Unraveled (9 page)

She’d made him come on command.

That’d never happened to him before.

When Shiori touched his face, he jumped.

He peeled his eyes open and looked at her. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She caressed his cheek. “You did very well.”

He didn’t know what to say
. Thanks for the erotic torture?

“Your eyes got a little dreamy. What were you thinking?”

That I could get used to feeling like this
. But that seemed too . . . honest, so he backtracked. “Are you giving me equal time
to touch you?”

“If I say no, what will you do?”

Knox pushed a chunk of her hair over her shoulder. “Yell. Curse. Throw shit.” He smiled.
“Kidding. I’d be disappointed because I’ve been dying to get my hands all over your
beautiful body.”

She kissed his abused nipple. “I want your hands on me. But there are parameters.
No touching my pussy unless I specifically tell you to. And that means with your hands,
your mouth, or your cock.”

He grinned. “Good thing you clarified that.”

She pushed into a sitting position. “Clean yourself up. There’s a bathroom in the
hallway.”

As he washed himself off, he had time to think. Tonight hadn’t gone at all like he’d
expected. He hadn’t equated Dommes with a loving touch—except for after they beat
the shit out of their subs.

They hadn’t talked about pain play; hell, they hadn’t really talked about anything
besides trying this out once and seeing where it went.

“Knox? Did you fall in?” Shiori yelled from the bedroom.

He dried his hands and returned to her. “Sorry. Got a little lost in thought.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“You.” He wrapped his hand around her ankle and playfully tugged. “Are you still wearing
clothes because you want me to take them off you?”

“What if I asked you to work around them?”

“I’d ask if that was an order or a suggestion. Because I really want to see you in
nothing but skin, ma’am.”

Shiori grabbed the bottom band of her sports bra and pulled it over her head.

Knox was so focused on those fucking perfect tits that he almost missed her hiking
up her hips and ditching her spandex shorts. He groaned when she rolled over and he
got his first glimpse of her bare ass.

She sent him a saucy look over her shoulder. “Now, why don’t you show me what those
big hands can do.”

Oh, he planned to use more than his hands. And just because she hadn’t talked while
she drove him wild didn’t mean he’d do the same.

He rested on his haunches over her thighs. She hadn’t spread out yet; he’d move her
as he wanted. He brushed the hair from her cheek and spread that black silk out across
the mattress. “Why’d you cut your hair?” When she’d arrived in Denver, the ends of
her hair had reached the curve of her ass.

“I wanted a change.”

He kept stroking the black tresses, starting at the top of her scalp. “When you first
came to class and you had that deadly double braid, I fantasized about wrapping my
hands around it and holding you in place while I tasted your sassy mouth.”

“I would’ve thrown you on your ass if you’d tried it, even when I secretly might’ve
liked it.”

“We’ve been circling each other for a while.” Knox traced the
outside of her ear with his lips. Then he placed a soft, lingering kiss in the hollow
below her lobe. He nuzzled the nape of her neck, and she couldn’t hide the shiver.
Her reactions gave him a road map of how she liked to be touched.

He used his teeth.

He used his tongue.

He used the long, sensual scrape of his callused fingers.

By the time he reached that bitable ass, he worshipped those taut round globes, all
the while basking in the sweet scent of her wet pussy drifting from between her legs.
“Goddamn, I love your ass.”

“I can tell.”

He massaged her thighs and her calves. Before he turned her over, he layered his naked,
aroused body to hers, pressing his groin into the bottom curve of her ass. “I want
to take you like this sometime. Me moving on you, in you, as hard and fast or as long
and sweet as you want. Using my mouth on your shoulders and the back of your neck,
seeing if I could make you come just from that.”

Shiori wiggled her butt and canted her hips. “Off.”

“Why? Am I tempting you?”

“No. You’re squishing me.”

Such a little liar. But he said, “Yes, ma’am.” Before he asked her to turn over, he
ran his hands over every delicious inch of her one more time. Then he patted her hip.
“Other side, please.”

