Her throat grew tight. “Drake…Whatever this is between us, it ends tomorrow morning when I get on the airplane.”
He moved back from her. “It doesn’t have to. I really like you, and I know you feel the same.”
“I do, but—”
“Just think about it.”
She nodded, deciding it was better to agree than to spend the rest of their short time together arguing. As much as she had already grown to care about him, she meant what she’d said. There was no future for them. She couldn’t give him anything more.
But when she was in his arms, his mouth on hers, she forgot this was all a fantasy. For one night only.
Chapter Five
After playing and swimming in the water, Drake and Allie threw on their clothes and headed to his room for some much-needed privacy. While he’d enjoyed their outside fun, he couldn’t wait to bury himself balls-deep inside her, and that wasn’t going to happen anywhere but a bed for their first time.
He didn’t believe for a second she didn’t feel the same connection, nor did he buy her reasons for keeping their relationship limited to a single night. What was the truth behind the reluctance to see where things could lead between them?
The door snicked closed behind them, the hum of the air conditioner drowning out the beat of his racing pulse. Twenty-nine years old, and like he was a teenage boy about to get laid for the first time, his fucking palms were sweating. Except he hadn’t had feelings for the girl who’d taken his virginity in the backseat of her daddy’s borrowed car, other than a sense of appreciation for changing him from boy to man.
For Allie? He couldn’t place a name on how he felt for her. Surely not love. He’d met her only five days ago. But it was more than like. That was for damned sure.
She shivered, her teeth chattering, and her arms wrapped around herself. She needed to warm up, and he had some preparations before he helped make one more of her fantasies come true.
He rubbed her arms up and down. “Why don’t you take a hot shower?”
“Will you join me?” The corners of her mouth turned up in a failed attempt of a smile because of the chattering of her teeth.
He walked her to the bathroom and turned on the water. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass on this one, but I promise I’ll join you for a shower in the morning. I’m going to get things ready for us.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Should I be worried?”
“Yes.” When her eyes widened, he laughed. “Just kidding. I won’t do anything you don’t want.” The small room filled with steam, and he gave her a quick kiss. “Give me ten minutes.”
She nodded, wariness remaining in her expression. Along with it was passion. Hunger. And maybe he was seeing what he wanted to see, because he also saw adoration.
He closed the bathroom door behind him and hoisted his duffel bag out from the small closet. Rummaging through, he found the items he needed for the bondage portion of the evening.
With the rope in his hands, he walked to the head of the bed and knelt, wrapping and securing it to the metal frame. Then he repeated the process at the foot of the bed. He couldn’t deny his dick got hard at the thought of Allie tied to the bed, helpless and completely at his mercy. She was so trusting of him.
His stomach dropped, and he sat on the edge of the bed to steady himself. He couldn’t lie to her anymore. It wasn’t fair to keep her in the dark. She needed to know that in a month they’d both be working for the same news station.
“Is it okay to come out?” Allie cracked open the bathroom door, the steam and the scent of jasmine pouring into the bedroom.
“Yeah.” His voice cracked, and he coughed to clear the thick layer of foreboding coating his throat. “I’m ready for you.”
With a thin white towel wrapped around her, she stepped into the room. He couldn’t take his gaze off her. Her skin glowed, rosy from the heat of the shower. The towel covered from the upper swell of her tits to an inch below her pussy and knowing what lay underneath had his heart pounding and his dick straining painfully against his shorts. It made what he needed to tell her that much harder.
He watched her take in the room. Her chest rose and fell as she spotted the ropes waiting to trap her silky wrists and ankles to the bed. She worked over a swallow when her gaze settled on the tie he’d worn to his interview a couple weeks ago.
He’d never seen a more beautiful woman. Never wanted a woman the way he wanted Allie. Every nerve in his body went on high alert when she was near, like he was a positively charged lightning rod and she the negatively charged flash of lightning. She simply electrified him.
Needing her closer, Drake gripped her hips and yanked her between his parted thighs, his heart racing.
