Bound

and legs into an X. She loved the decadent feeling of nakedness. Although she lived alone, she rarely slept in the raw—just another weird taboo lingering from her restrictive childhood.

The bed dipped—no surprise she hadn’t heard his approach—and she started to face him, but his hand on the middle of her back stayed the motion.

“Let me look at you.” He swept her hair aside and placed a kiss at the base of her neck. “I’ll start at the top and work my way down.”

Ronin kissed and licked and caressed the nape of her neck. Her shoulders. Her arms. Her spine. Provoking her body to the point she might come again if his soft lips and rough fingers continued to trail over her skin.

Then his hot mouth found the dimples above her butt and she felt him groan. His breath drifted past those spots as he rubbed his lips across the dents. Over and over. “Your hair is strawberry blond here too. It’s so fucking sexy I just want to take a bite out of you.”

The image of him marking her with his teeth caused her to shiver.

He said, “You’d like that,” a beat before she felt the nip of his teeth on her right butt cheek and then her left. The pointed end of his wet tongue flicked across the spot.

“You . . .” She started over. “Your mouth and your hands should be registered as lethal weapons.”

“Technically they are.” His fingertips floated over the back of her thighs. “Right now I want to use my lethal tongue on your cunt.” He moved and said, “Turn over.”

When Amery faced him, his eyes held a gleam, his mouth a smirk, and a long scarf dangled from his fingertips.

Holy. Shit. “Ah. What are you doing with that?”

“Teasing you.” He snapped the end and the soft material floated across her skin in a serpentine curve from her neck to her pubic bone.

She shivered from the sensation.

Ronin twirled her scarf around her breasts, left, then right, and her nipples hardened. He trailed the fabric up and down her thighs. “Spread your legs.”

As soon as she complied he teased her pussy with tiny swirls light as butterfly wings but as effective as the flick of a whip. She moaned and arched her back, wanting more.

“Amery.”

Her gaze zipped back to his.

“Do you want my mouth here?” He fluttered the scarf over her sex.

“Yes. Please.”

“Arms above your head.”

She didn’t hesitate. Why didn’t she hesitate?

Because this man’s touch sets you on fire.

“Beautiful. Cross your wrists.”

Ronin twined the scarf around her left arm and slowly tugged it upward until the fabric brushed the back of her hand. He secured her wrists together and then looped the scarf through the slats in her headboard.

Amery couldn’t take her eyes off his face. A sort of serenity had settled over him that absolutely entranced her. And those wonderfully rough fingertips trailed over every inch of her arms with lazy sensuality.

Then he grabbed another scarf from her dresser, the one with fringed ends. He dragged the fringe over both breasts, a smile curling the corners of his mouth as her nipples peaked. He twisted the scarf before he slipped it underneath her, crisscrossing the silky material above her left breast and below her right breast. He created a knot in the valley of her cleavage, and pulled the roped scarf taut beneath her between her shoulder blades.

She glanced down at his handiwork. Her small breasts did look good—maybe even tempting—highlighted with the silk scarves he’d twisted and wrapped around her.

Ronin lowered his mouth to her right nipple. He sucked. Vigorously. Then softly. Opening his mouth wider to bring more of her flesh inside. When she started to wiggle, he placed the heel of his hand on the rise of her mound and pushed her hips down.

His control of the situation, of her, ratcheted her need higher.

Amery bit her lip when he positioned himself on the bed between her thighs and planted kisses in a straight line over her belly button, her lower abdomen, stopping when he reached the start of her bikini line.

He glanced up at her. “How many times should I make you come with my mouth before I fuck you again?” He nudged her thighs open wider with his shoulders. He ran the pads of his thumbs up the inside of her pussy lips and opened her like a flower.

“Um . . . twice?”

“Good answer. Even if you’d said once, I would’ve made you come twice.”

Ronin licked her. Delicately at first. Then he flattened his tongue and dragged it up her slit. He drew circles around her clit. Tiny, barely there circles before he pushed through her tissues and jammed his tongue inside her pussy completely.

She wanted to arch up. Dig her heels into the mattress and grind her pussy into his face. But she feared if she tried to take control, he’d remind her he was in charge by withholding her orgasms.

