Her fingers shook as she settled them across his own. Then she edged off the seat, sliding toward the ground.
As her body skimmed his, he sucked back a sharp breath at the heady sensations. Fuck, he was supposed to undo her, not the other way around. “Let’s go. I’ll get your things out of the back seat later.”
She nodded. Once he shut the passenger door and closed his detached garage, he led her across the backyard and toward the door, his hand hovering over her delicate spine.
When they stopped, he reached around her to unlock the back door. She stayed him with a hand on his wrist. “Will you hurt me?”
Trees swiveled a stare her way. If she was afraid, it didn’t show. “In my dungeon? That’s up to you.”
“How?”
Her expression softened him. She was worried, and the knowledge in her hazel eyes was far too old for her young face. Laila was so full of fire and resistance and irrepressible purpose, he often forgot that she was a dozen years younger.
“I’ll explain everything soon.” He opened the door, guided her inside, then locked up behind her and enabled the alarm. Against his better judgment, he turned and cupped her face. “And I promise I’ll never intentionally leave you confused. Do you need anything before we head down? Food? Water? And don’t think of refusing either just because you don’t want to owe me.”
Laila nibbled at her bottom lip, then shook her head. “I am fine.”
“You’ve barely eaten all day, and we’ll fix that soon. I’ll insist you eat something.”
“I will be all right until morning.”
“You think that, but you’ll need to keep up your strength and stamina for what I have in mind.”
She swallowed nervously. “Trees—”
“No. I gave you chances. You flung them back in my face, so we’re moving on to punishment. How’s your headache?”
“Gone.”
“Good. Do you need the bathroom?”
She shook her head.
He lifted her chin in his grip. “When we’re in my dungeon, nonverbal answers aren’t allowed. Yes or no?”
“No.” Her voice quivered.
“Anything else you need?”
She hesitated, and Trees suspected she was thinking through her options and deciding how best to combat him. “An explanation.”
“You’ll get one as soon as we’re downstairs. What’s your safe word?”
“It’s red. Trees—”
“Come with me.” He wasn’t arguing with her anymore.
He was getting the truth.
Taking ahold of her elbow, he led her forward. She seemed to gather her courage, like a prisoner facing a firing squad, and headed for his closet. As he swept his clothes aside on their hangers, he motioned her to turn around. “Face the wall.”
Trees made sure she couldn’t see his security code. He’d learned from his past mistakes.
As soon as she obeyed, he tapped in the digits and the door to the dungeon popped open. It wasn’t lost on him that Laila would be the first person he played with in the kink paradise he’d built for himself and his eventual missus.
Trees gathered her by the elbow, led her to the opening, then leaned in to flip on the light. “Inside. Watch your step.”
She descended with quiet grace. Trees shut the door behind them. It clicked closed with a satisfying thud.
Let the games begin…
“Strip.”
Laila choked. “Excuse me?”
“Anytime you’re in my dungeon, you’re naked. I want you completely bare to me, body and soul.”
She blinked up at him, trembling. Trees knew she wasn’t as afraid of a beating or torture as she was of him getting under her skin and seeing the real her.
“Tick tock, Laila. You’re only making things harder on yourself by procrastinating.”
“Why do you demean me?”
The loaded question would only lead to a mind game he wouldn’t play. “I’ll make everything clear once you comply. But I’m seeing a pattern here. You argue. You refuse to answer. You twist my words. You try my patience and do your best to wear me down in the hopes that I’ll get frustrated or tired of dealing with you and give in. That won’t happen. I’m single-mindedly focused on you, Laila. I will get the answers I want. Last time I’m going to tell you. Strip.”
She bit that lush lower lip that drove him insane in obvious indecision, then she swallowed, lifted her chin, and kicked off her shoes. “If you wish to beat me into some sort of submission, you will not be the first. You will not be the last.”
Nice try. “You can’t guilt me into backing down. I’m not going to beat you.”
But I’m going to use your body against you.
She slid the little white sweater that clung to her breasts off her narrow shoulders and set it on a nearby table. Her stretchy dress followed as she whipped it overhead and tossed it haphazardly beside her cardigan. Her indifferent stare was meant to goad him, but no matter what her face said, he didn’t believe that getting naked for him meant nothing to her. He also didn’t buy that it did nothing for her. Her pebbled nipples poked her bra like twin nubs begging for his attention. She couldn’t blame the cold for that. As he’d waited for Laila to wrap up her conversation with Valeria, he’d used the controls on his phone to pump up the heater in the dungeon to a comfortable seventy-four degrees.
“Shall I keep going?” she asked as if she didn’t care how he answered.