He sank his fingers into the towel in an effort to stay in control and keep his hands from wandering to the wet pink flesh waiting for his touch. “We need to talk.”
His voice remained steady, concealing how little control he had. He couldn’t allow another minute to pass without her knowing the truth.
“Drake?” Allie gently tugged his hands from the towel. “Talking is overrated.”
Then before he could say another word, she dropped her towel, revealing every glorious curve. Every freckle. And her glistening pussy.
All the blood rushed from his brain to his cock. He knew he had something he had to tell her, but hell if he could focus on anything other than getting inside her before he went off in his pants.
She was right. Now wasn’t the time to talk.
It was time to show her exactly what happened between a negative and positive charge.
He only hoped she wouldn’t hate him when he finally told her the truth.
STANDING NAKED BETWEEN his thighs, she trembled with arousal. Was she really going to allow him to bind her to the bed and have his wicked way with her?
She was playing with fire, and the only way to keep from getting burned was to encase her heart in a fire-resistant bubble and remind herself this was about sex. Nothing more.
Nearly every time he shared another piece of himself with her, she fell a little harder. That was why she’d decided in her shower to stifle her emotions and concentrate on the physical, the same way she’d survived the last few years. She cared too much about Drake to hurt him—which would eventually happen if they continued down this road.
Drake coughed, and flexed his fingers. “Tell me your safe word.”
“Banana.”
“Say it, and we’ll stop. Otherwise, I’m in control. No talking unless I ask you a question and no coming until I give you permission. If you do, I’ll have to spank you.”
Her jaw dropped, and her pussy contracted. “How will I keep myself from coming?”
He smirked. “I’m not sure, but if you don’t want me to spank you, you’ll figure out a way. Now lie on your back in the middle of the bed.”
For a moment, she was lost to the intense stare of his cerulean eyes. He was everything she’d ever fantasized about. She wanted this with him and only him. Even if she had to withhold her orgasm.
Nodding, she spread out on the crisp white sheets and rested her head on the pillow, a tingling awareness of the blindfold lying beside her on the nightstand. The springs squeaked as he stood and moved to the side of the bed.
He cradled the back of her head, gently lifting her neck off the pillow before slipping on the blindfold and plunging her into darkness. As he lowered her head, she became conscious of how cool the sheets were against her burning skin, and the scent of chlorine along with the raw, masculine scent of Drake.
She tried to relax, but her muscles bunched and tensed as her mind raced a mile a minute with thoughts about what Drake would do to her. Where would he touch first? Her breasts? Between her legs? Would he use his mouth again or his hands?
Warm air fanned her face, alerting her to the nearness of his mouth, and she involuntarily sucked on her bottom lip in anticipation.
His lips barely grazed hers before he whispered, “Stop thinking. I can hear that wheel of yours cranking in there.” He kissed her temple, his hair tickling her nose. Holding her wrist in one of his warm hands, he tied her to the bed.
A twinge of panic rushed through her veins, and her chest tightened.
“Do you want me to stop? Say the word, and I’ll cut the bond,” he said, concern for her well-being evident in his voice. The fact he’d immediately picked up on her discomfort managed to calm her.
“No. I want this.” Her fingers entwined with his. “With you.” She heard him expel a breath, and he released her hand. No longer nervous, she waited for his next move.
He didn’t make her wait long. He shifted down the bed and tied her ankle, jolting her with the sudden touch, before he methodically and quickly bound her other wrist and ankle.
Then…nothing.
Helpless, she was spread-eagle, completely vulnerable, her body open to his perusal. She’d always heard the other senses sharpened with the loss of sight, but she could no longer tell where Drake was in the room. She imagined his sharp gaze on her as he decided how he’d use her body first.
A trickle of arousal dripped down onto the sheets, and her nipples burned. She squirmed, tugging on the restraints. If he didn’t touch her soon, she’d lose her mind.
The swooshing of him removing his clothes gave away his location.
He was at the foot of the bed.
Her pussy throbbed with need, and she unsuccessfully tried to close her thighs to ease the building tension.
He laughed, a deep rumble that revealed how much he enjoyed her predicament.
