Unraveled

  When he opened his mouth, Shiori was right there, sinking her teeth into his bottom lip and then thrusting her tongue into his mouth. After several brain-melting kisses, she whispered, “Condom.”

  “There’s the magic word.” He opened his eyes, sat up, and reached on the nightstand for a plastic packet she’d thoughtfully placed there.

  Shiori rose up onto her knees and looked over her shoulder at him. “We haven’t tried this position yet, but your cock is long enough it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  After Knox suited up, he scooted in behind her, his knees bracketing hers, his chest plastered to her back. Pressing kisses on the ball of her shoulder, he waited for her direction. Because she’d tell him exactly what she needed, he could concentrate on tasting her, touching her.

  Reaching between them, she circled her fingers around the base of his shaft, aligning the head with her opening. “Push in slowly and stop.”

  He groaned as her hot cunt swallowed his cock. The slowness of the motion increased the pressure of the—plug?—anal beads?—in his ass, and wow. Okay. That extra sensation didn’t suck.

  Shiori rested her cheek against his. “Since you gave me an anal play-by-play in the tub, I’m returning the favor. Keep this big cock of yours moving slowly so the plug presses in the right place.”

  “I feel it.”

  She dug her fingers into his neck. “Have you ever worn a butt plug?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Drive up hard with your hips when you bottom out.”

  Knox snapped his pelvis, causing the plug to hit him . . . sweet baby Jesus. Right. Fucking. There.

  “Yes, like that.” Shiori used her teeth on his jaw. “You like fucking me?”

  “Mistress, you naked in my arms is the best part of any day.”

  “Such a sweet mouth.” Another scrape of her teeth, this time right below his jawline. “You’ve let me fuck you and it’s been hot. But I don’t have the right appendage to fuck you how I want.”

  Knox forced himself to focus on her words and not how amazing her pussy felt squeezing his cock and how every time she bore down on him, he clenched against the butt plug too. “How do you want to fuck me, Nushi? With your fingers? With a vibrator? With a strap-on?”

  “Can’t you see me swaggering around with a big cock hanging between my legs?”

  “I like it when my cock is between your legs,” he murmured in her hair.

  “I do too. But before I bend you over, I’d want to feel the cock that would be fucking you, fucking me.” She nuzzled his cheek. “Do you want to hear what I’d do first?”

  “God, yes.”

  “I’d be sitting at the edge of the bed with you at my feet. I’d hand the silicone cock to you, telling you to work it inside me. You’d get that hungry, jealous look in your eyes because I’m getting so wet.”

  “Do I get you off with it?”

  “No. Before I come, I take the dick away from you and slip it into the harness.” She turned her head, letting her breath whisper across his ear, and he shivered. “That rigid silicone is coated in my juices, and I rub the tip across your lips, giving you a taste. And knowing you, a little taste isn’t enough. So I start to push my cock between your lips.”

  Knox stilled. Sucking cock wasn’t something he wanted to try.

  Shiori sensed his unease and rubbed her cheek against his. “It’s not a man’s cock. It’s my cock. You’re sucking my come from it—that’s all you need to think about. You can smell how wet I am. You can see it. I stroke you like this”—her fingers brushed up and down his jawline—“to get you to open up wider. Then I push over your soft lips and hard teeth, over your tongue until I’m past your gag reflex. Think of how good it feels when your cock is so deep in my throat that you feel me swallow.”

  He groaned at the sexy, vivid image she painted.

  “I’m tempted to fuck your face. Seeing your eyes on mine as I’m thrusting in and out of your mouth. But the need to feel you bucking beneath me as I’m fucking your virgin ass is stronger. I let my hands roam all over your chest. My fingers rifling the soft down between your pecs. My thumbs brushing your nipples.” She bit his earlobe. “You stopped fucking me.”

  “Sorry, Mistress. I was distracted by your word porn.” Knox began the slow pump of his hips again. This naughty play-by-play was making her hot—her pussy was sopping wet.

  “Then I’d want you on your hands and knees. Your ass in the air. And I’d take my time lubing you up, because it’s about pleasure, not pain.” Shiori stroked the back of his neck with her fingertips. “It’s not about humiliation. It’s about you trusting me to give you something you’ve never had, something that will make you feel good. A new experience for both of us that erases any doubts about what we are together.”

  His mouth found her ear. “Something that proves I’m yours.”

  “Yes.”

