Looking Inside

Her determination began to disintegrate the closer she got to the museum. If she hadn’t caught him breaking the rules of the event by sneaking a glance at his cell phone, she might not have had the nerve to stay. Witnessing Trey’s small instance of rule breaking had humanized him a little, though, making it easier for her to continue her daring charade.

It’d been one of the hardest things she’d ever done, to walk into that coffee house tonight and meet his stare . . . to face up to a man she didn’t even know, but for whom she’d stripped and masturbated the night before. A mixture of embarrassment and arousal caused heat to rush into her cheeks at the memory. She quickly ducked her head and forced her fragmenting focus onto the page.

He pinned my wrists behind my back and forced me against the front of his body. I struggled, but I was almost choking with excitement at his dominance . . . at the obvious evidence of his arousal.

“Stop fighting,” he said, his mouth slanting in impatience and anger.

I immediately went still. I looked up at the harsh lines of his handsome face, panting. The anger left his expression as he studied me. A fire seemed to ignite and flare in his black eyes.

“Have you ever been restrained, Katya? Have you ever been tied up by a man and punished? Have you ever been fucked very hard, and for the man’s pleasure alone, and had no choice but to take it?”

“No. And I don’t want to be,” I replied quickly.

“You’re lying,” he said without any heat, as if he stated the obvious. His gaze lowered over my neck and chest. I felt his cock jump against me, the sensation making my blood race. “Your pulse is going a mile a minute. Your nipples are hard,” he added grimly as he stared down at my breasts. “Would you like me to kiss you?” he asked, a small, deadly smile shaping his beautiful mouth. And I hated him in that moment, despised him, because I wanted his mouth on me so much, the desire sliced straight through me.

“No,” I seethed.

His eyes narrowed, his stare boring into me.

“I’m going to taste you anyway. Aren’t I, Katya?”

Liquid warmth rushed through me. My lungs froze.

I lifted my mouth to him. Slowly, entranced by his mesmerizing eyes, I opened my lips. A blazing look of triumph crossed his features before he leaned down, plunging his tongue into my mouth, shaping my lips roughly to his. He kissed me hard at first. Ruthlessly. I cried out into his mouth, but he held me at his mercy, taking from me with savage, focused greed. He hurt me a little.

But then he softened. He made love to me with his mouth . . . just his mouth. He sipped and sucked and stroked me. He made his desire my own, and my pain slowly turned into a golden, decadently sweet surrender.

Finally, he lifted his mouth. I quaked against him, completely unmasked.

“Alex Jordan is due for a meeting here in a few minutes,” Xander said.

My heart stopped beating.

“Go to the door and lock it. Alex will have to wait until you’ve gotten what you deserve.”

My heart leapt. He was going to have me now. He was going to do what he’d said: Tie me up. Punish me. Fuck me. The idea of feeling his cock finally driving into my body stole my breath. I left his arms and crossed his large office, my breath coming choppily. I flipped the lock.

When I turned, I saw that he stood behind his desk. He took some keys from his pocket and bent. He was unlocking it: that very drawer that I’d tried to open so many times before while I was alone in his office, my heart beating out an excited warning in my ears that he may return any moment and catch me at my little crime.

I heard the forbidden drawer slide open.

He reached inside. I watched him place first one set of leather cuffs, then another on his desk. He leaned down again and withdrew a two-foot wooden paddle. He straightened and met my stare, grasping the handle with one hand and caressing the striking portion with the other.

“You’ve tried to get into this drawer before, haven’t you, Katya?” he asked me calmly.

I started to deny it, but his eyes wouldn’t let me.

“Yes.”

“You were curious, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

He nodded once, unsurprised by my admission, and set down the paddle next to the cuffs. He bent again, grabbing one more item before he slammed the drawer shut. I trembled when I saw what he’d withdrawn: a box of condoms.

“I’m glad that you were curious. It pleases me,” he said as he began to loosen his tie. “But you’ll have to accept the consequence of your curiosity.” She saw his eyes spark with dark amusement. “That will please me as well,” he said. “Now. Come here, Katya.”

Oh my. Eleanor resisted an urge to fan herself. This book certainly helped her forget her insecurities and self-consciousness. Still, just like the other night, it was the man sitting just feet away from her that was the actual focus of her arousal. Lord, it was hot in here, wasn’t it? It suddenly struck her that she’d been so flustered when she entered late a few minutes ago, she hadn’t removed her coat.