Bind Me Before You Go (Entangled Brazen) (Serve), page 3
Be patient, man. Let’s make sure she’s even open to what you need.
She straightened in her seat, like she had found her backbone again. “Okay, I’m ready. Bring on the freaky.”
He couldn’t help but stare at that pink mouth of hers. He wanted to know what that mouth felt like on the underside of his jaw, on the sensitive skin of his inner thigh, and, of course, around the head of his cock. But he shook that particular stream of consciousness aside to get back to the matter at hand: her list.
“Not trying to overstep or anything, but let’s get the more extreme stuff on or off the table.”
“Extreme stuff?”
He pointed to that category of kinks on the application. “Fire play, hot wax, humiliation. Dressing up like an animal.”
Cassidy had been mid-sip when he gave that example, and she practically did a spit-take across the table. Instead, she choked for a few seconds. He gave her a couple of firm whacks on the back.
“Hey, you all right? Sorry ’bout that.”
She waved him off, then took the partially shredded napkin and wiped under her eyes with it. “It’s fine, but give a girl a warning before you go to that level of funky town, okay?”
The edge of his mouth twitched into a smile. “Sure thing.”
He knew he shouldn’t, but Christ, he wanted to touch her. So he brushed her hair out of her line of vision, a feather-light moment of contact. Her expression softened, and he wanted to keep touching her, but he needed to build this thing between them the right way, which meant he had to remain focused. He reluctantly turned his attention back to the list.
By the time they made it through the more hardcore stuff on the list, they had both finished their drinks, and he noticed that while she wasn’t drunk, she definitely seemed a bit tipsy.
She rested her elbow on the table and leaned her cheek against her open palm, then cocked her head so her hair fell softly to the side.
“Okay, let’s go over some of the softer, more traditional stuff,” he said. “Do you like when someone sucks on your nipples?” She lifted her head at that mention. Bingo.
“Yes,” she said. “I like that very much.”
He kept going. “Okay. More personal. What about while they’re fingering you?”
She glanced at his lips while absentmindedly running the tip of her tongue against the seam of hers.
“Cass,” he murmured.
So slowly, as if she had all the time in the world, her eyes met his. “Yes, David?”
She was being flirty, and there was only so much restraint he had left. “You keep staring at my mouth like that. Like you want me to kiss you.”
The corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled. “Maybe I do.” She dropped her arm and leaned forward. “Ever consider that?”
He took in a cleansing breath. This is it. He had to know if she was made for him as much as he hoped, as much as he suspected.
He pointed to a section on the list of kinks. “Have you ever been tied up? Been bound by someone who knows exactly where you need it tight and where you need room to breathe? Someone so in sync with you that just a slight hitch of your breath tells him exactly what to do to you, what you need…”
“N-no,” she whispered hoarsely, her excitement making her stutter. “Not even close.”
“Think you might like someone to do that to you?”
“No,” she answered and now it was his eyes that went wide. Had he been reading the signs wrong?
“I don’t want someone to do that to me.” She cleared her throat but didn’t otherwise waver. “I want you to do that to me.”
Ah, thank fuck, thank fuck, thank fuck…
He surged toward her, dove his fingers into her hair, and brought that temptress of a mouth close to his. He paused for a second, though, scanning her face, making sure she was down with the way he was taking over.
And when her face broke out in the most luminous smile he’d ever seen? He knew he’d made the right call.
“You need to get ready, because I want a taste of that pink mouth. You want that?”
She nodded, and that was all he needed.
His eyes fell from her lust-hazy gaze onto those bee-stung lips, and he leaned in and got a taste of her. And goddamn it, this woman tasted like sweet mint, like fucking summertime. Even better was that she immediately opened for him. Her tongue sought his, and all the while she practically mewed into his mouth.
He wrapped his other hand around her jaw and pressed himself into her. Her softness melted into his . She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him even further into her body, as if she wanted to crawl under his skin.
He’d fucked a lot of women in his life, but never, never had he responded to someone the way he was to her. This was beyond sexual chemistry—what it was exactly, he had no idea, but fuck it, he didn’t care. Let her dissolve into him, as long as he got to sink himself into the velvet heaven between her legs and see how much she unraveled when she came for him.
His voice so rough with need he could hear it, he whispered in her ear, “Do you want me to take you home or do you need to wait for your friend?”
The last thing he wanted to hear was that she’d made some kind of girl-code promise to wait for her friend. And yet, as much as he wanted to drag her out of the club like a goddamn caveman, put her on the back of his bike, and lock her in his house and under his body indefinitely, he wasn’t going to be a pushy douche bag to get his way. He also didn’t want to scare her off, and given the hesitation she’d shown as they went over her kinks, he knew she wasn’t the kind of woman who’d open herself to him so freely.
She needed to feel safe first. Very well. His own kink—the kink he couldn’t help but hope she’d take part in—required her to feel safe before they could move on to anything else. If he wanted that dream to become a reality, he’d make a few concessions for her sake.
