Beyond Control(22)

Laughing, he eased the knife shut. "For now, love."

She climbed on the bed, knees together, but instead of leaning forward on all fours, she sat back on her heels. It wasn't what he'd meant--he wanted her bent over, so he could touch her * even after he tied her up--but he wasn't the only one with demands tonight.

He'd get exactly what he commanded. No more, no less.

In the mirror, his reflection watched her with an impassive expression and unreadable eyes. Anything could have been going on behind that blank mask as he put his knife away and reached for the silk again. He lifted it...

And settled it across her eyes.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as he tied it, his knuckles brushing her hair. The world drew in on itself, condensed until the only thing that existed was waiting. Anticipating the next touch.

It came in the form of roughened fingertips tracing along the front of her throat. "You see everything, don't you?"

"I--" Her voice broke, and she had to clear her throat. "I try to."

"You've had to."

"Yes."

His hand closed around her throat, over her collar. Not tightly enough to restrict her breathing, but his grip was firm. Possessive. "Not anymore. Not with me."

A lifetime's habit didn't stop like that, with words. "You'll have to show me how."

He laughed right next to her ear before his touch disappeared. Steps circled, soft and muffled. The next time he spoke, he was somewhere to her left, and she turned her face toward the sound of his voice. "I'm going to show you a lot of things, Lexie."

She bit her lip to hide a smile. "Like what?"

No answer. Leather whispered over leather--his belt pulling free of his pants--followed by silence. Then he said, "Hands and knees, Lex. Crawl toward my voice."

Right in front of her.

They'd flirted with this game before, and Lex knew how it went. Soon, her body would respond effortlessly, without thought. For now, she'd have to make the conscious decision to obey.

She reached out, creeping forward until her hands hit the bed. Then she began to crawl.

He stopped her with a hand in her hair. He wrapped the length around his palm this time and used the grip to haul her head up until only her fingertips brushed the mattress.

His mouth on hers was a shock, as much a shock as the gentleness of his kiss while he held her neck craned back at such a severe angle. She barely remembered to leave her hands on the bed as she parted her lips and traced her tongue over his lips. He caught the tip of it between his teeth in a warning bite, and his groan vibrated through her as he chased her tongue back into her mouth with his own.

Harder now, almost punishing. Lex whimpered as thought vanished, and she reached up to thread her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck.

Dallas bit her lower lip as he eased back, but only far enough to whisper a rough directive. "Fuck yourself with your hand. Not slow, either. I want to hear that slick, delicious sound. Fingers shoving deep into a hungry *."

Not being able to see magnified everything--the sound of his breaths, slow and measured, and the smell of him, leather and spice. Even her own touch, cool fingers on warmer skin. She started at her throat, slipped over the collar that marked her as his and down, pausing to brush one nipple as she eased her knees apart.

Stomach, hip. She tracked her progress with a shiver and then a startled moan when she reached her *, wet and aching with the kind of arousal that took only a touch to spin off into desperate hunger.

Quickly, she circled her clit, but just once, and moved on, low enough to slide inside. She thrust two fingers deep and held them there, the heel of her hand pressed hard against her slippery flesh.

"No wonder Noelle's such an unrepentant brat. You're a bad influence." Disapproving words, wrapped in amused warmth. Dallas jerked on her hair, hauling her fully upright. "Maybe I should ask Jas how he feels about that."

As if she gave a damn. "Should I care what he thinks about it?"

Suddenly, Dallas was there, his breath against her ear, his free hand covering hers where it pressed between her legs. "What if he wanted to take his belt to your ass for it? Would you want the collar gone if I tied you over my bench and let him whip you over the edge? Or maybe Mad or Bren. Or all three of them."

She wanted to say yes, to give him a line he couldn't cross--but this wasn't it. "No," she whispered. "I wouldn't want it gone."

