Still I’m gazing into his beautiful blue eyes, even when he squeezes them shut and pulses into me and releases. I don’t close mine. They stay open, locking with his eyelids.
He told me not to close my eyes, and I do not.
He stays embedded in me, his cock pulsating, his shirt abrading my sensitive nipples. And when he finally opens his eyes, they’re smoldering like the ash of a dying fire.
Only his fire isn’t dying.
It’s only beginning. I see it come to life once more in his gaze.
His lips meet mine, then, in a hard and bruising kiss. No ordinary kiss, not even the feral kiss we shared earlier.
No. This is a kiss of two souls lost and now found.
And I know, in that instant, that Braden has shared a part of himself with me that he’s never shared with anyone.
It no longer matters whether he tells me about him and Addie. Or even about his mother.
I know him in a way no one else ever will.
Chapter Thirty
Once I come down from my dreamy high, I can’t help a chuckle.
“What?” Braden asks.
“You’re still fully dressed, as usual.”
“As usual?”
“You mean you don’t know that you usually stay dressed when we make love?”
“I guess I never thought about it. Though I admit it’s on brand for me.”
“Yeah, it is. Always in control.” I gaze at him. His lips are swollen and red from that last punishing kiss. Except it wasn’t punishing. It was violent, yes, but not punishing. It was a meeting of souls.
“I won’t deny it,” he says.
“Ha! You better not. I’ll know you’re lying.”
“I don’t lie, Skye.”
No, he doesn’t. He may keep things from me, but he doesn’t lie. “I know. You want some dessert now?”
“Sure.”
“Coffee?”
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
I rise and hastily pull my bra and shirt back over my breasts. “Where are my jeans?”
“I don’t know. I threw them somewhere.”
“Ah.” I spy them underneath a chair.
“You can leave them off,” he says. “In fact, take off the rest. I want you to serve me dessert naked.”
“Will you be naked, too?”
“Are you forgetting who makes the rules here?” he asks.
I smile. “Braden, does this mean our relationship is back on?”
He cocks his head. “Do you want it to be?”
“Do you?”
He shakes his head. “You’re still the same Skye, arguing about every little thing. Yes, I want it to be, but I’m giving you an out.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not ready to give you what you gave me. I’m not ready to tell you the things you want to know, and to be honest, I may never be.”
I can always get it out of Apple.
But I know I won’t. I won’t betray Braden. I love him and respect him too much.
I strip off my shirt and bra and walk naked into his arms. I kiss his lips softly. “It’s okay. I want to be with you. Sure, I wish you’d be honest with me about those things in your past, but if I have to choose between you and knowing about you and Addie, I choose you.”
“You’re a stronger person than I am,” he says.
“I doubt that.”
“You are. I gave you a challenge, and you ran with it. You figured yourself out even though it was difficult and it caused you pain.”
“I’m far from having myself all figured out,” I say. “Like I said, it’s a journey, and the journey is what’s important.”
“I agree. And I want to give you something.”
“The truth about you and Addie?” I raise my eyebrows, hoping.
“No. That I can’t do. But I want to tell you a little more about my mother.”
I look down at my bare breasts. “Now?”
He pulls something out of his pocket. “Maybe after dessert.”
A flash of red. Then a flash of black. “What are those?” I ask.
He holds up two pieces of fabric, each red on one side and black on the other. “Restraints,” he says. “Silk restraints.”
“And you just happen to have those lying around in your pocket.”
“Have you ever known me not to come prepared?” His voice holds a touch of amusement, but his expression remains stoic. This is dark Braden. The Braden I first fell in love with.
My nipples harden in an instant, as if a chilly wind is blowing over them.
“Silk isn’t the best material for restraining someone,” he continues. “It can get knotted tightly and is sometimes difficult to release. Fortunately, I’m experienced enough that it doesn’t pose a problem.”
I shudder. For the first time, his talk of experience doesn’t arouse jealousy in me. No, no jealousy. Only desire. I want that silk touching my body, binding me.
I look around. Where will he bind me? I have a headboard, but unlike his, it’s not built for bondage.
“To answer your question—”
“What question?” I interrupt.
“I see you glancing around. Wondering what I’m going to do to you with these restraints. You’ve underestimated me, Skye. Remember that evening when you turned off your phone so you wouldn’t get my email?”