“A game?” She queried, feeling a little like an idiot who could simply repeat his questions.
“A game,” he agreed. “A battle of the wills.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You will. First it is my turn to break you.”
She arched a brow.
“You will have your turn.” He gripped her wrists and lifted them to the bars. “Hold these.”
She gripped the metal, as he’d instructed.
“I am going to try to make you let go,” he said simply. “By pleasuring you. The longer you hold on, the more you will enjoy this.”
“And if I let go?”
His smile deepened. “Then I stop immediately, no matter how disappointing that is to both of us.”
An excitable clutch of butterflies was battering her insides. “Okay,” she agreed with a catch in her voice. “Sounds easy enough.”
“Does it?” He leaned down and kissed her mouth, hard. “I should warn you then that I don’t play fair.”
Ava’s stomach lurched at the sensual promise.
“We’ll see,” she shrugged, keeping her hands wrapped around the bars.
Only a few minutes later, she realised how right he had been to warn her. With his mouth he had tasted every single piece of her skin, and with his fingers he had explored her core, teasing and torturing in equal measure. Now, with his arousal so close to moving within her, she was aching to reach for him; to pull him into her. But she didn’t. The tiny amount of willpower she had left prevented her from doing what she wanted most.
She wrapped her fingers more tightly around the poles and instead lifted her hips, wrapping her legs around his back.
His laugh was thick. “That’s cheating.”
“My hands are still here,” she denied through gritted teeth.
“Mmm,” he reached up so that he could wrap his fingers around her wrists. “So they are.” He plunged deep inside of her at the same time, and didn’t release his grip on her. He held her beneath him, making it impossible for her to reach for him even if she wanted to. And she did want to. Her fingers were itching to pull through his hair, to caress his back and hold his arms.
He pulled his hands away and on instinct she did likewise, lifting them to his chest.
His expression was one of frustrated impatience, but he stilled his body. His breath was torn from his chest, and it took him several moments to properly bring himself back under control.
“Don’t you dare stop,” she commanded, squeaking and pushing her hands back to the bedhead.
“Too late,” he admonished with a tight smile. “You know the rules.”
“Fine,” she said with a nod. “It’s my turn.”
He grinned and a flare of anticipation heated his body. “Yes.” He flipped onto his back, and gripped the metal rungs of the bedhead.
Ava didn’t waste time. She straddled him and groaned as she felt her muscles expand around him again. “I want to stay like this forever,” she said, without thinking. It was true. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than a lifetime of this.
She moved quickly, wanting to drive him as crazy as he had her, and she was rewarded by his sharp intake of breath. But he didn’t release his grip on the bed. She leaned forward so that her breasts were pressed against his chest and she rotated her hips.
She was teasing him. It was only fair. Cristiano had delighted in sending her to the edge of pleasure and then bringing her back to earth. Again and again he’d driven her there. And now? She was repaying the favour.
“Fuck it,” he cried into the air and pulled his hands free, so that he could grab her hips and guide her as he needed her; as she needed to be directed.
“You lose,” she said triumphantly, but the words were swallowed by the wave of emotion.