bed like nothing ever went wrong between us. Plus you demand that I trust you, and I always have. In bed and out and whenever you bind me. So I want you to show me that same level of trust.”
Fuck. The woman was serious. And there wasn’t any way he could say no. He could try to play the injury card . . . But one glimpse into those determined blue eyes of hers and he knew he was totally fucked.
Totally. Fucked.
Except . . .
“All right. I’ll agree to prove my trust in you, but I have a couple stipulations.”
“Of course you do,” she muttered. “Fine. Name them.”
Ronin rose from the chair and started toward her. “First, you truss me up, tease me with wax, and get me off in my practice room.”
“Okay.”
Did the woman have any idea how much it turned him on when she backed away from him with that sexual fire in her eyes? “You are sweet sin, and I cannot wait to get my fucking hands on you again.”
“Is that a stipulation?”
“Yes. Feeding this craving I have for you won’t be a one-time thing. After we break the ice that’s settled between us, I can fuck you anytime I want.”
“Or I can fuck you anytime I want,” she retorted.
“Fair enough.” He caged her against the wall and placed an openmouthed kiss on the sweet spot on her neck. “You let me bind you again. Starting tomorrow night.”
When she trembled, he knew she’d missed that intimate connection as much as he had.
“I look forward to your rope tricks,” she whispered against his throat. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes.” His heart rate quadrupled, but his fear wasn’t holding him back this time. Ronin nudged her chin up and gazed into her beautiful eyes. “You let me tell you that I—”
Lightning fast, her fingers pressed against his lips, stopping the flow of words. “You don’t have to—”
Equally fast, he pulled her hand away. “Yes, I do, and it is a stipulation or this is a no-go, understand?”
She nodded.
He captured her face in his hands so she couldn’t look away. “Amery, I love you. I’ve been in love with you since the moment you kissed my bloodied hands and asked me to put them on you. I don’t know why you haven’t let me say it to you whenever I’ve tried to in the last week, but you need to know before you let me make love to you again that I do love you.”
“Okay.”
Okay? That was it? That was all he got from her?
This is not about how she feels; it’s about you manning up and telling her how you feel.
Then Amery smashed her mouth to his and kissed him with the unbridled passion he’d missed.
She put her hand on his chest and pushed, breaking the kiss. “You . . . Damn. You completely fried my circuits.”
“Just imagine how mindless I’ll make you when I’m inside you.”
“I can’t wait. But first I need to know where you keep your candles.”
Ronin stepped back. “We’re doing this right now?”
“You have other plans?”
“Now that you mention it, I think I’m out of candles.”
“No problem. The citronella ones from the pool area worked on me. Guess it’d be poetic—or would that be ironic?—if I used one on you.”
“Maybe I have birthday cake candles somewhere in the kitchen.”
Amery raised both eyebrows. “Birthday cake candles? You aren’t afraid of a little burning-hot pain, are you, Master Black?”
“No,” he scoffed. “Just trying to improvise. Isn’t there a red candle in the guest bedroom?”
A horrified look crossed her face.
“What?”
“Red wax would look too much like blood, and I’ve seen enough of your blood to last me a lifetime.” She swallowed hard. “Red wouldn’t be sexy at all—”
“Ssh, hey.” He tugged her against his chest. “Bad idea. We’ll figure something out.”
Amery clung to him for minute and retreated. “I’ll go up to the roof and get those. You can go into the practice room and get ready.”
“Get ready?”
“Strip and meditate or whatever you do to prepare your mind for when you go into rope master mode.” She grinned. “Oh, and pick out the rope for your hands and a blindfold.”
“You are enjoying this far too much, Amery.”
She pecked him on the mouth. “I hope you enjoy it too.”
Ronin stared after her, hoping he didn’t freak out from the loss of control. He’d never allowed a woman to master him. For some reason, that’d always been a point of pride with him.
Pride goeth before a fall—and heaven knew he’d fallen for her hard since he’d agreed to put himself in her hands.
He unlocked the practice room and turned on the lights. Then he headed down the hallway to his bedroom. Getting naked wasn’t an option. Amery had worn pants during that encounter, and so would he. He stripped off his gi and dragged on a pair of nylon athletic shorts.
After washing up, Ronin strolled into the practice room. Amery was already there, standing in front of the picture of herself bound in red ropes.
Ronin moved in behind her. “Have you forgotten how stunning you are when I bind you?”
