When her pants hit her ankles, she took one step toward him, leaving her pants where they lay. Even though she was dying to drop her gaze and look at the skin he had just revealed, she kept her eyes locked on his.

“Christ, Rachel. Do you have something you’d like to tell me about this lingerie fetish of yours?”

She parted her lips to answer, but then she caught herself at the last moment and remained silent.

“Good decision,” he acknowledged. Raising a hand, he twirled his finger. “Turn around. I want to see your tight little ass.”

Biting her lip to keep herself from talking, Rachel pivoted on the wood floor until she was facing the wall full of rows and rows of books. The room had fallen silent, and Rachel strained to hear any kind of sound, but there was nothing.

Suddenly, she felt a slither of fear slip into her mind. Closing her eyes, she reminded herself that this was not Ben. This was Cole, the man she loved and trusted to never hurt her. Telling herself to relax, she took several deep breaths. She almost flew out of her skin however, when a fingertip grazed down her back to the center bow of her panties where it held six ribbons together at the base of her spine.

“I have never seen such sexy lingerie in my fucking life,” Cole said, his voice floating over her bare shoulder.

He must have been standing close, but Rachel didn’t dare look or ask. Instead, she continued biting her lip while his finger traced the ribbons one at a time from the lace that barely cupped her ass cheeks to the pearl at the center of the bow.

After he outlined the final ribbon, the hot touch of his finger left her skin, and when his mouth moved by her ear, she felt moisture pool between her thighs.

“Move in front of the ladder, Rachel, and do not turn around until I tell you to.”

With her heart pounding in her chest, Rachel moved to her left and stood in front of the large wooden ladder. It was attached to the top of the bookcase by a brass bar and secured at the base in a similar fashion. The only difference was the bottom had bulkier rollers.

Knowing she was unable to ask why, she found herself focusing on the books behind the rungs of the impressive ladder—Hemingway, Dickens, and, huh, Aristotle. Classics. Next to those, she saw thrillers written by James Patterson, Stephen King, and Stieg Larsson.

God, is there anything sexier than a man who reads?

“Spread your legs to the width of the ladder, and put your hands on the rung above your head.”

Yes, Rachel decided, there is something sexier.

A bossy man that reads—that is sexier.

* * *

Cole pulled his shirt out of his pants, removed it, and threw it on the desk behind him. He had to remind himself—and his impatient cock that was ready to sink inside her—that this was for Rachel.

What he was about to do was for her. It was about making her forget the terrible night she had just endured. It was also a fantastic opportunity to remind her of why she was in love with him, and one of the reasons was the way only he could make her feel.

As she parted her legs, Cole closed his eyes and said a prayer of gratitude for the sheer fucking pleasure he felt from her following his orders.

In the back of his mind, he knew that she would without question, but for some reason, now that they were married, he had a moment of concern that things would somehow change. That was certainly not the case, he was discovering, as Rachel raised her arms above her head and wrapped her fingers around the rung above her.

He’d never witnessed a more erotic scene in his life, and he’d looked and been in plenty of potential moments. There was something about her bare feet on the hardwood floors, the long creamy legs parted invitingly, the wicked lingerie that tantalized and teased, and the black symbols that marked her spine as they disappeared up and under her brightly highlighted hair.

Fuck yes. She was the most erotic picture he had ever seen, and she hadn’t done anything other than stretch her arms above her head as she waited for him.

Stepping forward, Cole pushed her hair to the side and over her shoulder. As he leaned down to place his lips against the curve of her neck, he heard a swift intake of breath but no words. Brushing his lips along her soft, sweet skin, Cole couldn’t help the little nibble he took of her ear.

“I’m going to take these,” he whispered in her ear, raising a hand to the bow holding the ribbons together, “off now, and once they’re gone, I want you to put your right foot up on the bottom rung of this ladder. Nod if you understand.”

When he saw her head dip in acknowledgment, Cole felt his cock harden as he ran his tongue across his top teeth.

