Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(158)

“I want to try.”

“No. Fuck trying. It’s a yes or no.”

“Yes, but—”

“Then strip.”

“What?”

“You heard me. All in. I won’t settle for less and frankly, neither should you.”

I hesitated. “I think we need to—”

“Put your coat back on.” He sighed. “I’ll take you home. I can’t forget about you with you standing in front of me.”

“Adam…” Pushing him away was easier to do when it was on my terms, not his. “That’s not fair.”

“Fuck what’s fair. If you want me, you will take all of me and you will give me all of you—NOW. Not later, not after a month of tryin’ or waiting and seeing. Now.”

My nerves skittered at his demand. His brow rose, waiting, daring me to say no to his ultimatum.

“Okay.”

He tossed his jacket and grabbed my hand, leading me down the steps. When we hit the lower level, his silent demand was in full form.

I sat and pulled my boot off, worried that if I didn’t I might regret it later.

“All of it,” he ordered, fetching his bag of tricks. “Jeans, sweater, everything.”

Weeks of bitterness and anger welled. If he wanted to solve our problems with a f*ck, then so be it. I’d lock what was left of my shattered heart away in its protective box.

Watching him peel his black T-shirt up over his head, exposing those solid pecs, rippled abs, and that light trail of hair that disappeared into his jeans, made my anger wrestle with my uncontrollable desires.

His chest rose and fell hard while he gazed at me, tucking things away in his back pockets.

I stopped at my bra and underwear. Adam folded his shirt lengthwise and then twisted it. “You don’t look all in, Doc.”

I straightened. “You want to solve things with a f*ck, you can work for that.”

His nostrils flared, making his partial grin quite sinister. I locked my bones in place when he stepped up to me. I hated feeling this vulnerable, being on display while he circled me. Fingernails lightly grazed down the hollow of my spine, stopping to unhook my bra.

“I’ve never just f*cked you, Erin.” With the softest of touches, he slipped the straps down, tossing my bra to the side before it fell to the ground. He guided my arms behind my back, dusting my shoulders with his mouth.

He folded my arms so each of my hands cupped my elbows. I felt the bite of hard plastic when he zip tied my forearms together.

“Adam…” I tugged at the second cinching, my pulse racing from the implications.

“Shh…” He stilled my arms; his soft lips trailed over my shoulder to the nape of my neck. “We’re working out our problems.” He covered my eyes with his T-shirt, tying it in place. “Blind trust, Erin. Time we get back to basics. You and me.” He shifted my hair; his fingertips’ gentle caress sending tingles throughout my body. “I’ve told you so many times, I will always take care of you. No fear between us.”

I actually feared being plunged into darkness, where everything heightened. Each touch magnified. The smell of warm masculinity amplified. Each breath becoming music to the ears. Sensations normally taken for granted transformed into my sole purpose for existing, just to relish in the joy of experiencing them. Pleasure came from nips of pain.

“I love you,” he whispered on my neck. “And I know you’ve missed me, too. You wouldn’t be standing here if you didn’t. But I know you think they are just empty words. I know you’ve been hurt, let down, disappointed. It all scares you, right?”

How did he know?

“Going forward, I want there to be no doubts, no mistrust.” My underwear slipped over my hips. “I want us to be absolute.”

Fingers scored down the sides of my legs, eliciting a gasp to roll out of my mouth.

“Do you want that?” His teeth bit gently into the space where thigh turned into ass, making me step out of my underwear.

“Yes.” I wanted that more than anything.

I felt his smile on my skin.

The waiting, anticipating, was nerve-wracking.

I heard the sharp sound of a long metal zipper separating, the rustling sound of weighted nylon. A pass of cording went around my waist, over my hips, wrapping around the tops of my thighs. Endless looping, fingers wiggling between my flesh and the bindings, Adam’s deep concentration audible in his breathing—the spider was weaving me into his web.

Oddly the experience was quite soothing, even though I knew in the end the spider would devour me, leaving nothing but an empty shell where the last of my vitality once existed. But I knew, somehow instinctively, that his mastery of human macramé was executed with the sole purpose of taking us to another level of understanding.

I still wanted him to stop this, to allow me adequate time to analyze and to draw educated conclusions. Normal love didn’t include these perversions and yet my body was tingling.

Adam worked quickly but precisely. He bathed me in tenderness, preparing each area with soft kisses before his ropes made their next pass. Above my breasts, below. Around my ribs, across my back, and over my shoulders. The zip ties were cut, allowing me to straighten while each arm, each wrist was wrapped. The ropes pulled my arms up straight above my head and bit into my skin, driving me to stand on the tips of my toes.