He sucked in a sharp breath, and the hand blanketing hers trembled. Simple words of submission, but if his groan was any indication, they inflamed him. He cupped her breast, his thumb and forefinger closing on her taut nipple. "Fuck yourself, Lex. Now."

She moved, rocking her hand in a grind that gave way too quickly to f*cking, sharp, hard thrusts of her fingers that splintered tingles up her spine until only his grip on her hair kept her upright.

That, and the fact that he hadn't yet given her permission to sink to the bed.

She had no warning before his mouth closed around her nipple. He was simply there, rough heat, his teeth digging into soft flesh and his tongue lashing back and forth, flicking over her in time with her thrusting fingers.

Her shaking legs would barely hold her. She gasped his name, and the sound was still dying on her lips when she orgasmed. It singed her all over, a burning pleasure quick enough to wrench a cry from her throat but deep enough to curl her toes. Lex crooked her fingers, desperate to prolong it.

He let her ride the waves, but when the final one shuddered through her, he gripped her wrist and dragged her hand away. "Looks like you need a lesson in asking first, don't you, love?"

Fuck. She swallowed hard. "I forgot."

"I noticed." His lips brushed her ear in a teasing, reassuring kiss before he planted one hand in the center of her chest and pushed. "Fold your arms behind you and lie back."

She was still kneeling. Bending back on the bed, especially with her arms beneath her, would leave her helpless and at his mercy. "I'm trusting you," she murmured, then yielded to the pressure of his hand.

Once her head and shoulders rested on the bed, Dallas drew both hands down her body, pausing to tweak her nipples before his fingers came to rest on her upper thighs. He circled his thumbs, stroking her * before spreading her outer lips wide.

Not just at his mercy. On display, open and bare. Helpless. He gave her a silent eternity to feel it before answering, "Trust is the point, love."

His tongue found her clit.

Her legs flexed, but he held her hips still. She was still buzzing, and the inexorably direct contact almost hurt...for a heartbeat. Then the buzzing mellowed into heat, and Lex moaned. "Dallas..."

No reply beyond the clever swipe of his tongue. He knew how to toy with her, when to ease off and build anticipation with slow licks that dragged the rough flat of his tongue over every sensitive spot, and when to return to hard and fast to work her clit with arrogant assurance.

He hauled her closer and closer to the edge, until it was sharp enough to cut. Heat built in her belly until her entire body tensed in anticipation--

And he lifted his head.

She groaned and gripped the bedspread in one fist. "Don't stop, damn it."

His chuckle flowed over her. "I'm saving you from yourself, Lexie. I don't think you were about to ask if you could come."

She'd thought that his reasons didn't matter, but the knot in the pit of her stomach said otherwise. "Tell me why first."

The bed tilted by her head, and she could feel him looming over her, his weight braced with one hand on the mattress. He tugged at the silk, lifting it up and away from her eyes. His face filled her vision, a strong jaw with a day's worth of stubble, his crooked nose and those dark, dangerous eyes.

"Because I'm a selfish bastard," he answered, stroking her cheek. "When a woman's mine, she doesn't take pleasure. I give it to her."

Selfish, yes, and conceited. But she'd half expected him to need to prove there wasn't anything he didn't own, including her, so the answer filled her with relief instead of rage. "Then give it to me." Her gaze locked with his. "Let me come. Please."

"Mmm." He straightened and stroked her trembling inner thighs. His thumb touched her clit, jolting her back toward arousal as he worked two broad fingers into her body. "Not yet. Remember to ask when you're close this time, and I'll consider it. Or we can do this all night."

Lost in desire, she rocked her hips. "I will. I'll ask."

"We'll see." The tattoos wrapped around his arms rippled with his flexing muscles, each one working in graceful concert for the sole purpose of f*cking into her, faster and harder with each advance, but when she tried to push up, he planted his other hand on her belly and pinned her against the bed.

Caught again, and this time Lex didn't hold back. Waves of hot, insistent bliss began to build, teasing her with how very, very good she could feel--if she'd only let go.