Bound for Me (Be for Me #4)(38)

He winced. “So tough. Are you really unfazed by what happened?”

Of course she wasn’t. “I don’t think about it.”

He looked disbelieving. “How do you stop yourself from thinking about it?”

“I think about other things.”

“Such as?”

She hesitated. Remembered his outrageous tease with the ice last night. And decided to push play. “You.”

“How you’re going to make me pay?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I think about you. Naked. Chained to my bed.”

He drew in a deep breath. “I can see how thinking about that might be better.” He leaned his head from side to side, stretching his muscles. “I can work with the idea, but I vote for silk cords over steel chains.”

She shook her head. “I like the fantasy better than reality.”

“Just thinking is enough?” His eyebrows skyrocketed.

She shrugged.

“The reality is better. We both know this.”

“Connor?” Footsteps sounded, coming nearer.

“Go away Luca. I’m seducing your bartender.”

“Savannah?”

“Go away Luca. I’m turning down this customer.”

Luca laughed. “Good luck with that.” Footsteps sounded, retreating. “Both of you.”

“You slept with me to try to disarm me,” she said to Connor as soon as she was sure Luca had left.

“Not true and as you rightly pointed out this morning, it wouldn’t work anyway,” he said. “Your thirst for vengeance aside, you want me. And I want you. There’s no denying the chemistry. You make out you’re teasing, but you know you mean it.”

“You only wanted once,” she reminded him.

“I changed my mind.”

“It was the chains, wasn’t it.”

“No. I’d changed my mind the second you left my car the other night. It wasn’t enough. I want more.”

“More sex.”

“Absolutely more sex. Lots more. We have ourselves a situation, Savannah. If you don’t face a situation and resolve it. It can become an obsession.”

Her skin chilled. “You don’t want to be obsessed with me?” She tried to make a joke of it.

But she was the one who’d get obsessed. It was in the blood.

“I can’t afford to be obsessed by anyone. There’s too much else I have to do.”

Work? She didn’t want to believe that of him—that he was actually an honest hard worker. That he’d fought to get to where he was. That he had some decency. She’d wanted to blame him for her father’s f*ck-ups. But getting to know him? Already she suspected he wasn’t all the villain she’d imagined. “Why don’t you jack off?”

“You think I haven’t?” he laughed under his breath. “I close my eyes. I see you. But it’s not the same. I don’t want to touch myself, I want to touch you. So I’m proposing an arrangement.”

“An arrangement?” She cocked her head. “What do I get out of it? Think carefully before you answer.”

“I’m not crass enough to offer you money. Or access to my father. Your access to all things Summerhill is already a given and is separate from this.”

“But if it’s just sex you’re offering, I can get that anytime. From others.”

His nostrils thinned. “Like playing with fire, don’t you?” He leaned in close. “This isn’t just sex. This is blow your mind. Best ever. However you want it. Dirty, hard, hot, fast. You want to be the boss of me? You want to best me? In this you can.”

Heat speared through her. Challenge. Power. Desire. “You’ll fulfil my sexual fantasies?”

“Every one.”

He was a walking, talking fantasy already. As far as an ‘arrangement’ went, it didn’t seem a bad deal. “Confident, aren’t you,” she drawled.

“You already know I can please you.”

She sent him a look.

“You don’t want a relationship either,” he added with a laugh. “You don’t trust easily. Not enough to let go. Not often. And this isn’t going to involve emotions, Sugar.”

Saw a lot, didn’t he? It made her wary—she wanted to ensure there was a balance of power. “This isn’t just about pleasing me, why is it so important to you?” she challenged.

“I don’t trust easily either… but I find myself wanting…”

She was pleased he didn’t deny its importance to him. “You’re not afraid of what I might do?”

“You won’t hurt me or my company.”

“You’re certain of that?”

He nodded.

“Why won’t I?”

He smiled. “Because you’re going to see Summerhill for yourself. And once you’ve seen it…” he let the sentence hang, utter confidence in his demeanor. “You don’t have to trust me in everything. But in this, in terms of satisfaction, you already do. Use me as you’d like.” He offered. “Whatever, however, you want.”

He was an absolute distraction. But he’d also promised her full access to Summerhill.

Two birds, one stone? She could work with that.