“Put your wrists together for me, sweetheart,” he murmured, slow and unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world.
She shivered and obliged him. Not once had he touched her, and she wondered if that was because he was a gentleman or because he didn’t trust himself, in the same way she currently didn’t trust herself.
One loop slid over her left wrist, and her eyes fluttered shut as heat flooded her, a foreign sense of desire swelling inside. When another loop drifted over her right wrist, warmth pooled in her belly, slowly growing hotter each time he tightened the rope. Her chest lifted and fell quickly, and as he stroked the inside of her wrist, an uncontrollable moan spilled from her mouth.
His low chuckle sizzled over her. “What’s your name, darlin’?” he asked.
Her breath hitched and she trembled, knowing he’d likely heard and felt both. “Emma,” she replied.
“Well, Emma, I’m Shep Blackshaw, and you better stop doing what you’re doing.” His voice lowered, thick and rumbly, as he stepped a little closer, pressing his erection against her bottom. “Or I’m about to do something very inappropriate in front of a crowd.”
Surely that warning should’ve broken the spell he cast over her. It didn’t. The low tenor of his voice held the promise of a night she’d never forget. Instead of answering him, and on total instinct, she shivered again, as his startling power washed over her.
Desperate not to make a complete ass out of herself on the third week of her new job, she stared straight ahead, afraid that if she opened her mouth, she’d beg him to touch her right in front of everyone. He finished the binding and gave a final tug, showing her how locked in she was. He held the rope between the cuffs he’d made as if he owned her.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. From head to toe, she flushed with an unnatural heat. Her limbs trembled with need, begging him to make this game real. His finger slid along the inside of her wrist, and again, a moan broke free.
Oh, how that touch would feel sliding between her thighs. She pressed herself against his cock and wiggled a little bit, inviting him to do whatever he wanted.
His warm breath tickled her ear when he groaned. “No matter how tempting it is to keep you like this a little longer and make you moan a bit louder, I don’t like to lose.” Coldness spilled over her as his hands were gone. He threw them up in the air, declaring himself the winner.
Thunderous applause from the crowd broke the spell that he’d put her under. She snapped her eyes open, staring ahead at the drum set. Her panties were drenched.
In those seconds of reprieve without his touch, she inhaled and exhaled repeatedly, until her body and mind belonged to her again. When he be
gan untying her, she felt more stable on her feet, the heat simmering on the surface instead of boiling over. Only then did she dare turn around, refusing to meet his eyes, fearful he’d see how turned on she was.
By the bar, behind the crowd gathered before the stage, she noticed her new friend, Harper McKinney, one of the blond bartenders, fanning herself with a piece of paper. She mouthed the word wow. Before Emma had a chance to respond, a firm finger pressed under her chin, lifting her gaze to meet silvery-blue power beneath his brown cowboy hat.
A smile teased Shep’s sculpted lips. “So, Emma, after that little show you just gave me,” he said, letting the rope hang from his hand like a promise he planned to keep, “I think there’s really only one thing that needs to be asked now, don’t you?”
“What’s that?” she barely managed.
He leaned in closer, bringing all that heat and man within centimeters of her, and he arched a single eyebrow. “Your place or mine?”
Chapter 1
Sweet Jesus, the cowboy could kiss.
Emma trembled against his mouth while Shep gently laid her out on the mattress. This man had an intensity she didn’t know how to handle. Only when he had her panting did Shep lean away. Those captivating eyes of his promising pleasure helped her know one thing for certain.
She wanted sex. Hot sex. Dirty sex. With this guy.
His mouth met hers again, and she moaned, her eyelids fluttering. Dear Lord, how amazing he felt as his lips danced across hers, while the length of his tall, muscular body pressed against her, pushing her back down into the mattress. His big, strong hands gripped the strands of her hair, holding tight, pinning her right where he wanted her. Beneath him.
He took control, and under his strength, she became drenched, flushing her body with unnatural heat. Needing more of whatever he had to offer her, she lifted her hips, pressing her slick heat against his leg until her clit rubbed against him perfectly. The low guttural moan he gave urged her on. She squirmed again, arching into the hard lines of his body blanketing her, fueled by the sensations flooding her.
His low and deep chuckle tickled across her as he rose on his hands, staring down at her. She reached for his face, cupping his cheeks, amazed she had met a man like Shep. There was confidence in his eyes that she was jealous of. He held a sureness about himself that anyone would envy. But it was the passion in their potent depths that caught her attention most. He lifted a single eyebrow and asked, “Can’t stay still, darlin’?”
“I want you. Stop waiting.” Her voice sounded distant and soft. She glanced down at her totally bare skin, blinking in confusion. She looked at his chest, finding him fully clothed. “Why am I naked and you’re not?”
“You keep taking your clothes off.” He frowned.
She ran her hands across his five o’clock shadow, her palm scraping against the scruff on his chiseled face. She couldn’t stop staring at his sculpted mouth, the way the side curved ever so slightly. As if he knew all her secrets. “That’s because I want you.”
He dropped his head, bringing his mouth so close to hers. “I know exactly what you want, sweetheart, and that’s losing your goddamn mind beneath my hands.” He lowered his head to her neck again and sucked, licked, and nibbled his way across her flesh, causing her heart to race. She moaned when he pushed against her thighs and widened her legs.
Over and over again, he circled his hips, pressing his erection against her bundle of nerves, curling her toes. She gasped against the intensity of all that man grinding against her, her chin lifting to the ceiling. He pressed his erection against her sex harder, teasing her with what she could have.