CHAPTER NINE
THE TENSION BETWEENthe three of us heightened with every step back to the living room.
“I think I still want to play our little game,” I said with a mischievous smile. Alex scowled in response, and Damien rolled his eyes playfully but shrugged. “Plus, it’s my turn. So, Alex, I’m turning your question right back on you. Got any kinks?” I was feeling more bold with every second, and this was a question that had been lingering in the back of my mind.
Damien’s eyes widened slightly as Alex laughed under his breath.
“Oh, baby girl, I don’t think you’re ready for that,” he said with an amused, cocky look.
“Try me.” I definitely sounded more confident than I felt.
He raised his eyebrows at my newfound courage and was quiet for a moment. “It would be much more fun if I could show you rather than just tell you.”
Between the drinking and the already intense events of the night, I was feeling giddy with excitement, slightly dizzy, and still unusually confident. “Then show me,” I challenged.
A wicked look overtook his face as he said, “Follow me,” then turned to walk toward the basement steps. My heart jumped in my chest. Again, I wondered what the hell I was getting myself into.
He started speaking without checking to see if I was listening behind him. “We’ll use the basic safe words—yellow means slow down or back off, and red means stop. You say either of these at any point you feel necessary. Okay?” I swallowed nervously and agreed as I followed him down the steps into the basement with Damien trailing behind.
The steps led down to one large room with bedroom furniture to the left and gym equipment to the right. Well, that explains why they’re both so muscular, I thought. The basement was tidy, but what immediately caught my eye was a massive bookcase on the wall adjacent to the stairs, about ten feet from the foot of the bed. Books covered every available surface, stacked in odd ways so that they filled the shelves vertically and horizontally, as if there was no possible justification to leave any space unused. Hanging from the ceiling was a hammock-type chair, which was something I had always wanted. It was mostly just bunched-up fabric that hung down in a U-shape until you sat in it and adjusted it around your back and bottom. There used to be something similar in the hipster coffee shop back in my hometown, so it sort of surprised me that Alex owned one.
My thoughts must have been written on my face, because Damien leaned in from behind me and said, “He’s a fucking nerd.” I snorted in response, and Alex shook his head in annoyance as he rustled in the dresser drawers. My heart jumped again and I couldn’t help but wonder what he had in there or what he was looking for.
“I like your chair,” I said, feeling awkward as I waited for him to get whatever he was looking for.
“My what?” He looked up at me with confusion and followed my gaze. When he realized what I was looking at, he smiled and raised an eyebrow, amused. “Oh, thanks.” He probably thought I was lame, trying to make conversation about a freaking chair after we had just finished discussing kinks and were about to do God-knows-what.
He stood straight and turned back to me, crooking his finger in the “come here” gesture. I thought about what else he could do with that motion and smiled to myself, averting my gaze as I walked to him. “Are you ready?” he asked. The serious tone in his voice sent chills down my spine.
“Yes.”
He put his palm to my cheek and his thumb under my chin, forcing my head up to meet his dark eyes. “Look at me when I’m talking to you,” his deep voice commanded. “I’ll ask again. Are you ready?”
His face was the picture of unnerving calmness while my heart pounded wildly in my chest. “Yes,” I breathed as I held his gaze.
“Good.” Without warning, he threw me to the bed, straddled me, and used a small rope to tie my wrists together, threading the middle through a gap in the headboard. My initial shock was immediately replaced with a throbbing need. I tried to grind my hips against him, but he had sat too far above them for me to get any friction where I needed it. He gave me a cocky smirk as he finished his final knot and stood up. I tried to pull at the rope to no avail. I was stuck.
“Remember the safe words?” he asked as he picked through his drawer.
“Yes,” I breathed. “Yellow and red. Not that hard to remember.” I returned the bold, arrogant look he had given me moments before. His eyes darkened.
“You better watch that pretty little mouth, baby.”
“Make me,” I shot back.
He was back on top of me in an instant as he pulled up the hem of my shirt. But instead of pulling it completely off, he left the bottom hem around my wrists so that the shirt was stretched over my face and arms, as if I had tried to pull it off and it had gotten stuck. My own shirt was now effectively a blindfold and an extra level of restraint. The rope that bound my wrists didn’t allow me to move my forearms much, and my shirt now also restrained my movement around my biceps and shoulders. It was the perfect little trick to make sure I had absolutely no use of my upper body.
His warm breath heated my neck as he leaned down over top of me. “Not so confident now, are we?” he growled. His lips grazed the side of my neck, trailing down to my collarbone and across my chest. He stood again, leaving me to wonder what was coming next and shuddering with need. I was already wet, and he had barely even touched me.
Heavy footsteps thudded from across the room, closer to the bed. Damien. I couldn’t see, only hear, as he approached me. His warm hands slid across my hips then tugged the waistband of my pants and underwear down. He slid them off slowly and tossed them to the floor with a soft thump. I could feel his body heat, so close yet not close enough. The anticipation of his touch made me squirm; I needed it now. He laughed softly and not kindly as I shifted my hips and crossed my legs, needing some sort of friction. I wanted him. And Alex. Either of them. Both of them.
I gasped at the sudden touch of a cold, hard object on my lower stomach. What the hell was that? A toy of some sort? I didn’t even know if it was Damien or Alex over top of me now. The object dragged lightly up my abdomen, over my bra, and to my neck.