“Chase,” she repeated softly, moving around in front of him. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
Desperate to see his eyes, she knelt in front of him, resting her hands on his legs. She had never realized until now how much his eyes grounded her. “What happened?” she asked.
“The inspector found more issues. Today was shit.”
She ran her hands up and down his legs, needing him to look up. “What can I do to help?”
His head lifted then, and the warmth of his eyes was gone, replaced by hardness. “Take off your clothes.”
She blinked, parting her lips to say, “What?” but the word never came. Heat rolled over her, pooling low in her body. Not because of his coldness, but because of the statement he made with that look. In his lowest of lows, he only wanted one thing.
Her.
Wanting to be there for him in the way he needed her, she rose and reached for her T-shirt, removing it quickly. She didn’t tease him now. No, she stripped as fast as she could, feeling the draw of his desperation. By the time she was naked, she quivered in need.
With his potent gaze on her, he rose and captured her chin, then sealed his mouth across hers. This time when he kissed her, things between them felt . . . different. His touch was more intimate, more eager, and she was pulled under his spell, until she was left panting and moaning against his sculpted lips. He grabbed her bottom with both hands, squeezed tight before he broke the kiss. Taking her by the hand, he led her to the bedroom. Him, fully clothed. Her, naked and oh, so ready.
She entered the bedroom behind him and noticed Houdini sleeping in his crate. The silence around them was all-consuming, and her heartbeat raced in her ears. Chase released her hand and turned toward his closet. When he returned to her, he held black rope in his hand. “Objections?”
She swallowed deeply and shook her head, a bit lost for words at his intensity.
He said nothing further, and she’d never seen him so serious before. Part of her was concerned for him. Chase always had a smile on his face. The happy-go-lucky kind of guy. The other part of her sensed the growing dampness between her thighs and the heat flooding her lower body. He gazed at her with lust, desire, and something almost feral.
She liked this side of him.
Hell, she wanted more.
He reached for one of her wrists and began wrapping the rope around it, forming a cuff. “Did you know that every time I watched you play the Rope ’Em Up game at the Spurs, I burned with jealously?”
“Yes.” Of course, she had known.
She couldn’t look away from how he expertly fitted her one wrist with a cuff then moved on to the other wrist. “Did you think I was jealous because another man was touching you?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He stopped midway through finishing the second cuff and looked at her. She stared at a new Chase, one even more confident than she’d ever seen before. Sensuality edged his voice. “I was jealous because if there was rope touching your body, I wanted to be the man who put it there.”
She shivered at the coiled power in his eyes. “Is that why you always left?”
“Part of the reason.” He focused back on her wrist and finished up with the cuff. “Though the other reason was purely selfish.” His heated gaze rose to hers. “Do you want to know what it was?”
She nodded, the words burning up in her throat.
He held her chin, bringing her gaze to his eye level. “Because I didn’t trust myself that I wouldn’t knock their teeth out.”
Heat rolled off him in waves, brushing across her and making the air near impossible to inhale when he took hold of the rope and led her over to the other side of bed. His head tilted back, and she had a second to ponder what he was doing before he tossed the rope up and over the thick wooden beam that ran
the length of the ceiling. He stayed silent, pulled on the rope until her arms were stretched above her, and knotted the rope.
Only then did he break the silence. “I wanted to be the man who roped you.” He stepped in next to her, then wrapped the rope around her thigh and pulled until her leg was raised. He tossed the rope over the beam again and made another couple knots, leaving her completely bound. After which he strode in behind her and used his cheek to nudge her head forward. She realized then that he’d placed her directly in front of a long mirror resting against the wall.
With his eyes on hers in the mirror, he ran a hand over her stomach then cupped between her thighs. “What are you thinking about when you look at yourself like this?”
Her breath hitched at the way the rope bound her arms above her, and how it squeezed at the flesh on her bent thigh. Even how it lifted her breasts. “I think we’re beautiful.”
“You most definitely are.” He squeezed her sex, and she leaned against the bindings, letting them support her weight. Her eyes fluttered at his fingers stroking over her most sensitive flesh. Behind her, she felt his erection against her bottom as he slid his hand back up her belly.