Cooper got to his feet. “I hope that’s an invitation to join you?”
Lainey grinned. “The shower stall is like two feet by two feet, but if you want to squish in there with me…”
“Can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be,” he replied, smiling back.
They made quick work of cleanup. Other than that brief press of lips, they’d barely touched since arriving in New Bern, and Lainey found she missed that closeness.
Normally, stepping back from the intensity of the past twenty-four hours would have suited Lainey. She liked to take her time with a new guy. Especially when she brought them back to her place for the first time. But with Cooper, she didn’t want to pull back—far from it. It was more than just a crush. While he was sexy as hell, he was also like a wonderful, comfy chair you just wanted to curl up in, safe and snug.
Was it Desire Island itself that had cast a spell on them both?
What happened when the spell was shattered—when he left the island in a few days?
Holy shit. I’m falling for this guy—falling hard. Now what the hell am I going to do?
Cooper bent down to retrieve their overnight bags, which he hoisted over one shoulder. Just inside her bedroom door, Lainey turned toward him. “Kiss me properly this time,” she demanded, reaching up to circle his neck with her arms.
Cooper dropped the bags and caught her in a strong embrace. As he brought his mouth to hers, he gently cupped the back of her head with one hand, the other hand roaming over her back and ass. When he finally let her go, she was breathless and wildly aroused.
She started to reach for him again, but he stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder. “No, Lainey. We’re going to do this my way right now. You’ve had a taste of impact play. Now I want to show you how powerful erotic submission can be all on its own.”
“But I told you—”
“I know, I know. You don’t have a submissive bone in your body. That’s what you’ve said. But it’s not what I see. I have a favor to ask.”
Brought up short by this seeming non sequitur, Lainey said, “What’s the favor?”
“Just for tonight, suspend judgment. Remember—we’re just exploring. You’re not signing up to be my personal sex slave, don’t worry. I have no intention of pushing you past your limits.”
He smiled, though his gaze was intense, as if he could see past her face and into her deepest secrets. “I just want to conduct a little…experiment. I’m not talking intense bondage or whips or any kind of impact play. It’s more of a mind thing. I want to set a mood, more than anything.”
“Okay,” Lainey said slowly, not entirely sure where he was going with this.
“For the rest of the evening,” he continued, “I want you to do what I say without analyzing it or trying to control your reactions. You won’t speak unless I ask you a direct question. You’ll just obey. That’s it. Do you think you can do that? Are you up to that challenge?”
Lainey was aware he was intentionally pushing her competitive button, but insight didn’t mean she didn’t reflexively rise to the bait. “Okay,” she agreed, aiming for a confident tone, not quite sure she’d pulled it off.
“Good.” He took a step back and stared down at her. His voice deepened, his tone firming. “Remember, from this moment until I release you, you belong to me. That means you do what I say and only what I say. Don’t think about it, don’t analyze it—just do it.”
Lainey’s heart had begun to pound and her mouth was suddenly dry. This man was like no one she had ever met. “Okay,” she said again, this time in barely a whisper.
“First, you will remove your clothing and stand at attention in front of me, hands at your sides, posture straight.”
Lainey stared at him. Challenge or no, her first impulse was to refuse outright. Nobody told Lainey Miller what to do. But at the same time, something softened and opened inside her at his words, like a rose bud unfurling with time-lapse speed.
It’s just an experiment. I can do this. I can do anything I set my mind to.
Thus mentally fortified, Lainey slipped the sundress from her body and let her bathing suit fall to the carpet. She stood ramrod straight, lifting her chin as she faced him. Heat moved over her throat and chest as his gaze roamed slowly, almost insolently, over her naked body. It took all her self-control to keep from covering herself with her arms.
“Turn around,” he eventually directed.
Again, the urge to refuse, to laugh, to flee, rose inside her. But there was a stronger force at work, too. One that thrilled to his command, that melted at his dominance, that longed to…submit.