Beneath him, she tensed. She tossed her head back, breaking their kiss, breathing so hard he could see her chest rising and falling in the shadows, her diamond-hard nipples leading the way.
The sight of her, hot and wet for him, unhinged him. “What do you want?”
“More…” she whimpered.
The only way he could make that happen was to give her his cock. He shouldn’t. She’d asked for a good-night kiss. But she’d also egged him on, offering herself up and begging him to partake.
No way could he say no to her.
“Fuck, Laila. All I do is want you…” He shoved his basketball shorts down to his hips, carefully climbed between her thighs, and gripped her as he desperately aligned his crest to her slick opening. “I burn and ache to have you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I always have. It’s impossible to stop.” He took her wrists in his grip and settled them flat on the bed, pinning her until she was beautifully helpless beneath him. “Laila…”
He reared back and worked his cock into her a few inches at a time, drilling down, down, down into her sultry heat, so scorching and welcoming and wide open to him.
Finally, he bottomed out and tossed his head back with a feral roar of pleasure. “Laila!”
“Trees. Trees…” She tensed beneath him. “Red.”
It took a long moment for that word to penetrate his haze of lust, but it finally stabbed its way into his consciousness. He stilled.
Gritting his teeth and dying inside, he speared her with a demanding stare. “Did you use your safe word?”
She nodded, breathing hard and choppy. “Yes.”
Fuck. Gritting his teeth, every muscle in his body protesting, he withdrew from her and yanked up his shorts, then flung himself to the opposite side of the bed. “What’s wrong? What happened? The scabs on your thighs hurt too much?”
Laila whipped the shirt down to cover her breasts, staring at him in wide-eyed shock. “You stopped.”
“Of course. You safe worded.”
She still looked confounded. “You told me one word would stop you, but…”
He understood now. She hadn’t believed him, so she’d tested him.
Son of a bitch.
“I kept my word, Laila. If you need me to stop, I stop. I always will.”
“You did.” She still sounded shocked. “Thank you.”
She softened, then inched across the bed toward him again. Every receptor in his body went off, and when she reached for him, wrapping her fingers around his shoulder and scooting even closer, his weeping cock ached to jump out of his shorts and burrow its way inside her again.
“I did not believe you.”
“Clearly.”
“I am sorry. You do not have to stop everything,” she whispered, leaning closer. “I liked what we were doing.”
Yeah, he’d liked it, too. But he needed to make a few things clear to her.
Trees pulled back, eluding her touch. “Your safe word? You’re only supposed to use it if you’re in physical pain or mental distress. You use it to stop me so I can understand how I’ve hurt you and we can discuss ways to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It’s not a tool to test me or a way to build your trust in me. If you have any doubt about a man, Laila, don’t consent to let him between your legs.”
She looked hurt. “I understand. You are right.”
“You didn’t know. Now you do. Don’t use your safe word for anything other than its intended purpose again.”
“I will not. Can we resume now?”
Having sex? In theory, yes. But she didn’t get to yank his chain without suffering some consequences.
“Come with me.” He grabbed her wrist and tugged her off the bed.
She trailed him to the bathroom. “What are you doing?”
He flipped on the jets in his big walk-in shower. “Shirt off.”
Laila hesitated, her gaze searching. Yeah, she knew something was off and she was trying to read him. Trees didn’t explain, simply waited for her to comply. Finally, she drew his huge shirt over her head and handed it to him.
He tossed it on the counter behind him without a word, then shucked his basketball shorts. He threw them on top of Laila’s nightshirt. Her eyes bulged as she took him in from head to toe, her gaze lingering on his cock standing straight up between them.
Even her stare on him made his blood heat and his cock stiffen more. He was half a second from giving in to her. Goddamn it, she needed to understand that if she toyed with him, he would to do the same to her.
“Get in.” He gestured.
“I-I do not need a shower.”
“You don’t want to get wet? Fine. Stand in that corner.” He pointed to the very back of the massive stall. “You’ll stay dry.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t give you an opportunity to escape. And because you need to understand what’s going to happen if you play with my feelings again. Go.”