It sort of had that growl that means…it’s time.”
He nodded. “It gets like that when I feel a lot. Like the emotion”—he put his hand on his throat—“just gets stuck there.”
She thought about that while she stroked her hand up and down his arm. If he wasn’t touching her, she was touching him. It was constant contact, and he loved it.
He put the costume back on the rack for later. “I thought you didn’t like me being a dancing cow.”
Her hand was in his hair now, stroking through the hair at the nape of his neck. “It’s your art. You’re a performer. I understand.”
His heart squeezed. “Amber…” he growled. Her breathing hitched. “I love you.”
She didn’t reply, just wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. He kissed her back with all the love he was feeling. He wanted to tell her all that he felt, all that he wanted for them, but then she went up on tiptoe, and their bodies lined up exactly where he needed, which made all rational thought disappear.
“There you are!” a voice called.
He pulled away from Amber, but still laced his fingers with hers.
It was Edith. “Toby needs you on stage,” she said to him. “Amber, come with me. We need to do some fittings for the Major-General’s daughters.”
“Duty calls,” Amber said.
She left with Edith, and Barry stood there for a few moments, watching Amber go. She hadn’t said I love you back. That didn’t mean anything, he reassured himself. Her kiss spoke volumes. Nothing to worry about.
But some part of him lingered over that worry until it lodged uncomfortably in his heart.
~ ~ ~
The next morning Barry looked forward to testing his hypothesis. He stretched out in Amber’s bed. Kate had gone home for a visit, so they had the apartment to themselves. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable week because Amber was so responsive to him. His coming up with that bet was a stroke of brilliance if he did say so himself. He had a perpetual hard-on whenever he saw Amber, and once he knew the pure joy of making love to her, instead of getting old, he found himself hard even more. He needed relief; he needed Amber. Not that he didn’t love foreplay, but there were times he found it hard to wait. He didn’t do it to control her, he did it to control him, so he’d always know when he felt desperate to have her again, she would be okay with him, that he wasn’t pushing too hard.
He knew the command was working too. He didn’t know if she realized it yet, but he always watched her carefully, gauging her responses to what he did so he could heighten what she liked and let go of what she didn’t. After just a few days, she more fully responded. Her eyes dilated, her chest flushed, nipples in hard points, her breathing quickened. He fell deeper in love with her every day. Could barely relax until she was in his arms again. He’d never in his life felt like this. Like he’d been waiting all of his life for her.
He listened to her in the shower, forcing himself not to join her. He’d already had her this morning when she woke. He wanted to give her some space so later when he said the words, the effect would be pronounced, a definite victory for both of them. He was so glad her flirty sister wasn’t here. Kate was always hitting on him with some muttered physics or math line. Last time she’d actually said, “There are no lines in this electromagnetic field,” while pointing to her ass. She meant an attraction, he figured, and the lack of lines, her lack of underwear, which he tried really hard not to notice in the flimsy cotton pajamas she wore all the time. She really had to work on her technique.
He waited until after lunch. Amber was standing at her easel, pondering a blank canvas. She wore a skirt as he’d asked and had stopped wearing a thong on her own. Just knowing she had nothing on under that skirt was enough to have him throbbing uncomfortably against his jeans. He sat on the sofa with the laptop, looking up movies they might see for a matinee. Only he was barely looking at the screen, all he could think about was saying the words. Taking her again. If it didn’t work, he’d warm her up the old-fashioned way. Either way, he wanted her like he wanted his next breath.
She caught him looking and smiled.
“Amber,” he growled. “Here, now.”
She flushed, and her mouth opened in shock.
He crossed to her. He didn’t mention winning the bet. Merely lifted her skirt, thrust his hand between her legs, and felt his victory. She panted. He freed himself, rolled on a condom, and lifted her. Then he was inside her, sweet relief, taking her against the wall. Her throaty moans made him crazy. Her body tightened, and she cried out, but he kept going, feeling a deeper pleasure as her body milked him.
“Again,” he growled in her ear, knowing she liked it when he drove her on.
