The heat of my desire.
My need to possess her.
Spinning around, I walk with her still in my arms to my bedroom at the back of the house. Kicking the door shut behind us, I place her on the bed and move to turn on the soft glow of a lamp. Pulling my shirt over my head, I spin back around to see her kneeling on the edge of the mattress, her eyes glued to my movements as I try to do everything I can to make her comfortable.
Opening a dresser drawer, I pull out two silk ties that are rarely worn—and only for court—before kicking off my shoes. I hand her a tie. “Bind me. You’re in control.”
Slowly, her eyes travel down to the silk laying across her palms before she glances back up at me. “I don’t know what to do, though.”
Fucking hell.Innocence isn’t something that would have triggered me in the past, but with Laken, she’s incomparably unique. Alluring to me in ways I never imagined.
Until now.
“Whatever feels right to you is what you do. If you don’t like something, don’t do it.” As much as I want to lay her bare on the bed and lick every sexy inch of her delectable body, I’m willing to forgo all of that until she’s comfortable and confident in what she wants, likes, or needs. I’ve waited this long, I can wait some more.
“What, uhm, what are you going to do?” Her eyes don’t leave me as I strip off my pants and shuffle around the bed until I’m in nothing but my boxers and lying down.
“I’m going to lay here, try not to die from the torture of not being able to touch you, and I’m going to enjoy witnessing you learning what it is you like in the bedroom. Condoms are in the top drawer there.” I bought a box the day I met her. I’ve been waiting as patiently as possible ever since.
Turning around, Laken looks from my hands holding onto the rails of the headboard, waiting on her, to the material in her hands, then over to the drawer. “You’ll tell me what you like, too, right?”
Giving her a clipped nod, I bite my tongue so I don’t start making demands as she ties my wrists to the bed. “Is that too tight?” Giving a tug, I shake my head no. The knot isn’t the best, so I know if I want to, I could give one hard tug, and I’ll be free, but I’ll wait until she asks me to touch her.
Christ, if she asks me to.
“I’ve never put one of these on before.” Her hand dips into the slightly ajar drawer and pulls out the unopened box.
“It’s easy.” I grin as she glares at me. For as timid as Laken is, there’s an attitude and sass right below the surface, dying to break free and reclaim her life. I hope to hell I’m here to witness it.
“What do I do first?” I give her a reassuring grin.
“Strip.”
It takes a few minutes, and I see an internal war being waged, but finally, she slips her feet free of her sandals and unbuttons her pants before shimmying them down her thighs. Revealing milky white flesh, toned with muscles from hard work, and delicate ankles leading to manicured toes.
“Never thought I’d see feet as sexy,” I groan. Laken laughs and rolls her eyes at me.
It’s clear her nerves increase as she holds either side of her loose t-shirt in both hands, ready to pull it over her head. “Show me,” I beg like a starving man needing to quench his thirst.
Quickly she pulls the material over her head, and as her hair cascades back down over her shoulders, covering her luscious tits and teasing me with peeks of her white lace bra, I see it.
The reason she hesitated.
Scars along her side. Scars that were inflicted by a sharp object with purpose and malice.
Burn marks dot her delicate hip bones.
Laken has been through hell, and I realize I don’t even know the beginning of it.
Laken
I feel his eyes on the scars and burns. I knew he would see them. Maybe I should have shut the light off. Maybe I should have turned him down about tonight. I’ve spent so long trying to recapture the Laken Cooke from before Mason Miller broke her.
Hale Decker was supposed to be the beginning of that.
He still is.
I know he is. Because I can see from the pounding behind his boxers that he still wants me, even if his eyes are on fire with murder and lust warring for dominance.