Ripper (Hunter #1)(93)

“Yes, Gray.” I stretched my arms out. I was ready to move on to the “feeling really good” portion of my evening. I needed him. I needed him more than I wanted to admit. “Now, are you going to tie me up or what?”

Gray went still. “Are you sure you want that, baby? I don’t have to. I love you. I’ll make love to you any way you want.”

“I want you. I want every perverted, kinky inch of you,” I replied with a seductive smile. “Tie me up. Hands and feet. Make me completely vulnerable to you. Anything you want is yours. I love you.” I’d never loved anyone the way I loved Gray. I would have given him my life much less my body.

He smiled as his hands went immediately to the nightstand. He came back with a couple of lengths of rope. “You amaze me.”

“How?” I have to admit, I was ready to hear something good about myself. Something that didn’t include how well I managed to bust a dude’s windpipe.

“You should have worried.” He ran the thin rope over my torso, teasing my skin with it. It was silky against my flesh, and he was already making me squirm. “Damn, baby, we were looking for a killer who was into bondage and had a beef with the Council. I should have been a suspect. You shouldn’t have trusted me.”

He caught my hand in his and started to tie me to the bed. I gripped the cool metal of the headboard. “I love you. You would never lie to me.”

At the time, I didn’t think about how out of character that statement was. I’d never once given it a second thought. What Gray did wasn’t violent. It was consensual and loving and real for me.

Gray went silent and I thought he was processing what I’d said. He lowered his head for a moment and when he looked back at me, all the love he had was in his eyes. “I love you so much. You’re everything I want, everything I need. I would do anything for you, Kelsey mine. Remember that always.”

He was quiet as he finished tying my hands and then moved down. He slid his hand down my body as though I was a canvas and his touch the paint. He kissed my feet before tying them loosely. He explained about something called a spreader bar and how he would buy one and how he couldn’t wait to get started on a playroom that would be only for our exploration.

I was completely open and vulnerable to him and I felt no fear or apprehension. He was my mate. Husband, lover, these were simple, small words to explain what I felt for him. He was…right. It was simple to give myself to him. It was natural.

Gray tossed off his shirt and ran his hand along his tattoo, as though placating the thing.

“You can still feel it?” My eyes were drawn there.

He nodded. “It hums around you. It didn’t until you touched it. I’ve had it since I was thirteen and it’s grown with me, but I never felt it like a presence on my body. I think you woke it up, but I don’t feel anything more than the physical. It felt like it was trying to come off my damn body when you were in danger tonight. It knew before I did. It burned hot when you were in danger. I had to get to you.”

“I’m fine. You can tell my dragon that.” I longed to touch him, but I contented myself with the fact that I would get my turn. Tonight was about Gray. He’d been forced to watch as I fought. It went counter to who he was. He wanted to protect me. He was a possessive man, but he’d put it aside and supported me when I’d walked into that club as another man’s mistress. He accepted me for whatever the hell I was. He was willing to make me his wife even though he knew there were many unanswered questions. We would face them all together, so I sighed and gave myself over to him.

He stood over me, a sexy smile on his face. “Your dragon?”

“Definitely mine. Everything about you is mine.” I was possessive, too.

His hand rubbed against the dragon. “Even the demon parts?”

I nodded. I wanted all of him. “Even those.”

He shucked off his pants. He was a gorgeous beast, every inch of his body covered in muscle. All mine. I was greedy and I wanted every piece of him, including the kinky parts, the demonic parts, the sweet parts, the frustrating ones. All of Gray. He leaned over and reverently kissed my navel.

“One day,” he whispered, “I’m going to plant our baby right there.”

“One day.” In the future, I vowed, because I wasn’t ready for that and I wanted some time with him before we even thought about having babies. There was so much we needed to figure out before we could consider it.

“But for tonight, I’m going to take out all of my frustration on your sweet body,” Gray promised.

He tweaked a nipple and I just about came off the bed. Well, I would have if I hadn’t been tied down. There was something about being completely at his mercy that made my heart race in a good way. Those ropes wouldn’t hold me if I really wanted to get out, but they were a reminder that I didn’t have to think about anything but him. I didn’t have to do anything but let him please me.

“Do you have any idea how scared I was?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.

I did. I know how I would have felt. “I’m sorry, baby.”

His hands had sprouted neat claws. With infinite care and precision, he dragged them over my skin. Everywhere they touched I felt a spark. “I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you. You have no idea how important you are to me, how alone I was before I found you.”