She trembled in his arms, and he knew she needed a push. He slipped a hand between them, stroking quickly over her hard nub until she screamed and grabbed him tight; then he took her the way his body demanded, hard and deep, bringing them both to oblivion.
~ ~ ~
Amber forgot about losing the bet as she was so consumed with being with Bare. She never knew when the words would come, but they did and frequently. She gave willingly, wherever and whenever he wanted her. In the backseat of his car, in a bathroom stall at the movie theater, in his walk-in closet while his brother was watching TV in the living room, on his dining room table, in the back room of his shop. There wasn’t one room, one space in either of their apartments they hadn’t used. Not one place that didn’t have a hot memory.
The following weekend Bare asked her to go to the beach with the bird sanctuary at dawn so they could see the latest birds that had come back from the winter. And while birding wasn’t exactly her thing, she’d found that going anywhere with him held a new level of excitement. She never knew when he’d say the words that made her hot, but she knew she’d come apart in his arms, leaving her completely boneless and satisfied. He was only temporarily satisfied, but that was thrilling too. Knowing it was only her he’d ever hungered for like this. The man did have a way with words.
“I heard there was a sighting of an American woodcock,” he told her on the drive over.
“You’re such a dirty talker.”
He grinned. “I know. But that is what it’s called. It’s rare, and I want to see it with you.”
“Aww.”
“Here, look it up on my app.” He handed her his cell. “It’s not finished yet, but I’ve got some basic data. Just key in American woodcock, and you’ll see the picture and description.”
She did. “Okay. Got it.”
They took a run on the beach. And then she followed him through the trails quietly. Bare would stop occasionally and look through the binoculars. When they hadn’t seen the bird after an hour, she suggested they return to the beach.
He handed her the binoculars. “Here. Pretend to observe.”
“Why do I have to pretend to observe?” she asked, peering through the binoculars. “I know what to look for.”
He maneuvered her so her back was against a large tree. The binoculars bobbled as she realized his intent. He set them on the ground, his hand stroking up her inner thigh as he stood. She wore nothing under her skirt as he well knew. She trembled, knowing what came next, even before he said the words.
He growled in her ear, “Amber, here, now,” and took her up against the tree. Her breath caught at the sudden filling of her body. The man was perpetually hard for h
er. She was no longer truly surprised; she was always primed and ready with the hot look and the words that turned her on. Thank God they went birding at dawn when no one else was around. Her cry of ecstasy a short while later startled the birds from their roosts. His was a guttural groan that vibrated against the side of her neck.
He set her down, straightened her skirt, and zipped his jeans. He grinned. “I’m so glad I trained you.”
“You didn’t train me,” she protested hotly. She just liked sex with him. A lot. And his voice and words and stuff.
“No?” He pulled her close and growled in her ear, “Amber.”
Her insides clenched. Just her name was all it took. It was that growly voice. It got her every damn time.
She shoved him away. “Don’t play with me.”
He smiled, his eyes alight with mischief. “I like playing with you.”
“You’re getting arrogant. I want sweet and tender Bare back.”
He studied her and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I love you. You’re like a dream come true for me, and I can’t imagine ever being with anyone else.”
Her stomach dropped. What this man did to her—physically, emotionally. It was the most wildly intense relationship of her life. She could handle the physical stuff a lot better than the anxiety running through her at his heartfelt words. It was strange. She knew she should feel happy, elated even, but instead she felt panicky. It was too good to be true.
“Say the command,” she said, looping her arms around his neck. “Take me again.”
Instead he wrapped his arms around her and sighed heavily, his breath parting her hair. “Come on. I have something else I want to show you today.”
“You have to feed me first.”
He pulled back and grinned. “All right.”
They stopped for breakfast at a nearby restaurant, and then he drove her to an old Victorian home back in Clover Park. It had a row of doorbells by the front door like it was divided into apartments.
“What are we doing here?” she asked.
He squeezed her hand. “It’s a surprise.”
He led her up the back stairs and unlocked a door to a studio apartment in the attic of the old house. The place was empty and clean. It was huge with hardwood floors and lots of light streaming through large windows at either end.
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