Perfectly Inappropriate

He caught her hand, sucked on her fingers, and winked. “Good girl.”

She wiggled against the rush of arousal warming between her thighs. Men just weren’t like this in real life, were they?

Noah was a perfect mix of dirty and sexy and confident, and that combination worked, bringing so much damn heat into her body. Her clit throbbed, and she rocked her hips again feeding pleasure to her lower half, when she noticed he had set down a leather bundle she’d seen artists use to carry their paintbrushes in onto a wooden chest. He pulled the chest closer, then repeated the movement with a chair until he took a seat next to her.

A comfortable silence filled the room while he began stroking her hair. Her eyes fluttered shut, controlled by something she didn’t dare stop. Each glide of his fingers reminded her of something that felt so foreign now. To be touched intimately. She’d forgotten what that felt like. To be touched by a man for no other reason than it pleased him to do so.

E

ach minute that drew on slowly lowered her shoulders, relaxed her muscles until she was falling deeply into his touch. Tears threatened to rise before she shut those bad boys down.

No crying allowed.

“Before we begin,” Noah said softly, pulling her back into wakefulness. “Tell me your safe word.”

That was easy. “Photograph.”

Approval gleamed in his eyes as he gave a soft nod. “A perfect safe word for a perfect woman.” His warm gaze was on hers, with what seemed like slight amusement. “Now Olivia, because you’ve given me total control in our scenes”—he leaned forward and untied the leather case until it lay open, revealing the items within—“I’m assuming you have no problem with any of this.”

In an instant, her blood turned cold. The flogger, the blindfold, the crop, the clothespins, the nipple clamps, and a handful of other toys that she recognized were not the problem. It was the metal hook, the knife, and a claw-looking thing that sent her into immediate flight mode. She jerked her head up and snapped, “Photograph.”

Noah chuckled then gestured at the items. “Ah, am I right in assuming then that you now realize why choosing hard limits is important?”

Her mouth parted to reply, but nothing came out. She stared into those gorgeous eyes, looking for any sign that she had come to a house in the middle of nowhere with a madman. Those tools belonged in a horror flick. A slow bead of sweat dripped down her spine in the same second she realized that Paige knew where she was. She’d texted her on the drive there. And Paige had seen Noah’s face.

Okay, she was safe.

“Olivia?” Noah pressed, voice firm.

“Yes, sir,” she said with a firm nod. “I’d like to redo the checklist.”

He winked, more amusement shining in his eyes now. He rose from his chair and moved to the table and then came back, handing her a fresh checklist on top of a book and a pen.

Settling the book on her thighs, she began really reading what was there. Truth be told, she still agreed with a lot of the limits except for rough anal. There were five more things she figured might be something she’d do later but not right at this moment. But it included a few things she didn’t even know the meaning of so she left those as hard limits until she could research further. And to lean on the side of caution, she added to the top of the paper: NO METAL HOOK, NO KNIFE, NO CLAW THINGY!!

Noah took the list and the side of his mouth curved slightly before any, and all, amusement faded from his expression. He lifted the piece of paper and arched that curious brow. “How much of what you agreed to have you actually done?”

“Sex,” she said. “Oh, and the vibrator.”

“Nothing else?”

“No, sir.”

“Excellent. All mine to teach then.” He rose and stepped closer, filling the air with heat. She tilted her head back, while he brushed his thumb across her cheek then over her bottom lip. “We’ll take it slow.”

He moved to the chest, reaching for something in the leather case. When he returned, he offered her two leather cuffs. “These are yours. For our playtime together.”

She reached for the leather cuffs, finding them much lighter than she expected. They were soft red leather with black lace around the edges and a small loop in the center. “They’re beautiful.” She handed them back to him and offered her wrists, both nerves and excitement flickering through her.

With a confident efficiency, he fastened the left cuff and quickly moved to the other wrist before grinning at her. “They are beautiful, yes, but much more so with you in them.”

She waited for the discomfort to rise at his compliments. Usually she had a hard time accepting them but not this time. Noah’s compliments held such weight, such truth, it was impossible not to accept and believe them.

Leaving her there, he grabbed a chain from the case and slid the metal through one loop on the cuff. An unexpected slow shiver descended her spine at the way he moved. She’d never seen such a powerful man be so gentle. That seemed to be part of the tease. Without a doubt, he had a rougher side.

A side she wanted an introduction to.

With firmness now, he tugged on the chain and led her to the bed. “Bend over the mattress, angel.”