“Do I really look like that to you?” she asked softly.
“Yes.” He brushed his mouth across her ear. “You look like you belong in here, don’t you?”
“You mean the picture looks like it belongs in here.”
“That too.” He retreated and went to the small chest of drawers in the corner, which held miscellaneous items. He selected a simple black eye mask. When he turned around, Amery was right behind him.
“I believe it’s my right to select the blindfold. And nice try with that one, but no.” She ducked around him and rummaged through the pile until she found the one she wanted. She faced him, and a long black silk scarf dangled from her fingertips. “Oh, and FYI, I found a black candle on your sacrificial altar.”
He’d forgotten about that since he’d been lax in his meditation practice the past few weeks.
Amery snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Focus, sub.”
He lifted a brow. “Sub?”
“Kidding. Now, which rope do I use for the binding?”
Ronin picked up a fifteen-foot length of black cotton rope, half an inch in diameter. “Hold out your wrists so I can show you a fast and easy binding.” He folded the rope in half. “Where it’s folded is called the bight. Move down about twenty inches and hold it as you start to wrap the wrists. Make sure the wrists don’t touch, or you can’t finish the binding.” He wrapped the rope three times. “Now twist them together. Then drop the bight end and the end of the rope between the gap in the wrists. Pull both back up and tie a square knot.”
“Ronin, I don’t think I can do this.”
He smooched her lips. “Yes, you can.” He tugged, and the knot came free. Then he unwound the rope. “It doesn’t have to be perfect or tight. I’ll put out the rope scissors so if you do have a tying issue you can cut me free. Okay?”
“Okay.” She ran her fingers over the rope. “You trust me with this?”
“Yes.”
“I have to ask you something else.”
“What?”
“Will you let me take pictures of you if I feel the shots are right?”
That’d come out of nowhere. But it played into his need to document the art she let him create on her body with his ropes.
“I mean, it’ll be just like the shots you took of me. No one will see them unless you give me your permission.”
He tipped her chin up because she wouldn’t look at him. “Why are the pictures important to you? As proof that I surrendered myself to you?”
“No!” She placed her hand over his heart. “You are such a stunning man. Your face is a work of art. So is this sculpted body. I’d like to capture your strength and raw masculinity. Because, like you told me, the submissive has all the power. Cal
l it whatever name you like, but when you’re bound and blindfolded, you will be submissive to me. I’d like to see if that dichotomy of strength and surrender is visible in photographs.” Amery gestured to the photo of herself. “Kind of like you wanted to show the innocence and passion in me.”
“You make a compelling argument. And I’ll agree. With one stipulation.”
“You and your damn stipulations,” she grumbled.
“That you allow me to photograph you bound again.”
Amery bit her lip, clearly torn. Finally she said, “All right.”
He smiled. “Now that we’re through negotiations, where do you want me?”
“Sit on the bench. Arms behind you.”
Ronin was oddly nervous.
“Close your eyes,” she said behind him. She tipped his head back and ran her fingers through his hair. “I love your hair. It’s perfect. Thick and dark and so soft to the touch.” She pulled it all back and gathered it at his nape. “I love that you wear it long. It’s your rogue samurai warrior side showing. And I really”—she breathed in his ear—“really love how your hair feels brushing across my skin. Sexy and naughty and hot.
“When you made me come last night? And you turned your head to rub your damp lips on the top of my thigh? The ends of these silky strands teased across my leg and I almost came again.”
Jesus. He might not survive her sweet dirty talk. Tingles shot down his spine whenever her breath flowed over his skin.
“Every time you go down on me and you do that soft kiss and nuzzle thing on my inner thighs? Like you can’t get enough of the taste of me or the scent of me . . . I melt.” She kissed the top of his ear. “You own me in that moment, Ronin.”
His cock was fully erect by the time she finished securing his hair in a ponytail.
“Now for the blindfold.”
Cool silk covered his eyes.
She knotted it below his ponytail. “Is that too tight?”
“It’s fine.”
“Good. Now your hands.”
And like when he bound her, Amery’s fingers caressed his arms from shoulders to wrists. He jumped when her sassy little tongue snaked out and followed the cut of his triceps on the back of his arm. He heard her drop to her knees on the mat and he remained still as she worked the rope.
Ronin couldn’t tell when she started to wrap his wrists whether she was doing it right or not. He didn’t feel anything until the rope ends trailed over his fingers and she pulled them up and jerked them into a knot.
