“I’m on the pill,” I said. “And I assumed you were clean.”
“I am,” he said.
“So that’s why you stopped?”
He laughed. “Baby, I’m still inside you. Is that stopping?”
“No, but—”
He pressed his finger over my lips. “I seem to recall mentioning to you that I like being in control.”
“Oh. Right. You might have said that,” I admitted, squirming beneath him. “I think you liked letting me take over for a while, too.”
“Careful. That’s the kind of thing a woman can get punished for.”
“Is that so?” I asked playfully.
“Hell, yes,” he said, returning my smile with one of his own, and then staying perfectly still.
He was still hard inside me, and yet he wasn’t moving. I groaned in protest and tried to shift my hips in silent demand. But I couldn’t do much; he’d trapped me good and tight.
I was beginning to understand what he meant by “punishment.”
He grinned knowingly. “Frustrated, Lina?”
“Even if I were, I wouldn’t admit it.”
He laughed outright, and the sound delighted me. “How do you do that?” I asked.
“How do I do this?” he asked, moving slowly inside me.
“Oh, thank god. Finally,” I said, arching up to silently urge him to thrust deeper. “But what I meant was, how do you send this melange of emotions coursing through me?” I had to concentrate on getting the words out. “You take me to the edge, you make me feel like I’m the manifestation of sensual pleasure. And then you turn it on its head and make me laugh out loud.” I paused for just a heartbeat. “I don’t remember ever having so much fun in bed.”
He slid up my body and kissed me gently. “Me either. Of course,” he added, his tone sharpening a bit as he traced his fingertip over my naked breasts. “As I believe we’ve already established, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what I can make you feel.” As he spoke, he rubbed his thumb and forefinger over my nipple, the friction making the nub even tighter. He squeezed his fingers tighter, intensifying the pleasure—and the pain.
“Oh, really?” I concentrated on his fingers, on that pinching sensation that hurt a little, but at the same time felt remarkably wow, as if everything I wanted to feel had been captured and held there for me to experience. I remembered his words in the alley—the way he’d wanted to pinch my nipples. To spank my ass.
I felt the muscles of my sex clench around him, already anticipating the new onslaught of sensations to come.
From the way he smiled at me, I could tell he’d felt my body’s response—and understood exactly what it meant.
“My Lina wants something,” he said.
I licked my lips and turned my head slightly so that I wasn’t looking at him dead-on. “I was just thinking about what you said. About how taking control was the kind of thing you might punish me for.”
“Were you? That’s an interesting direction for your thoughts. Would you like to elaborate? Maybe be more specific?”
I slanted my eyes at him. “You made me promises.”
“Did I? You may have to refresh my memory.”
He released my nipple, then trailed his finger down, lower and lower to where our bodies were joined. He moved inside me languidly, and as he did, he slipped his finger over my clit, making me bite down on my lower lip as my breath came in painful, wonderful jolts.
He took his finger away, stopped his thrusting, and looked down at me, his expression smug.
“Bastard,” I muttered.
“What do you want, Lina?”
“I want—I mean, I’ve never been—oh, fuck it. I want you to spank me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve been naughty,” I murmured, because I was certain that’s what he expected me to say. “Because I need to be punished,” I added, turning my head away because I knew it was true.
“Good girl,” he said as he began to slowly move inside of me. I felt the pressure building and closed my eyes, wanting to get lost on the cresting waves. “No. Look at me.”
Reluctantly, I opened my eyes.
“It was a good answer, but it wasn’t the right one.” He kept up the motion, that delicious friction building with such slow intensity that it took all of my effort to focus on his words. “I don’t know what you think you’ve done, but it’s not important. Because it’s not about punishment, at least not with me. The control, the bondage, the spanking, even the pain—it’s all a road, Lina. A road that leads to pleasure. It’s acceleration before flight. The priming of the pump. The buildup to climax.”
He traced his fingertip over my nipple, then over my lips, then gently slid inside my mouth as I sucked, the digit mimicking the thrusts of his cock.
“Call it whatever the hell you want,” he continued. “But I promise you that pleasure is the goal. I’m not interested in hurting you. I’m not interested in punishing you. I’m only interested in pleasing you.”
He slid his finger out of my mouth, and I took that as permission to speak. “You do,” I whispered.
“It’s going to be rough, baby, but I promise it will feel good. But I can’t have you any other way. Not after wanting you for so damn long. And not now that I know you’re going away. I need to know that you’ve surrendered to me.”
“I have. I will.” Hell, right then I’d do or say anything just to feel him moving inside me some more.
He didn’t, though. Instead, he slid out of me, and I actually whimpered with disappointment.
He laughed, then held out his hands for me, helping me up until I was kneeling on the bed in front of him. “I want to know that until the day you leave this city, I have claimed you for my own. Now tell me that you want it, too.”
“I do,” I said. “I want it.”
He slid off the bed and stood facing me. Then he made a circular motion with his finger. “Turn around. Bend over. Palms flat on the bed.”
I opened my mouth to ask why, realized that was an idiotic question, and complied. I heard his low intake of breath, then his soft, “Oh, baby.” And then I felt the sharp sting of his palm against my rear, followed by the pressure of his palm rubbing away the prickles of heat that had bloomed from the contact. “Say it like you mean it,” he said, and now there was nothing soft about his voice.