“Allie’s a big girl. This may not be my gig, but she did tell me it’s safe at Serve. She just needed me here in the beginning.”
He stilled. “This isn’t your gig? Then why are we filling out an application for you?”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t think…” She sucked in a breath. “I have nothing against the lifestyle, but, well, I don’t know…” She averted her gaze, looking truly unsure of herself for the first time that night.
“Yes, you do,” he said. She was hesitating, but he could see the naked desire in her eyes. She just needed a little push to claim what she wanted. “Finish what you were thinking.”
Her teeth dragged across her lusciously full bottom lip. In seconds that felt like a lifetime, she expelled a breath and gave him her eyes, a hint of a challenge within them.
“It’s just that I can’t imagine coming into a club and trusting my deepest, most privately held fantasies with someone I’ve never met before. Sex is personal for me. It’s not a casual hobby, and I have a hard enough time giving up control with someone I’m close to.” She paused, as if she’d realized just how open she’d been.
His chest swelled. She didn’t realize it—not yet—but what she’d said only proved to him how perfect she would be for his brand of Shibari. There’d be no need for her to give up control or trust. On the contrary…
“What you need is a guide, someone you can get to know, be comfortable with. Someone to earn your trust. Someone you can share control with, not someone who will try to take it from you. Someone who understands that submission can be mutual.”
Her mouth fell open.
Jackpot.
…
Cassidy was definitely still all about keeping control for herself, but if he didn’t kiss her again soon, she would grab him and do it herself—
“Ready to go, sweetie?”
They both looked up and saw Allie standing there with Leo, regarding Cassidy and David with expressions vacillating between surprise and amusement.
Wow. Had it already been an hour?
“Are we interrupting something?” Leo asked.
“No, of course not! Um, I mean, we were just talking,” Cassidy answered a bit too quickly, like a teenager caught making out with a boy. God, she felt like a teenager again, her body inflamed, desperate for David’s touch.
“So, how was the class?” Cass asked.
Allie gave her a quick wink. “In a word? Enlightening.”
Leo cleared his throat and placed a possessive hand on her lower back. “You ready for the full tour?”
“I don’t know,” Allie said. “What do you think, Cassidy? Should I stay?”
Cassidy shared a glance with David. He, too, seemed amused at the game between Allie and Leo.
“Depends on how long the tour lasts. I can stay at the bar a little longer.”
“Oh,” Allie said. “I didn’t think about that. I don’t want you to have to wait around for me.”
“I can give her a ride,” David said. He glanced at Cassidy. “If that’s what you want.”
Cassidy swallowed. She knew what that meant. If she didn’t want to sleep with him, she had to cut this off now. But she’d die if she didn’t feel his lips on hers at least one more time.
Wow, where had that come from? A few hours ago she’d barely been able to keep her eyes open. Now she felt more alive than she could remember feeling in years.
“Okay,” she said.
Leo brought his mouth close to Allie’s ear. “Problem solved.”
Cassidy had come to the club concerned Allie would get into something she couldn’t handle, but she had to admit, the way Leo was looking at Allie—with pure lust, but also with a sincere kindness in his eyes, which suggested he’d never hurt her as they explored their sexuality together—promised that Allie was in good hands.
“I’ll see you later, okay?” Allie said. “Don’t wait up for me.”
Cassidy watched them go while mindlessly scratching her head and expelling a sigh. “Um…okay, I guess. Be careful!” she called out, with Allie returning a careless wave as her only reply.
“No need to look so worried, Cassidy,” David said. He was near enough to feel her body heat, the warmth of her caressing him. “Leo’s a good guy. He won’t hurt her.”
She just stared, but already she felt her attention going back to David, to every nuance of his strong, squared features, to his expression, to the heat emanating from his muscular frame. He reached for her again and threaded his fingers through her hair, and then he gently grabbed the nape of her neck.
“If you don’t want this, now’s the time to walk away,” he rumbled, his eyes scorching hers.
“I…I don’t even know what this is yet,” she breathed.
He cupped her face in his hands, studied her eyes for a beat, and then leaned into her. There was nothing soft or hesitant about the way he kissed her.
She only froze for a couple of seconds before she responded to him with equal passion. She grabbed his hair in her hands and brought him even closer to her body.
He growled into her mouth and moved his hands down her sides before squeezing her ass in both of his hands. She gasped then and broke free of their kiss to search his face. There was need in his expression, too.
“Getting an idea what this is yet?” he said, not a hint of teasing in his voice.
“Maybe,” she breathlessly answered. She rubbed her lips together, savoring his kiss. “It’s obvious there’s some intense chemistry between us. And even though I’m trying to let go more, you need to know…” She turned her head away, collected a bit of courage, and then met his gaze again. “I’m not like Allison. Don’t get me wrong, she’s awesome, but I’m not built like her. Impetuous, carpe diem, all that shit.”
“I appreciate the heads up, honey, but you’ve gotta know I find it all kinds of cute that you’d even spend a fucking second thinking that I’d mix up the kind of girl she is with the kind of woman you are.”
