Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(113)

“Yesterday morning she said something about your kinky rope games?” I felt ridiculous for asking.

Adam diverted his attention to the stitches in his palm.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. You know that, but I can’t help but wonder what she was talking about.”

I could see him clearly contemplating how he was going to respond, mulling his answer over carefully.

“She said rope, Adam, more than once. I need to know. Are you into S&M or whatever it’s called?”

He snorted. “No. I don’t get off inflicting pain on women. I haven’t hurt you so far, have I?”

My wrist was only slightly tender, but other than a bit of kinkiness, he hadn’t inflicted any pain whatsoever. “No. Well, except for the torture you’ve put my nipples through.”

Adam’s devilish smile widened. “You’ve enjoyed everything I’ve done to your nipples.” He brushed my hair back. “I know you have. I listen to the sounds you make, to the way your fingers grip into my hair, the way your breathing increases and you arch into my touch. Believe me, I’d know if I was hurting you.”

He took a measured breath. “Be honest. Did you like the cuffs? It seemed to me like you did but I want to hear it from you.”

I nodded. “Yeah. It was strangely liberating.”

“Liberating?” His head tilted. “Explain.”

That was easier said than done. “I head up trauma teams every day, Adam. I have to be in control of everything, all the time, making decisions, instructing several people, telling them what to do. I don’t want to have to dictate what happens during sex. No woman really wants that, well, none of the women that I know do.”

“So you liked the cuffs,” he deadpanned.

I gave him a nudge. “I’ve answered that already. Now answer mine.”

“Which was?”

Was he stalling on purpose?

Adam took a deep breath and held it a few beats. “Neither of us is ready for that conversation, Doc. Ask me some other time.” He patted his hand on my hip, placating me. “Let’s get some sleep. I’m tired. You wore me out.”

I sat up on my pillows, watching him nestle in deeper and close his eyes. I wasn’t happy that he got to be the one to decide that this conversation was over.

Adam sighed again. “Come on, Erin. Don’t do this right now. We’ll talk about it some other time.”

I reached for my cell phone, taking my own stand on the subject. “It seems like a pretty significant topic to me. I let you handcuff me, and, well, that was hard for me to do, so if there’s more—”

He gazed up at me. “Really?”

I nodded, not wanting to go into my history with cops handcuffing me and why. I needed that to stay in my buried past. “I think we’ve made it to a certain level of honesty after that.” I checked my missed messages since he seemed resigned to dropping the subject. There was one text from Adam.

One tap on the screen was all it took for him to take my breath away. Five simple words in a gray text bubble.



Adam let out an exasperated breath. “Have you ever heard of Shibari?”

I lowered my cell. “Who?”

He laughed softly. “It’s a what, Doc, not a who.”

I considered searching Google. “Um, no.”

I lost his gaze for a moment. He leaned up on his elbow and then studied my face. “It’s Japanese rope bondage.”

My nerves tingled at the myriad of implications those words evoked.

“Before you get all worried, it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

I set my phone down on the nightstand. “Then explain it to me. You going to make me call you Master or something and humiliate me?”

Adam frowned and sat up next to me. “Not into any of that, Erin. Shibari is an art; it’s not ass paddles and whips. I’m not into giving or receiving pain, at all, so just get that out of your head right now.”

He tucked a few pillows behind his back and pulled his knee up, resting it on top of my thigh. “There’s a difference between sex and exploring the boundaries of control and surrender with a partner, Doc. Anyone can have meaningless sex. It’s nothing more than a physical release without a connection.”

I nodded, intrigued by the simple movements of his lips.

“Sometimes sex is mutual; sometimes it’s selfish and one-sided. Shibari, on the other hand, is more than that. It’s sharing so much more than just the act of sex. It’s a give and take.”

He studied my face.

“When you’re bound, like you just were with my cuffs, you put your trust in my hands, knowing I will do everything in my power to make it so much more than just a release. Be honest, did you or did you not just enjoy what we did?”

I had to be truthful, though doing so was almost admitting to liking it dirty. “Honestly, I enjoyed it very much, although it was a bit scary at first.”

He gave me a confident grin and then snagged my hip, encouraging me to snuggle down next to him. He laced our hands together. “I can awaken parts of your sexuality you didn’t even realize you had,” he said. “I don’t need you to tell me what you like or don’t like. I can tell just how your body reacts under my touch to know what gives you the greatest pleasure. Read you like a book, open you at my whim, just waiting, anticipating my perusal. Will I? Won’t I? That’s not for you to decide. I take those choices away from you, just like I did earlier. Your part is just to feel and enjoy and know with every fiber of your being that I will take you to places you’ve never been. Touch you in ways you’ve never experienced.” His eyes leveled on mine. “So to answer your question, Doc, yes, I want to do so much more than just have sex with you. But that will come, I hope, in time. The rest we’ll experiment with later, when we’re both ready.”