Before she could spout off a reminder of her rules, he fastened his mouth to hers
and kissed her. And kept on kissing her until some of the tension left her body.

He should’ve gradually moved from her mouth down her neck, but he made a beeline straight
for her tits. He straddled her body so he could get both hands on that firm, soft
flesh. “Look at you. These are perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect.” Dipping his head,
he tickled the tip with a small flick of his tongue. As soon as the skin puckered,
he latched on and drew strongly.

Her back arched and her hands fisted in his hair.

Yeah. That’s what he wanted. An unpracticed reaction out of her.

He kneaded her other breast and switched sides, licking and sucking. Pushing her breasts
together put her nipples so close that he could almost get them both in his mouth
at the same time.

Once she’d quit writhing, he slid his hands down the sides of her body, palming her
rib cage and letting his thumbs drag down the indent in her torso. Her core muscles
were tight, even in rest. He paused when the base of his hands rested on her hips.
Shiori was compact here too, but as he’d been on the receiving end of her hip throws,
he knew size was deceiving.

His thumbs stroked the section below her belly button, and her skin rippled. He focused
his attention on that area, teasing with his lips and breath. Letting his chin slide
over the rise of her mound. Hoping she’d give him the signal to bury his mouth between
her thighs.

She tugged on his hair.

“Mmm?”

“You seemed to’ve gotten stuck in one spot.”

“I like this spot.” He looked up at her, across the plane of her body. “But do I have
permission to move down to what’ll likely be my favorite spot?”

“No. But I would like you to massage my feet.”

Knox banked his disappointment. He pushed back and sat on his heels. When he circled
his fingers around her ankle, she flinched. Interesting reaction. He set her heel
on his thigh and pressed his thumb into the middle of her foot, pushing in circles
from the ball, down her arch, to the start of her heel and back up.

She sighed. “You’ve done this before.”

“No, ma’am.”

“So you’re just a natural, hitting all the good spots?”

He worked his thumb between her toes. “No. But I’ve seen guys with a foot fetish working
it, and I took notes.”

“Very good notes.”

She’d left her legs parted, allowing him an unimpeded view of the pink tissues that
glistened with her arousal.

“Stop that,” she warned.

Knox forced his gaze away from that tempting slice of heaven. “What?”

“You keep looking at my pussy and licking your lips.”

“You’d rather I was licking your pussy?”

She pointed. “Back to the foot massage.”

Before he switched feet, he angled his head and started kissing her ankle. The divot
beside her ankle bone, then the ankle bone itself and the curve above it.

Shiori’s leg twitched so violently that she almost kicked him in the face.

He kept worshipping her delicate ankle, damn pleased with himself that he’d found
one of
her
hidden hot spots.

“Knox. Stop.”

After placing several soft kisses on the top of her foot, he switched feet. And began
again. Like before, she damn near levitated off the bed when he focused on her ankle.

This time she didn’t stop him. Instead, while he nuzzled and teased, her hand crept
between her thighs. She ran her middle finger up and down her slit, getting it wet
before she started rubbing on her clit. Slowly at first and then faster.

Her other arm was thrown above her head; her body was a graceful arch as she pleasured
herself. She moved her finger side to side and then tapped the nub several times in
rapid succession before she returned to rubbing.

It was one of the sexiest things he’d seen. Watching her get herself off was almost
as good as getting her off himself.

Almost.

Shiori’s legs went rigid. Her finger moved faster, and she let out a soft gasp as
she started to come.

Knox watched her greedily, this beautiful woman giving him
a secret peek of her self-pleasure. When her hand fell away, he lowered her foot to
the bed, awaiting further instructions.

“Come here.”

He levered himself over her and nuzzled her neck, breathing in the scent of her damp
skin, feeling her heartbeat beneath his lips. “Thank you for that, Mistress.”

She made a hum of acknowledgment. Then she gently pushed on his shoulders. “Get dressed
and I’ll meet you in the living room.”

Her dismissal stung, but it wasn’t unexpected.

Knox slipped on his boxer briefs and returned to where he’d left his clothes. After
getting dressed, he prowled around the gigantic space, which felt more like a mausoleum
than a home.