So Amery focused on the strength of his shoulders pushing her thighs apart and the velvety softness of his tongue. His alternating use of tender licks and brutal sucks. The soft silk of his hair tickling the crease of her thighs. He flicked her clit with a firm tongue. Once he started that, Amery knew she wouldn’t last. Her legs trembled. She clenched her fists. So close. God, she could feel that pulsing need hovering just out of reach.

He made a growling noise against her sensitive flesh. Then he rapidly sucked her clit as his thumbs gently stroked the inner folds of her pussy.

The combination of relentlessness and gentleness sent her off like a rocket. She couldn’t help thrashing. The scarf around her wrists tightened and she could feel the blood pulsing beneath the bindings in the same cadence as the spasms in her sex. Spasms that intensified with every hard pull of his mouth.

Then it was over and she felt strangely bereft as Ronin eased back, still nuzzling and stroking her inner thighs, kissing the skin between her hip bones.

Why did Amery have the overwhelming urge to curl into a ball and cry? Because he’d just shown her that she wasn’t a cold bitch in bed? He’d proven that she could burn hot and fast with a man who took the time to find her fuse before he prematurely lit the match.

Those hard-skinned hands traveled up her sides. Ronin stroked the skin below the scarf crisscrossing her breasts. He crawled up her body, his hands pressing into the mattress beneath her shoulders, his warm mouth connecting with the skin below her ear. “Sweet baby. Has no man ever made you come like that?”

“No. It’s only been like this with you. The time with the candle wax and before downstairs and now . . . this.”

He dragged an openmouthed kiss down to her collarbone, the move so possessively erotic she knew he’d left a mark on more than just her skin. “I will make you come like that all the time. You’re beautiful all the time. But you’re especially beautiful when you unravel from my touch.”

“I want you to unravel for me too, Ronin.” She angled her chin and brushed a kiss across his forehead. “I want my hands in your hair, scratching your back, clutching your ass when you’re fucking me this time. Please untie me.”

Without a word he reached up and untied her. He checked her wrists for marks and rubbed her palms. “Any numbness?”

“No.”

“Tell me if you get strange tingling, okay?”

“Okay.”

Ronin snagged a condom off the nightstand.

Amery pushed up on her elbows. “Huh-uh. Hand it over. I get to do that this time.” She plucked the package from his fingers. “I’m glad you remembered them, because I’m fresh out.” She laughed. “Fresh out. Right. I haven’t needed them for several years.”

When Ronin cupped her chin and swept the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip, she darted her tongue out to taste herself on him. She’d never dared do that before.

He murmured, “Again.”

On the second pass she licked all the way around it and suckled the tip.

“Do you like that? Does it feel dirty?”

“Not dirty. Just naughty. And new.”

“Next time I eat your pussy I’m going to kiss you with a mouthful of your juices so you’ll know how delectable you taste.”

Her pulse jumped. She looked at the condom package clutched in her hand and ripped it open.

Ronin watched as she tentatively cupped his balls. He didn’t have much pubic hair. Her fingers drifted up his fully erect shaft, even longer and thicker than she’d imagined. She slid her hand up and down, seeing a milky dot of precome beading on the tip. She’d had this thickness inside her, so it seemed strange this was the first time she’d touched him like this.

That’s because he’s a control freak. The only reason you’re touching him now is that he’s letting you.

Amery didn’t care. She wanted him any way she could get him. If she’d had any sexual self-confidence at all, she’d attempt to roll the condom on with her mouth. Instead she enclosed the shaft in her fist and pushed it down until that male hardness was encased in latex.

Ronin tipped her face up. Then he crushed his lips to hers and dove in for a blistering kiss as he rolled her onto her back.

Her thighs gripped his as she waited for that first hard thrust. But Ronin slipped into her carefully, slowing the kiss down to match the speed of his movements. She threaded her fingers through his hair and held on.

He broke the kiss to say, “Cant your hips.”

Amery crossed her ankles behind his back, giving him a deeper angle. She arched but couldn’t feel the press of his chest against hers through the binding around her breasts.

She traced the muscles in his left biceps with her tongue while she curled her hands around his hips. Her thumbs slid into the deep groove of muscle running along both sides of his lower abdomen.

“Amery.”

Hearing her name as a demand, she turned her head and let his mouth reclaim hers.

This was such sweet heat. Bodies in motion. That crescendo building with every pump of his hips. She never wanted it to end.

Ronin grabbed her left knee, pushing it up and out. Then he twisted his pelvis, hitting her clitoris on every upward thrust, and his balls swung against her anus on each downward pass.