“Try that.”
He attempted to leverage his wrists by bowing his elbows, but he couldn’t make them budge. “It’s a good wrap. Not too tight either. But could you do me a favor? Take a picture of the binding, so I can see what you did.”
“No way, rope master. Just keep the image in your pretty little head that I achieved perfection on my first attempt.”
His grin turned into a groan when she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him stupid.
She whispered, “Your tap-out word is . . . ?”
Clever girl, using a martial arts term as a safe-out. “Red.”
Amery kissed his jawline, his throat, his collarbone while her fingers mapped his pectorals and gingerly swept down his ribs to his abdomen. Then her hot mouth engulfed his nipple, and he hissed. He automatically tried to bring his hands to her face, but he couldn’t move. A feeling of panic arose, and he jerked hard.
She stilled. After a few seconds, a soft, lingering kiss landed on his sternum. “Don’t forget to breathe, baby.”
Unaware he’d been holding his breath, he inhaled deeply, and that eased some of his anxiety.
The woman destroyed him with more sweet kisses and tender caresses.
Then she kicked it up a notch. Licking, biting, and sucking random spots on his chest and neck. Nails scraping down his back and fingers teasing the ridges of his stomach between brutal kisses.
Ronin was utterly lost in her. Deprived of sight and touch, his other senses made up for it. The scent of her hair and his own musk. The sound of her mouth on his skin and his soft groans reverberating in his ears. The taste of her lips—sweet and salty. And those hands of hers. Constantly touching him. His dick was so fucking hard he figured three pumps and he’d be spilling in her hand.
Although her fingers veered close to his groin, she hadn’t touched his cock.
With the sensory overload, he’d forgotten about the candle wax until the first hot drop splatted on his left pectoral. “Christ!”
“Hold still.” The next time she dribbled wax on him, she slammed her lips down on his in a bruising kiss.
And Amery was an absolute master in the art of anticipation. Ronin teetered on the edge of saying his tap-out word when she coated his nipple in wax, arching closer when her warm lips and heated breath grazed his sweat-dampened skin.
“Ronin.”
Her voice in his ear caused gooseflesh to erupt.
“You look incredible. Your muscles are gleaming and trembling, your chest dotted with black wax. The arch of your neck and spine is stunning.” She trailed a fingertip from behind his earlobe up over his shoulder and down his spine. “Hold this pose, lover, and think dirty thoughts because I’m going to snap a few pictures.”
Ronin held the pose as she walked away. He counted twenty long breaths before he heard the first whirring click of the camera. The blindfold blocked light so completely he didn’t get a glimpse of the flash.
“Lift your chin. More. God, you are gorgeous.”
He smiled.
“No, no, no. As much as I love that panty-dropping grin, I need you to look fierce. Like you’re in the throes of ecstasy.”
Jesus. Now he felt like an idiot.
Then Amery was right there, soothing and enticing him, her lips teasing his, her tongue dipping in and running across the bottom edge of his teeth. Kissing him, tasting him, swallowing his breath until he felt dizzy. “There’s the look. Like you’re waiting for more. Like you don’t know when your lover will add more wax. Or suck on your nipples. Or slowly slide her hand between your legs.”
The woman made him so damn hot.
Between more camera clicks, she kept him on edge. Fleeting caresses and little love bites. Whispering praise and naughty nothings.
Ronin was so anxious and scrambled that he almost didn’t register when Amery’s hand cupped his cock.
Almost.
Her fingers enclosed his shaft, and she stroked. The nylon material of his athletic shorts added an additional layer of friction.
“Baby, where do you want my mouth as I’m getting you off?” she murmured in his ear.
“Anywhere you want to put it. Please don’t stop. I need . . .”
“I’ll give you what you need.” Her tongue zigzagged down his neck to the spot in his throat where his pulse pounded. She sucked, licked, and scattered kisses around that area as she jacked his shaft.
Ronin pumped his pelvis, and her hand sped up.
Yes. Yes. Fuck. Almost . . . He ignored any embarrassment about being a two-pump chump when his balls drew up. He couldn’t make a sound when come pulsed out of his cock in hot waves. Each firm pull . . . Fuck. His eyes rolled back in his head as he came for what felt like a solid minute.
As soon as his head and his balls stopped buzzing, he sighed.
He heard several shutter clicks.
When had she let go of his junk and grabbed her camera? “Amery—”
“That shot was strictly for me.” She swept soft kisses across