  Another shudder worked through him. Even as he filled her with his cock, in another part of his mind, he was on his hands and knees, waiting for her to slide that strap-on into a part of him that’d never been breached. Feeling her hair tickling his back as she moved in and out of his body. Feeling her soft kisses on his spine. Feeling the press of her fingers into his hips as she held him steady and fucked him.

  “Is this scenario making you hard?”

  He clenched his ass around the plug, and the movement zinged to the tip of his cock as he rammed into her, proving how goddamn hard she’d made him.

  Her sexy laugh vibrated against his throat. “This word porn will make you harder yet. Because when I slide into your tight ass, I’ll slip a warm gel tube down your cock and jack you off with it, so it feels like I’m fucking you with my cock and my pussy at the same time.” Her tongue teased the razor stubble on his jaw. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Drive me over the edge, Knox. I’m so close.”

  He pushed his middle finger down her slit, getting his fingertip wet, and returned to rub the tender flesh of her clit until her belly, her thighs, her arms, and her lips quivered. That slow pace forced him to focus on every stroke. Every thrust.

  Shiori sank her teeth into the side of his neck as she started to come. And fuck if that didn’t about do him in, her harsh cries muffled against his skin as her pussy clasped his cock in soft ripples.

  His ass tingled and burned. His balls were drawn up and ready to blow. And yet he kept up the same rhythm as she returned to herself with a drawn-out sigh.

  Then her voice flooded his ear. “Come now.”

  Her voice had become his trigger, just like she’d warned him. He plunged in fast and hard with one, two, three, four strokes, and then kaboom!

  Knox came so hard, his vision turned hazy. Ass, cock, balls tightened and released so violently, with such molten heat, that he couldn’t keep himself upright. In his state of bliss, he felt himself spinning, falling, and then he realized he really was falling forward, and he managed to catch himself on his hands.

  Shiori bolstered him with her body, with her kisses on his parched throat, with her words of praise. Words that burrowed into his heart and soul, leaving him emotionally and physically wrung out. She gently disconnected their bodies, laughing at his protest that he wasn’t finished with her yet, and rolled him onto his back. She destroyed any brain cells he might’ve had left with her loving caresses as she removed the plug from his ass. A quick pinch on his cock and she got rid of the condom too.

  This was what humbled him. The care she took with him in the aftermath.

  When he could function somewhat normally, he pulled her into his arms.

  She snuggled in, such contentment flowing from her that he swore he could hear her purring.

  “I have no words for that, Nushi. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I missed you. Stay with me tonight.”

  Knox smiled against the top of her head because he knew how much she hated to ask. “I
’d love to.”

  She drew her fingers up and down his stomach. “How was everything at Black Arts the past few days?”

  “Same as usual. I put the guys to work in the training room getting it cleaned up.”

  “You nervous about meeting with Maddox?”

  “Yeah.” Not because of the money she’d fronted, or even how Ronin would react. Knox worried about his future with the MMA program. He didn’t bring anything worthwhile to the table as far as a unique skill set. Ito had mad judo skills. Fisher knew boxing inside and out. Deacon could work with the other fighters and had a background in Muay Thai. Ronin worked with grappling. His only contribution was as Ivan’s fighting partner, because they were the same size. So of all the instructors, he was deadweight, and Maddox would see that right off the bat.

  And the really stupid thing was he worried Shiori had already come to the same determination. Seeing pity on her face would do him in.

  Then she was nose to nose with him. “Stop.”

  “Stop what?”

  “Obsessing. Everything—”

  “Don’t you dare say everything will be fine.”

  Shiori head butted him. “I’m no Pollyanna, asshat, so that wasn’t what I was going to say.”

  “Then what?”

  “I’d started to say everything about the program doesn’t have to be decided at once. One step at a time.”

  Knox brushed her hair back over her shoulder. “You’re right.”

  She grinned. “Ooh, did it hurt to admit that?”

  “Yes. Is my tongue bleeding?”

  After smooching his lips twice, she sat up. “I have something for you.”

  “But, kitten, you already gave me a butt plug tonight that resulted in an orgasm that almost put me in a fucking coma, so I think we’re good.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Stay here.”

  “Nowhere I’d rather be than in a bed waiting for you.” His gaze stayed glued to her ass as she sauntered across the room to her dresser drawer. Too bad she hadn’t stashed whatever it was in the bottom drawer, because he’d love to see her bend over.

