Her lips quivered into a small smile. “You sure catch on quick.”
“I’m good like that.”
She pushed to her feet and glanced over her shoulder on the way to the bed, adding extra sway to her walk. “You’re better than good.”
Julia climbed onto the bed, back against the headboard. She rested her hands in her lap, stretched out her legs, and crossed her ankles.
“Turn on the bedside lamp.” When she obeyed, a soft glow spread over the bed, highlighting her in a gentle spotlight.
“Bring your knees up.” When they were bent in front of her, he said, “Let them fall open. All the way open.”
Julia’s lips pressed together, her fingers curled into the comforter, and her gaze lowered. She started to draw her knees apart.
“Nope,” he said. “Keep your eyes on mine.” When she lifted her gaze, he added. “Always. Your eyes are always on mine. Now spread.”
She sipped a breath at the order, a little more crude than the others, but her knees slowly continued to fall open. Noah realized this was his opportunity to push her. Test her limits. See how much freedom they would have in the bedroom together—one of those things he’d never thought of before because he’d always been focused on one night.
When her knees splayed wide, hands knotted in the comforter at her hips, Noah dropped her gaze and let his rest on her sex. He moved around the foot of the bed and settled a hip near her feet, giving himself time to simply look at her. Her folds sweet and pink and ripe and wet. He studied the different shades of pink. The way her lips framed her entrance. The way she glistened. The way her neatly cropped patch of hair acted like a decoration to her most sensitive, delicate secret.
“Noah…”
Her shaky whisper halted the drift of his mind, and when he refocused, he saw a slight tremor through her body. Alarm burned across his ribs. He darted a look at her face, her expression similar to that tortured kind of pleasure.
“Isn’t there such a thing as a code word?” he asked. “Something we say when we want the game to end?”
“I…don’t want the game to end.”
So she was excited, not scared. Didn’t that just thrill the hell out of him? He had to dig his short nails into his palms to keep from touching her, from taking exactly what he wanted. “Let’s choose a word in case that changes.”
When she didn’t answer, he said, “What about…” He glanced around the room, searching for a word that wouldn’t be stupid enough to kill the erotic spell closing in but not ordinary enough to say by accident. His gaze fell on his shirt crumpled on the carpet. “Red?”
She gave one nod, and her eyes drifted to his mouth.
He reached out and lifted her chin. “Your eyes on mine. Look a
t me looking at you.”
She exhaled a shaky breath but kept her gaze on his. He let his eyes fall again, taking his sweet time to really soak in every detail of her body—the mounds of her breasts, the ridges in her abdomen, the curve of her waist and how it tapered into her hips. How her flat belly feathered into the small swell of her sex, and then his attention focused on her pussy again, on the moisture gathering there.
He wanted to touch her. To scoop her and pull her taste into his mouth. Instead, he heard himself say, “Touch yourself.”
One hand released the covers but didn’t move. “How?”
“Feel how wet you are. Move it around. Coat your clit with it.” As an afterthought, he said, “And watch yourself do it.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, lowered her gaze between her legs, and moved her fingers over the shiny folds. Noah watched the wetness spread and her folds undulate beneath her touch. Enjoyed the quickening pace of her breath, the little catches of sound in her throat.
“Your clit, Julia.”
“I can’t. I’ll come.”
His smile was hot and truly wicked. “Perfect. Eyes on me while you finger yourself to orgasm.”
“Noah, I want—”
“Julia. Either do it or end the game.”
Her breath caught, and Noah prayed she didn’t end it this quick. He could do this all night, and damn well planned on dragging this little game of hers out as long as she allowed.