“You seem to be under a common misconception,” he told her, almost kindly. “I told you that I’m dominant sexually. I told you that the kind of sex I’m talking about begins in a conversation like this. And that vulnerability and honesty is how intimacy is built.”
“Yeah, that part sounds great. It’s the kneeling down I’m having trouble wrapping my head around. Weird. It’s almost like it’s a gross power trip.”
“Yes, Rory, because the only thing you’re thinking about is you.”
And that time, his voice was a whip. Sharp and fast, and devastatingly accurate.
She went still, then. Very still.
And silent.
Conrad continued. “You’re concerned about your orgasm. You want another one. Maybe a night filled with so many you’ll lose count. You want me to act as a kind of instrument to make that happen. A fully grown, autonomous vibrator. That’s not to say I couldn’t do that, of course. You already know I can, which is why you’ve come back here. But what’s in it for me?”
Her jaw actually dropped open a little. “I don’t... I thoughtthatwas what was in it for you.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy making a pretty woman come apart in my hands. Who wouldn’t? But I’m not after your orgasm, Rory. I could make any woman come, and have. I’ve already proved that.”
“What do you want, then?” she asked.
The very question he’d asked her, though her question was far more...fragile.
Conrad could feel the intensity in him. His gaze, his face. He did nothing to curb it. “I want your submission. Your surrender.”
“What...”
She looked as if she was reeling, there where she sat. As if the breeze from out in the garden might topple her over.
He loved this part. These sweet, hot moments of struggle.
Before she gave in to what she really wanted.
“Do you know why I let you in my door?” He didn’t wait for her to respond. He wasn’t sure she could, just then, all goose bumps and slick, shocked eyes. “It was your surrender, Rory. It was written all over you. And that’s what this is about. That’s what I want, not that you asked until prompted. I want the exchange.”
“How...how is it anexchangeif I’m the one surrendering?”
“I’m not going to force you to surrender,” he said. “Or to do anything else. You should do the things I ask you to do because you want to please me. And I’m not foolish enough to imagine a temporary scene isn’t highly motivated by the prospects of orgasms, especially in the case of someone like you, who is so new to the things her body wants.”
He could see she wanted to argue with that. But didn’t.
“You’re here,” he pointed out. “I didn’t force you to come here. I won’t force you to stay. If I had to force you, how would that be any fun?”
“But...” She looked at the rug between them. “But you want...”
“I want you to kneel because you want to kneel,” he told her with a quiet intensity. “Because, even if it scares you or repels you or worries you, you want to please me more than you want to stay where you are. Stuck in that chair. Stuck in your life. Stuck pretending you’re happy with puppy love and pointless sex.”
“I’m not...”
“It’s up to you, Rory,” Conrad told her, intent and sure. “Do you want to change? If you don’t, you’re welcome to go at any time. But if you do...” He lifted a shoulder, then dropped it, and nodded once more at the floor. “You know what to do.”
CHAPTER SIX
RORYTHOUGHTSHEmust surely be ill, because she was considering it.
More than considering it. Her body was a mess. It hardly felt like hers. She was all...electrical surges, shivering that reminded her of the flu, and a great, heavy sort of rawness that justsatthere. Deep inside her.
Thick and rough and greedy.
Conrad looked beautiful and remote. And above all, demanding. There was something about the contrast between his stern mouth and the blazing heat in his navy blue eyes that made her breath hitch.