* * *

Don’t speak. Don’t speak, or he will stop, were the words repeating over and over in Rachel’s mind as she faced the books with her hands above her head.

Swallowing back a moan that was threatening to break free, she tightened her hands around the wood and held on as she felt his dexterous fingers slip into the sides of her panties. Ever so slowly, Cole dragged the scrap of lace down her legs to her upper thighs. When he got there, she felt his warm breath on the back of her thigh.

“Close your legs for a moment.”

Automatically, Rachel moved and shut her legs, so he could remove the panties the rest of the way. Once she stepped free of them she heard a clicking sound, like a lock beneath her, and then felt his fingers trail up her right leg from her ankle to her calf.

“There. Now that the ladder is locked, spread your legs again. Show me what I want to see.”

Without any hesitation, Rachel moved her left leg back to where it was before at the edge of the left side of the ladder, and then as instructed, she raised her right foot to the bottom rung. The position bent her right leg and opened her up in the most intimate way.

Breathing hard, she tried to imagine what he was doing behind her, but when she did that, it just made her want to beg for him to touch her. Instead, she kept her eyes focused on what was in front of her—Patterson, Hemingway, King. That helped for the most part until she felt his fingers touch her left ankle. Shit, what does that mean? That he’s kneeling on the fucking floor?

“You make a pretty fucking picture right now, Mrs. Madison.”

Yes, yes, yes! His voice had definitely come from behind and beneath her.

“With your hands above your head, your hair so bright but still dark against your creamy skin.” With a deep sigh, he blew a hot breath against her leg. “Your legs parted, and your perfect fucking ass.”

She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth to keep her words to herself, but she almost lost the battle when she felt his lips against her left upper thigh. Gently, he pressed kiss after soft torturous kiss to her bare flesh, and when he nipped the curve of her ass cheek playfully, she felt the sweet sting of his teeth. It was just as it had been that night she had stood on the trunk in his room. Wait. Our room.

That was when she felt his hand slide under her right thigh toward her knee as he gently pushed her bent leg aside to spread her even farther apart. As his breath caressed the curve of her back, she realized he must have now been kneeling behind her.

“Hmm, this is getting you all hot and bothered, isn’t it? I wonder if it is the challenge of keeping quiet, the fact that you are so vulnerable, or the thought of what I plan to do next that has you so fucking turned on.”

As he whispered the final thought across her back, she felt his fingers slide up from her knee to her bent thigh, and then he dipped in between her legs to stroke her very sensitive flesh.

“Ahh, yes. So fucking wet,” he muttered as he slid his fingers through her slick juices.

Rachel knew she was going to draw blood as she bit down hard on her bottom lip while Cole continued his sensual assault from below. His fingertips pushed inside her as his lips brushed her ass cheek again, and she couldn’t help but thrust her hips back at him.

The deep chuckle that made its way to her ears did nothing to quell the desire he was provoking as he pulled his fingers from her before he pierced deeper inside. Squeezing her hands tightly around the rung above her, Rachel continued to roll her hips back onto Cole’s hand as he kissed and bit her ass while he drove her insane with a good, hard fingering.

Rachel was convinced she was about to come from that alone, but then his fingers suddenly left her body and his mouth was gone. The sheer agony of losing his touch almost made Rachel scream. It was only the knowledge of what she wouldn’t get that kept her lips firmly sealed.

“Remember, not one word. Now, turn around and put your hands back above your head.”

The command was so guttural and intense that Rachel didn’t even recognize it as Cole.

Breathing so hard she felt as though she had run a marathon, Rachel released her right hand and lowered her leg to the ground. As she turned, she shifted her eyes to where she knew he would be. When she finally saw him, she almost lost the will to do as she had been told. He was completely naked, kneeling at her feet, with his cock in his right fist.

Please, she sent up a quick prayer, don’t let me say a fucking word. I want him more than my next breath.

As her eyes met his, she felt the full impact of his raging lust. His scorching gaze heated her as he worked his hard-on and waited.