“Omigod.” She’d never felt anything so deliciously dirty.

“Like that, do you?”

Amery answered in a soft moan as he did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again until she came undone again.

His stamina, whether from martial arts discipline or just from practice between the sheets, was something to behold. Something to celebrate because she’d never felt like this before. Sexy. Freed. Wanted. The way he touched her stole her breath.

He pounded into her harder. “Hold on to me.”

She gripped the back of his neck.

“Look at me.”

Amery tilted her head down and met his gaze.

“Beautiful.”

Ronin arched back and came in silence even as his body moved frantically. He didn’t slow; he just shoved in deep and stayed there.

She licked another rivulet of sweat, rubbing her face in his damp flesh, marking herself with his scent. She might never shower again.

When he came back to himself, he nuzzled her cheek. Then he stroked her skin as he undid the scarf.

“That was . . .” She fought a yawn. “Incredible. But you wore me out in bed and in class, so I’m tired.”

“So sleep.”

“Will you stay?”

“Yes. Let me ditch the condom.”

Amery heard him in the bathroom. When he returned to bed, he snugged himself against her back and placed his palm flat on her belly, pulling her closer.

Maybe it made her weird, but she liked that he said nothing as they floated off to sleep together.

• • •

THE next morning Amery found herself alone in an empty bed and had a pang of disappointment that Ronin had left in the middle of the night.

No, he had his wicked way with you in the middle of the night.

She’d awoken from a deep sleep to his hands on her everywhere. Her breasts, her ass, her hair as he pulled her nipples into hard points. He’d slipped a finger into her pussy, then two, whispering, “You’re already wet for me.” He’d taken her like that, spooned to her back, her right leg draped over his as he entered her from behind. His breath hot in her ear. His fingers rubbing her clit. His cock driving into her until they both exploded. They’d even fallen asleep like that for a while.

Amery heard the shower shut off the same time “Wake up, sleepyhead” echoed up the stairs. “I brought you a cup of your favorite mocha java blend.”

She didn’t have time to straighten her hair, or put clothes on—she barely had time to clutch the sheet across her naked breasts before Chaz bounded into her bedroom. She really needed to remember to lock the door between her work and living space.

“You must be tired this morning if you’re still lying in bed.” Chaz paused at the end of the bed. “Wait. Are you sick or something?”

“No. But this isn’t really—”

“‘Or something’ applies this morning,” Ronin said from the doorway.

Chaz gasped.

So did Amery, but not for the same reason. Ronin Black was a vision of male perfection: water beading on his well-defined chest, his wet hair falling around his unshaven face, giving him that dangerously sexy look. The small towel wrapped around his lean hips above his washboard abs left little to the imagination.

“Oh. Oh, damn. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you had company because you never have overnight guests.” Chaz cranked his head around quickly. “I apologize, Master Black, for barging in. I’ll just set this coffee down and go.”

Then Chaz was gone.

Amery sighed. “I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever seen Chaz flustered.”

“Why? Because you’re using your bed for something besides sleeping?”

She grabbed the coffee and took a big swig. “No. Because you’re half-naked and that’s enough to make anyone flustered, faced first thing in the morning with”—she gestured to his body—“all that.”

Ronin smiled. “Keep piling on the flattery, and I’ll have you pinned to the bed flustering you again.”

Amery poked him on his bare chest when he perched next to her. “No fair flashing that smile at me first thing this morning either.”

He swiped her coffee, swallowed a mouthful, and set the cup aside. Then he pounced on her.

“Ronin!” she shrieked.

“Ssh, you wouldn’t want the people downstairs to hear you screaming my name. They might get the wrong idea.”

She twined her arms around his neck. “Close enough to the truth of last night.”

“And what an amazing night it was.” He nipped her neck and then lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “I don’t care if your friends know we’re sleeping together, but I do care if you give them a play-by-play.”

“I won’t.”

“I have to go.” He kissed her. “My sweet, bold Amery . . . I’ll call you later tonight, okay?”

By the time she left the bathroom five minutes later, there wasn’t any sign of him.

• • •

CHAZ avoided Amery all day. Molly seemed chattier than usual. How much of that was due to their conversation after class last night?

God. Had that only been last night?

How much things could change in a few short hours.

She had a productive day, including a few new client calls.

At five o’clock, Chaz approached her desk. “It’s officially the