  When she turned around, he manufactured an innocent expression that she didn’t buy for a single second.

  Shiori cocked her head and snapped her fingers.

  Fuck. Maybe he should be worried about this gift. He rolled off the bed and walked to where she waited. Then he dropped to his knees. And the really fucking weird thing about it was it didn’t feel weird.

  “Give me your left hand.”

  He did as instructed but kept his head bowed.

  Cool metal circled his wrist. “Now you can look.”

  The bracelet had thick chains on either side of a flat metal plate. It reminded him of cheap ID bracelets from junior high, but the weight and the color indicated it wasn’t cheap by a long shot. His belly fluttered when he considered what this might be—what it might mean.

  “I know we haven’t talked about anything long-term between us. But I wanted you to have this.”

  Stunned by the gift and the emotions racing through him, Knox squinted at the kanji on the flat metal plate. “What does it say?”

  “Watashi no.”

  “What does it mean?” His gaze met hers.

  “Mine.”

  Holy fuck. Holy, holy fuck.

  She traced the metal links with the tip of her finger, and all the hairs on his arm stood up. “It’s up to you whether or not you wear it. It’s not a collar, just a reminder.”

  “Of what?”

  Those serious golden eyes hooked his. “Of me. Of what we are to each other.”

  “Mistress. I’m . . . humbled and flattered.”

  “As am I every time you drop to your knees for me.” Her thumb rubbed the kanji, almost like she were polishing it. “Be aware that since I bought this in a BDSM shop, people in the life will know what it means.”

  “That I’m submissive?”

  “Not only that, but you are taken.”

  “That I am, Nushi. I’m very taken with you.” Knox took her hand and kissed her fingertips, then her palm, then the inside of her wrist up to the bend in her elbow. “I will wear this with pride. Thank you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  KNOX tried not to pace, but sitting in the conference room with his leg bouncing up and down must have been just as annoying because Shiori put her hand on his knee to stop it.

  “It’ll be fine.”

  “I’m not so sure. Especially when we tell him that Ronin wasn’t involved.”

  “Let’s see that as a plus at this point, okay? Maddox’s salary is guaranteed for a year. If Ronin pitches a fit, then he can buy out the contract. Maddox takes the money and moves on.”

  “And Ronin fires me.”

  Shiori straddled his lap. “Wasn’t your money or your name as the signer for Black Arts.”

  “Jesus. I hope you’re right and this doesn’t blow up in our faces.”

  “Maybe this will help.” She curled her hand around his throat and leaned in to kiss him.

  Her willingness to indulge in public displays of affection still surprised him—and delighted him. He spread his hands across her back, urging her closer yet.

  “God, seriously? I have to watch you two make out again? Christ. I’m shocked y’all don’t have blisters on your lips,” Deacon complained.

  She broke the kiss with a smile. Then she stood. “Deacon. Glad you could make it.”

  “What am I doin’ here besides interrupting your game of grab ass?”

  “Supporting Black Arts, Yondan,” Knox said.

  “So do I have to kiss his ass, or can I act normal?”

  “Normal meaning . . . a surly asshole? I don’t think any of us would know how to act if you had a change of heart. Or showed that you actually have a heart.”

  Deacon rolled his eyes. “That ain’t ever happening. And I liked it better when you two were at each other’s throats instead of tryin’ to get into each other’s pants.”

  “You’re more prickly than usual,” Knox said. “Did your favorite stripper get fired or something?”

  “No, she went to jail.”

  “Knock it off. Both of you.” Shiori slid off his lap. When she walked past Deacon, she kissed the top of his bald head. “Don’t worry. Maddox will want to work with you. You’re an untapped talent waiting to explode.”

  Knox watched in amazement as Deacon squeezed Shiori’s hand and mouthed, “Thank you.”

  Seemed his little She-Cat could calm the raging beast in Deacon too.

  Shiori took her phone out of her pocket. “Maddox is at the front door. I’ll get him and bring him up.”

  After she left, Deacon muttered, “Wish I had a shot of Jäeger right about now.”

  “Me too.” Knox dropped his arm below the table and fiddled with his bracelet. It was still new enough he wasn’t used to it, but it’d become his touchstone in such a short amount of time.

  “I thought Gil was gonna be here?” Deacon asked.

  “Guess he’s coming later.”

  Silence settled between them so completely they heard the ping of the elevator.

  They exchanged a look that said, Here we go.