Stephanie Julian - No Reservations

“I’m not sure I should be,” she finally said. “Willing, that is. It’s taken me years to feel like I have control of my life. Growing up, my dad had an image of me that I never quite fit into and it was . . . stressful trying to be that person he expected me to be.”

Tyler could tell “stressful” didn’t exactly do the situation justice. He wanted to push her for more, dig out her secrets, but managed to hold his tongue as she continued.

“And when you ask me to give up so much of my control to you, my brain automatically says, ‘No.’ But there’s part of me that wants to.”

“We’re consenting adults,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with sex between consenting adults.”

Her smile had a wicked edge to it. “I know that, Tyler. But . . .” She stopped and her smile faded into a slight scowl.

“But?” he prompted.

“There’s still that little piece of me that keeps saying, ‘This is bad. You shouldn’t want this.’ That we don’t really know each other that well yet. But there’s a bigger piece egging me on.”

He liked the sound of that. “So where does that leave us?”

Finally, she sighed. “I want you to relax enough around me to stop asking me if I’m willing. I want you to be comfortable with me.”

Frowning, he shook his head. “Why do you think I’m not comfortable around you?”

“Because you stop and ask my permission every time you want me to try something new. I want you to stop treating me like I’m going to freak out every time you want to introduce me to something new.”

He opened his mouth to say . . . something. “So if I tell you to take your clothes off and kneel on that bench, you’ll do it?”

She gave him a considering look before turning toward the bench.

With a flick of her head, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. He loved watching the fall of her hair down her back. It turned him on in ways he’d never known were possible.

He wanted to see it brushing against her naked back, feel it wrapped around his hands as he thrust into her from behind.

Which was exactly what he had planned for tonight.

Kate had reached the bench and stood beside it with her head cocked to the side.

As if she was dissecting it.

He was about to ask her if he could show her what they could do with the bench but stopped before he opened his mouth.

She wanted to know how he truly responded in this situation?

Fine. Let the games begin.

He walked over to her, stopped next to her. He watched her gaze trace the padded hump separating the benches, the three silver loops embedded on each side of the hump and the loops on each side of the base of the four legs.

“So many possibilities.” He kept his tone deliberately level. “So many different positions.”

“Did you design this?” She didn’t turn to look at him, kept her gaze on the bench.

“I sketched out a basic design. Jared found a furniture maker to create it.”

“It’s simple. Elegant. Ingenious.”

“And versatile.”

She nodded, and he heard her take in a deep breath.

“Take off your dress and lay it over the chair. Leave your bra and panties.”

Tyler’s demand poured over Kate like heat in a sauna, filling her with lust . . . and tearing through her doubts.

God, she loved the hard command in his voice. She’d only caught a hint of it before, the night he’d tied her up in her room. Now, she was pretty sure she was hearing the true nature of the man.

It made her burn.

And brought up a host of other feelings she didn’t want intruding right now. Turning off that train of thought was harder than she’d expected. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her, but she also knew this went beyond play for him.

Could she handle giving over that much control to him?

She was damn sure going to try.

Turning to face Tyler, she looked up into his eyes and reached for the side zipper on her dress. He held her gaze as she loosened the dress enough to shimmy it off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor.

Stepping out of it, she bent to pick it up, remembering, barely, that he wanted her to put it on the chair. When she turned back from laying out her dress, she lifted her right foot to remove her shoe.

“Leave those on too.”

The heels weren’t her highest but they were black patent leather and went well with the sheer stockings held up by a cream lace garter belt.

She watched his expression as his gaze dropped, noting the tic in his jaw as he took in the strapless bra that matched the garter belt and the panties.

Her nipples pushed against the lace of the bra in stiff points and her panties were already soaked through.

“Take off the panties and give them to me.”

His voice sent pulses of electricity through her body. Anticipation made all the oxygen in the room disappear, and she took a deep breath because she wasn’t sure she’d remembered to breathe recently.

Pushing the panties off her thighs, her hair fell over her shoulders, brushing against her breasts, like whispers of silk. When she’d pulled them off, she held them out to him by the side string.

He didn’t take them. “Put them in my pants pocket.”

She had to take a step closer to reach him. Her gaze dropped to follow her hand and snagged on the thick ridge behind his zipper. Totally ruined the perfect cut of his slacks.

And made her want to drop to her knees and release him so she could suck on him.

“Kate, put it in my pocket then kneel on the bench facing away from me.”

A smart-ass comment leaped to the tip of her tongue but she found the strength to hold it back. Tonight, she’d give him what he wanted.

She did as he asked, using one hand to hold open the pocket and the other to slip the silk inside. She made sure she brushed against his erection, smiling when it jerked in response. Loving the way his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.

Testing Tyler’s control was fast becoming her favorite pastime.

She took her time withdrawing her hand before staring back up at him.

Her pussy felt slick and puffy and he hadn’t touched her yet.

Soon.

Finally, she turned toward the bench again.

And had the split-second urge to shake her head at the image she was about to present to him.

Submission.

Who would have thought she’d get off on this? But she was. Totally.

First one knee and then the other.

Bracing her hands on the top of the hump, she leaned forward. The leather was cool to the touch at first but she knew it would warm quickly.

Still, it was a shock, and her skin erupted in goose bumps as her stomach came into contact with it.

“Lean over it, Kate. And spread your legs a little. I’m going to cuff your ankles. Tight enough that you won’t be able to move your legs.” He paused and she knew he was about to ask for her permission. Luckily, he didn’t. If he had, she wasn’t sure she would have said yes.

She knew she could say no to anything, but she was determined to see this through. She wanted to see this through.

With the position of the bench . . . horse, he’d called it a horse—she couldn’t see what he was doing. She heard him moving around behind her, opening drawers and closing them. The clink of chain.

Leaning on the horse, she tried to breathe normally, but that was an impossibility. She was so turned on, she wanted to squeeze her thighs together to relieve some of the ache.

When his fingers circled her ankle, she started, biting back a moan at the conflicting rush of emotions.

“Easy, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you. And if I do, you can bet you’re going to like it.”

Jesus, she might just have a heart attack before he fucked her.

Which now sounded like such a crude word for what they were engaged in. For her, it went beyond just the act.

And if she were being truthful, it had from the beginning.

Closing her eyes, she just breathed.

And simply enjoyed the feel of his fingers on her skin. He stroked his fingertips up her calf before returning to her ankle. Hooking one fur-lined cuff to her left ankle, he pulled her legs farther apart so he could bind the other.

She felt more of a sense of exposure now than she had tied to her bed. Probably because this wasn’t his bedroom. And the fact that anyone could walk in at any moment heightened the sense that this was . . . wrong?

No, not wrong.

Bad. But in a good way.

She nearly choked on a gasp when he smacked her ass. Not hard. At least, not hard enough to hurt. Just enough to send bolts of blinding sensation straight to her pussy, followed by a heated caress.

“Do I need to bind your hands or will you be able to control yourself and hold on to the horse?”

Truthfully? She wasn’t sure.

“Bind my hands.”

His hand stilled on her ass and she held her breath, waiting for another smack.

Then she felt his breath against her ear. “Good choice. I think you’ll like it. But if you want out at any time, you only need to ask, Kate. And this is the only time I’ll say that.”

She nodded, not sure she could form coherent sentences.

“Put your hands out in front of you.”

She did as he said, heart pounding a mile a minute. She felt the insane urge to laugh at the situation, but she was so turned on, she almost felt like she was going to cry.

Get a grip.

She didn’t want Tyler to think she couldn’t handle this.

And really, what was there to handle? He’d told her she could call it quits at any time and he’d release her.