Maybe she preferred austere surroundings, but from what he could tell, there wasn’t
a personal item anywhere. Nothing revealed insight into the person who lived in this
glass-walled penthouse besides wealth.

There was so much more to Shiori than that.

She appeared in her robe, her hair in a messy knot on top of her head. She held out
her hand and led him to the lounging area. She sat in the high-backed leather chair
and indicated he should sit at her feet.

He had a momentary flash of resentment that they couldn’t just sit together on the
damn couch, so he kept his gaze aimed at the carpet.

“We should’ve talked more about each of our expectations and limits before we became
intimate. As the Domme, that’s on me.”

Knox raised his head. “Please don’t say you have regrets.”

She touched his face and let her hand drift to his neck. “No regrets.”

“Then what?”

“I asked you to give me one night. You have. I’m grateful for your trust, Knox. I
know it’s not easy for you. I don’t know if this night convinced you of anything.”

Was she cutting him loose? “It convinced me that I need more than one damn night to
figure this out.”

Those golden eyes seemed to measure every inch of him. “You’re sure?”

He turned his head and kissed the inside of her wrist. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m happy to hear that. Still, I think it’d be best if we waited a couple of days
to try this again. I need to allow you enough time to think everything through.”

While he understood she was doing this to protect him, it annoyed him. She didn’t
know what was best for him.

Isn’t that what a Domme does? Arguing will just prove that you aren’t ready for her
to make decisions for you.

So he swallowed his protest and said, “That makes sense.”

Shiori bent forward and kissed him. “I’ll walk you out.”

At the elevator, Knox gathered her into his arms. “See you tomorrow.”

*   *   *

SHIORI
didn’t show up at Black Arts until around ten the next morning. She didn’t really
need to be there. It was a holiday, and banks, schools, and most businesses were closed.
She’d convinced herself she needed to check Ronin’s penthouse, just to make sure everything
was okay. But the truth was she wanted to see Knox.

The office and the conference room were empty. As she headed down the hallway, she
heard the familiar sounds of body parts striking plastic practice gear. She paused
just inside the door to the training room. Deacon and Ito were grappling. Knox served
as Ivan’s punching bag in the ring while Fisher supervised, yelling out instructions.

She hated to admit it, but their MMA program shouldn’t even be listed in the same
brochure as the Black Arts jujitsu program. Yes, it was still in the early building
stage, but Deacon and Ivan were the only decent fighters. The rest of the guys who
paid to train here
were wasting their time and money, as well as tying up the instructors so they didn’t
have enough time to work with Deacon and Ivan.

Knox took a blow to the chin and she winced. Sometimes she felt bad he was the only
guy Ivan’s size and had no choice but to partner up with him. Knox moved very, very
well for such a big guy. He wasn’t clumsy or lumbering—either on or off the mat. And
it seemed like Ivan had become lighter on his feet after watching Knox move.

She’d tried not to obsess on Knox’s visit to her apartment last night and what it
meant. She’d sensed his resentment a few times, and she hadn’t been sure if she should
be impressed by him masking it, or upset that he hadn’t been honest with her about
how he felt. Since it’d been their first time together and it was new territory for
both of them, she’d cut them some slack.

And there was her problem. Should she tell Knox that she’d never been in a long-term
relationship with a submissive? That being a one-man Domme would be as new to her
as being submissive was to him? Or would that admission foster a lack of confidence
and trust?

In her club in Tokyo she had three different men she played with, mostly because she
hadn’t found one man who gave her everything she needed. Out of those three subs,
she’d had sex with only one. Oh, she’d let the other three pleasure her, but sometimes
all she wanted was a man to pet her. If she needed to get off, she owned a collection
of vibrators. But that body-to-body, skin-to-skin contact couldn’t be duplicated.
Hard touches, tender caresses, a lazy sweep of a rough-skinned hand, a warm mouth
sliding across every inch of her flesh . . . That’s what she craved, because that’s
what she’d always been denied.