“Touch me already,” she said.
“I’ll touch you when I’m ready and not a moment sooner. Maybe you require a reminder. Who’s in control, Allie?”
She clenched her teeth. “You.”
“Exactly. I’ll touch you. Lick you. Fuck you. When I want. Where I want. And you can’t do a thing to stop me except use your safe word.”
Dozens of images inspired by his erotic words bombarded her at once. At this point, she’d come the second he put any pressure on her clit. A frickin’ feather across it would incite an orgasm so huge the weather center would rate it as a category five if it were a hurricane.
The mattress dipped from his weight, and she felt the heat radiating from him over her chest. He slid his tongue across her lower lip as he blanketed her trembling body with his. She moaned, her own tongue darting out to greet his, and he passionately accepted, devouring her. Consuming her. Loving her.
She arched her body in an attempt to relieve the pulsing ache deep between her thighs. It wasn’t as if he’d know if she climaxed, and if he did, would he really punish her?
The thought of his hand slapping the flesh of her behind set off tiny flutters in her pussy. Either way, she’d win.
He responded by licking her nipple and then scraping it with his teeth, sending electrified sparks of bliss darting through her body. She clenched her hands into fists and bit down on her lip.
He continued to explore her body, paying equal attention to her other nipple before dragging his tongue lower…skipping the place where she needed it most. He worked his way down her calves and ankles, awakening the nerves along the path and stimulating each one of her available senses to its pinnacle.
The need to touch him was unbearable.
Damned restraints.
Restless with desire, she writhed and thrashed beneath him, clenching and releasing her empty hands.
Minutes. Hours. Days could’ve passed. All concept of time was lost as he nibbled on the inside of her thighs. Kissed the sensitive area above her pubis. Licked circles around her areolae, paying homage to her nipples and making good on his promise to turn them red with his ministrations. All the while murmuring his sexy, dirty ramblings about how good she tasted and all the kinky things he could do to her while she lay bound at his mercy. The soft caress of his mouth on her skin made her shiver and her pussy spasm. She felt restless and needy, craving his cock inside her.
No man had ever loved her body so thoroughly. So completely. So perfectly.
Then finally…finally…his tongue lapped up her slit leaving behind a tingling warmth. One more inch to her pulsating clit and she’d discharge like a lightning bolt. Her thighs shook, and if she dug her heels into the mattress any harder, she’d leave holes.
He shifted his weight, and suddenly, his mouth was on hers, smothering her cries. The taste of her tangy arousal on his lips fueled the flames higher than she’d believed possible. She wouldn’t last much longer.
“Are you ready for my cock?” His voice was gritty and strained.
“I was ready thirty minutes ago. Please fuck me, Drake.”
This time he didn’t make her wait. She heard the tearing of what she assumed was the condom wrapper. Then his dick prodded her slick entrance, giving her mere seconds to prepare before he thrust and seated himself inside her. It stretched her walls, completely filling her. A pressure built deep in her pussy, and she itched for him to move. Maybe she’d really died from pneumonia and this was heaven. That was the only way to describe how she felt.
“I’m perfect. I’ve never…” How could she explain when she barely understood it herself? No matter how much she’d tried to convince herself otherwise, it was more than sex between her and Drake, which was why she’d treasure this one night for as long as she lived, yet leave him behind in the morning with his heart intact. She’d given him
her
heart the moment he’d called her courageous five days ago, and she’d never get it back. It was his forever, whether he knew it or not. But he deserved more than she could give him.
Needing to express how she felt, yet unable, she dug deep inside and gave him the closest words to what she felt down to her marrow. “I’m not fragile. Don’t hold back anything. I want to board the plane tomorrow still feeling you inside me like you promised. Fuck me, Drake.”
He kissed her gently on her lips and smoothed the damp hair off her cheeks. His breathing hitched, and his cock jumped inside her. “As long as you’re ready to make love to me as well.”
He can’t have possibly fallen in love with me.
She tried not to read too much into his response, the consequences of it too painful to contemplate. “I already am.”