Daring Time

"There let me die," he finally replied.

They both seemed to hold their breath as he thrust in and out of her for several strokes, making Hope's eyes roll back in her head as he rubbed and agitated deep, secret flesh.

"I could forget the world existed buried inside you." Hope's eyelids sprang open when he withdrew from her. She felt a shudder go through him at the action.

"Ahhh .. . no, please don't," she begged. It felt like her soul had been cleaved a little when he separated his flesh from her own.

She watched in rising confusion as he moved away from her, his movements restrained and tense, as though he were in pain. He stood at the side of the bed. When he turned toward her in profile she saw that his cock hung heavy and fully erect between his strong, naked thighs, her own juices making it glisten magnificently. His color had grown ruddy and the surface veins swelled turgidly. He puzzled her further by pulling up his pants. He had to stretch his underwear forward considerably to capture the length of his swollen penis. She saw him glance almost surreptitiously out the window seeing, as Hope had, the discouraging sight of black iron bars blocking the view.

Why had he deprived himself of his own pleasure? The fact that he hadn't shared in her bliss made her ache in a way she'd never before experienced.

"Ryan? Are you in pain from the fight?"

His strained smile and uplifted eyebrows informed her he'd somehow found her question darkly amusing. "Not from the fight, no. I'm all right. I thought you wanted to learn about some of the things men and women do in a place like this."

Her eyes popped open in amazement. "What we were just doing were not some of those things?"

Hope loved the sound of the deep rumble of his laughter. "No, those apply. I just thought you might like to discover more."

He picked up a riding crop from the bedside table. She lifted her head and saw the other items lying there.

"It'll be all right, Hope," he soothed when he saw her eyes go wide in anxiety. "I would never harm you. Never. Some people like to use these things to cause pain, but that's not what we're going to do. I'm going to use them to heighten your pleasure ... to set your nerves on fire. Do you trust me to do that?"

Hope looked up into his earnest gaze.

"Will it arouse you to do this? Will it. . . bring you pleasure as well?" she asked hesitantly. He couldn't know it, but what she was really asking was whether or not it would bring that blazing hot intensity into his singular eyes that putting his mouth on her most private flesh had.

She saw his expression tighten. The flash of fire in his eyes supplied her answer even before he spoke.

"Oh yeah."

"All right then," she whispered. "I want to bring you pleasure more than anything, Ryan."

She saw his throat flex convulsively before he stepped toward her naked, bound body.

THIRTEEN

Ryan's cock lurched in stark arousal when Hope told him she wanted to pleasure him more than anything. There really couldn't be a sweeter, sexier woman on the planet anywhere ... at any time. It'd nearly killed him to withdraw from her a moment ago. If given a choice, Ryan thought he might have endured another one of Mario's dead-on punches rather than suffer leaving Hope's clinging, warm little pussy before he filled her with his seed.

He studied her face as he lifted the riding crop toward her body. The crop was the genuine article, of course, not something manufactured exclusively for bedroom sport.

Her eyes looked enormous with anxiety and rising excitement as he lowered the two-by-two-inch leather slapper and ran the surface over her abdomen. The image of the weathered, supple leather running over the pale harbor of her silky smooth belly was potently erotic. He slid the popper along the sides of her ribs and heaving breasts, all the while watching her reaction.

He could tell by her shallow, rapid breathing and the deepening color of her cheeks, lips and nipples she was excited.

"I'm going to slap your skin now, beauty. Not to hurt you. It'll make you tingle and burn."

She'd been tightly focused on the progress of the popper as it trailed across her body, but she met his eyes when he spoke. She , merely nodded.

He smiled at her obvious courage and lifted the crop. She gasped softly when he slapped her belly and ribs several times, pinkening the white skin. His cock throbbed every time the leather made a popping sound against her taut flesh. When he heard her moan in mounting excitement he paused and quieted her fiery nerve endings by sliding the leather across her rosy skin.

"That's a girl," he soothed. Her lips parted as she panted in rising excitement, the vision making Ryan want nothing more than to sink his tongue between the lush red ring . ..

followed by his cock. The thought aroused him so much his body shuddered slightly with restrained lust.

His thick arousal was suddenly pierced by the sound of a muted knock against the wall.

Damn. He'd managed to forget about Jack, for a few precious moments. Hope's beauty and responsiveness held him captive . .. made him forget everything but her.