Iris
Ronan’s stormy eyes were thefirst thing I saw when I woke. He was sitting beside me on his bed, stroking my side, keeping vigil over me. Evening light streamed through his bedroom windows, casting a low glow on his implacable features.
“I fell asleep,” I mumbled.
“Mmm.” His hand curved along my ribs and the side of my breast, then down to my waist.
I remembered I was angry at him and tried to sit up, but something was holding my wrists together above me. I tilted my head back and yanked at the silk ties securing my wrists to his headboard.
“Ronan!” I tugged, but that only tightened my bonds. “What the fuck?”
He moved like a cat, straddling my legs and bracing his hands on either side of my head. His nose brushed mine, then he pulled back to look at my face. His chest was bare, the taut muscles stretching across his pecs strife with tension.
“You can’t leave,meala.Not before you listen to me.”
I bucked under him, but he was too heavy to budge. I could have tried to kick his knee, but even now, when he was behaving like a maniac, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“How can I listen to you when you have me trussed up like this?”
His exhale was ragged. His head bowed. “I don’t know. I’m at a loss here. I feel like every time I have you, you slip away. There’s someone out there, someone who wants to terrorize you at best, but their intentions could be much, much worse, and you won’t let me protect you.” He met my gaze again. “When Adam called me today, the worst possibilities ran through my mind. It was all I could do to get to you and keep you safe.”
He was a bull ready to charge, chuffing and shaking his head.
“Ronan…”
His hand came down on the mattress. “You don’t understand, Iris. I will kill anyone who tries to harm you with my bare hands. You are everything to me and I won’t ever hesitate if someone comes for you.” He cupped my face, letting me see the stark fear behind his eyes. “I can’t lose you.”
“You can’t lock me up.” I was barely able to get the words out. I believed Ronan, and it scared me how much itdidn’thorrify me.
“Iris…” He broke off, turning his head to the side. “Are you listening to me? Do you get it? I am terrified someone will take you from me or hurt you when I can’t get to you.”
His hands roved down my sides, checking me over like he had when he’d first burst into my apartment. He lifted my shirt, sliding his hands over my bare stomach.
“I would do anything for you. If that means I have to tie you up to keep you from endangering yourself, I will.”
“Ronan, please.” But I didn’t know what I was pleading for. Not now, when he’d opened himself up, showing me his vulnerabilities. Telling me how he felt—how hefeels.
He lowered himself down the mattress, kissing a line down my belly. When he got to my shorts, he tugged them down my hips, kissing and nipping at my skin with each inch he revealed.
“I’m so angry at you,” he growled into the crease of my thigh.
My hips raised of their own accord, and he took that opportunity to yank my shorts off completely. “Well, I’m pissed at you. You kidnapped me.”
He turned me to the side and smacked my ass. “I’d do it a thousand times over to keep you from making rash decisions that put you in danger.” He smacked me again and again.
“Are you going to punish me like a child now?” I tried to squeeze my thighs together, but he only pressed them farther apart. His big palms covered my inner thighs, gliding up and down from my core to my knees.
“I’m not. I’m going to convince you to stay here.” He lowered his body between my legs and licked the inside of my knee. “To not run.” His teeth clamped down on the flesh of my inner thigh, then he sucked the hurt away with his lips. “To accept my protection.” His tongue dragged up my leg and drew a line along my slit.
“Untie me.” I tugged at my arms, but only half-heartedly. I couldn’t break free, but I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to. Ronan would never hurt me, at least not in a way I didn’t like.
“Not until you trust me.” He pressed a hard kiss to my clit. “Not until you understand what I would do for you and how it makes me feel when you won’t let me.”
He ate me like a man who recognized this was the finest meal he’d ever have and planned to savor every bite. His face was buried in my core, licking and sucking, nibbling just hard enough to send trickles of fear and electricity shooting up my spine. He held my hips down so I was entirely at his mercy.
I wanted to hate it, having my freedom and movement taken from me, but I didn’t. My arousal soaked my lips and thighs and dripped down my crack. Ronan’s tongue dragging through the wetness, making noises that were so erotic and painfully intimate, the urge to run and hide heated my cheeks and tingled all the way to my toes. But that was the thing, I couldn’t do either. I had to take everything he wanted to give me without cowering. That was what he wanted from me—to hand myself over and prove I trusted him to care for me.
Ronan dragged his fingers through my slippery folds, bringing some of my cream past my pussy to my back entrance. He played there, pressing on the tight muscles, getting me wet and slick, then pushed in with his index finger.