Cassidy’s eyes rounded and her mouth opened, but no words would come out.
“My bike’s just a few blocks away,” he replied, already taking her hand in his and lacing their fingers together.
She couldn’t hold back a small smile. “Okay… But David?”
“Right here, honey,” he roughly whispered, like his need to touch her was barely contained.
“You need to know that I’m not going home with you tonight.”
“I know that already.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “That’s because I’m going home with you.”
Chapter Three
Everything about David screamed alpha male, but when he convinced her to get onto the back of his bike and ride with him to her apartment, she realized a better description might be Jedi-Mind-Trick-Master.
She never took rides home from men, let alone on a motorcycle.
Christ, the man might as well have waved his fingers in front of her face like Obi-Wan Kenobi.
These are not the droids you’re looking for.
She went to throw her leg over the back of the bike, but he held up his hand.
“Just a second,” he said.
“Something wrong?”
“Get your phone. Just a precaution for your own safety. Take a picture of my driver’s license”—he held it out—“and text it to a few close friends. I swear you’ve got nothing to worry about with me. But in order to be safe, you’ve gotta be smart. And that’s a small way to do it.”
“Do you want to see my license?” she teased. “Because you don’t know. I could be this fly-under-the-radar, ninja warrior assassin luring you into my lair.”
That particular line of smart-ass earned her a smile that made his good looks a million times more electric.
“Sounds like the perfect way to go, so bring it on, honey.”
He seemed too good to be true. Every time she tried to impose some sort of boundary with him, all he had to do was remind her that whatever limit she needed, he would respect it, and suddenly she felt the need for that ‘line-in-the-sand’ melt away.
How long had she lived like this, assuming these boundaries were necessary when really she was keeping herself safe from what she truly wanted?
God…what she truly wanted. She didn’t even know what that was, only knew that whatever David was offering had awoken something in her that felt true and essential.
Was she ready for this?
“I don’t think you should come upstairs,” she said.
He locked her with his seductive gaze. “That’s your choice. But I want to come upstairs with you. And I think you want that, too.”
She swallowed. From another man, his words would have come across like a power play. A deception to make it seem like he cared about what she wanted. But from David? One more boundary fell away.
When they went inside her apartment, she expected him to go full throttle into Operation Seduction. Instead, he threw his jacket over a chair and took his time scanning the apartment.
She was usually really good at reading people, but he gave nothing away as he sauntered through. When he got to her room, he studied the books she had on her shelves, as well as her entire record collection. He took her Van Morrison record off the shelf and raised his eyebrow at her.
She understood his unspoken question. This okay?
She nodded, and he took it out of its protective sleeve and got it going on her turntable. She sat on the edge of her bed while David remained in a deep knee squat.
The man practically oozed sexuality. Which in itself wasn’t new for her. She’d been with alpha men before, guys who knew what they wanted and how to get it, their eagerness so powerful that it had overwhelmed her.
For a while, it had been enough to disappear into their desire. As long as they were happy, wasn’t that enough? But now she knew she had needs, too. And David’s insistence that whatever happened between them included those needs made her half scared, half inflamed.
“We just met tonight,” she said. “Don’t you think it’s a tad presumptuous to judge what’s really me and what isn’t?”
A ghost of a smile appeared, along with an arched eyebrow. “You want to play that game? Because I’m all up for playing with you.”
She leaned forward on the edge of the bed. Then he surprised her by reaching for her feet and taking off her heels.
“What are you doing?”
Instead of answering, he took her foot in hand and started pressing deep into her arches, all the while never diverting his gaze from hers. She gasped as pleasure radiated from his firm touch.
Her eyelids got heavy as all of her bundled up tension dissolved.
“Do you want me to keep going?” he asked.
She let out a long breath and nodded. It really did feel amazing.
He took her other foot and kept up the same rhythm and pressure into her flesh. She fell back on her elbows, and her head lolled off to the side.
“Fuck, when I see you melt like that…” he choked out, rising up and over her, his grip on her thighs strong. He was watching her, waiting for her to say…what?
Her breath felt shallow. A heat rose from her core and spread through her entire body. She’d never felt such intense desire.
“Finish what you were saying,” she said.
“If you could have me do anything to you, what would you want?”
“Anything?”
He nodded.
“I don’t know,” she muttered, averting her eyes.
“Think about what you put on your application,” he answered, while gently taking her by the chin so she was forced to meet his eye. “I could suck on your nipples while fingering you…” He leaned in and gave her a gentle, almost chaste kiss. “I could blindfold you and work you up to a frenzied pitch…” He moved the kiss down the curve of her neck, nipping the sensitive skin with his teeth. “Or I could spread your legs and work your clit with my tongue.”
She swallowed, and he must have seen the change in her.
“Is that what you want?” He licked his lips. “Just say yes, and I will.”
Now she understood what he was waiting for. He was like a caged beast waiting for a command to release his passion.
No, like they were both caged, and he was inviting her to join him in breaking free.
