‘I’ll pay your price.’

I watched her mouth as she spoke, breaking the silence that had fallen between us. She was pinned between me and the wall, in a pose that would have seemed erotic were it not for the cold that I knew was found in my eyes. I inhaled deeply and turned my face away, my jaw working, the muscles ticking in a rhythmic motion. The heels of her palms stopped digging into my shoulders and slowly her fingers slid around my head. She wound her fingers into my hair and pulled me closer for a kiss. I allowed her to draw my mouth closer to hers, but paused just as her eyes fluttered shut and the sweet line of her lips parted.

‘Do you think it is that easy to seduce me, cunt?’

Her eyes, still fringed with wet lashes, flew open and the hurt had returned. The strike was a clean one, her vulnerability was in wanting me calm. She just couldn’t leave me in this rage and I knew it. She might hate me for it later, but she’d stay, she always stayed.

I pushed my hips against her and growled in response to the sound she made, somewhere between pleasure and pain. Stepping back slightly, her hands dropped from my shoulders. I felt heat curl in my gut, every muscle in my body compelling me to act upon her. My hands raked down the front of her shirt, splitting it down the middle, buttons clattering to the floor around us. She cried out in surprise, her hands coming up to cover her breasts in an act of modesty years overdue. I shook my head slowly, it was a command, my gaze met hers.

Her fingers curled tightly in the torn fabric of the shirt, my shirt. I waited for her to yield and when she did not, I slid my fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her head ever so lightly. I brushed my fingertips along her scalp, my mouth hovered above hers as I spoke. ‘Do you really want to press the issue, pet?’

I felt the shudder go through her and watched as her fingers slowly released the material and allowed it to swing free. My eyes were drawn to the skin she revealed as her hands dropped to the sides. I felt her frustration - it whispered in my head. I ate it like I would a piece of meat, savoring the bite as it crossed my tongue.

My lips brushed against hers, my fingers splaying over her scalp, wound in raven silk. My mouth moved in a slow path along her jaw, across the slope of her neck, her collarbone. My hand tightened in her hair and her knees folded with mine as we sank in a slow motion along the wall to the floor. My mouth was at her nipple when we sank down, our knees on the floor. I had pulled her back towards me so that I could lean over her just as I brushed her flesh with my teeth - it was a whisper of sensation, but I felt the shudder that rippled through her skin like an electric shock. Her hands clutched once again at my shoulders, her lips parted in a breathy sigh.

My fingers wound a path along her back, supporting her in this odd embrace, my other hand urging her legs to unfold, which they did - gentle stems unfolding into the coolness of night. I lay her back on the floor, I was between her thighs, stretched out above her, still languidly exploring each inch of her skin. My mouth moved to her other breast, my tongue, raked along the underside of it a moment later, my teeth closed around the hardened tip. I held it thus, my tongue sampling her for a long moment before I finally released it and my lips brushed further down, my eyes still upon the twin peaks that hinted at sins not yet committed.

I squeezed the muscles of her thighs as I pushed them still wider. My fingers dug into the flesh there, leaving the reddened imprint of my hands. I made small little bites along the flat plain of her belly, the muscles tightened in response. I felt her eagerness in the bite of her fingernails, the breath that suspended when my thumbs would wander too close to her sex. I knew her to be wet. I could smell the feminine scent of her arousal, see it in the damp cotton that embraced her sex.

I pressed a kiss to her mound, just above the split seam of her sex. I would have sworn she wasn’t capable of the sound she made then. It was a moan, a cry, and my name blended into an erotic noise that broke the gentle lull in the room. The hairs on the back of my neck stood. My lip curled and I lifted my head. Her eyes were closed, her legs drew up as I pulled back and sat on my heels. I pulled the tie from around my neck and wrapped it quickly around her first hand. Her eyes darted open and I had her second wrist clasped before the protesting squeal left her. I had her bound. Her hands pressed together, resting on her belly.

She watched me as I stood, her back still pressed to the floor. When I unbuttoned my shirt, she started to struggle to get up. I glanced at her, but still turned, my voice flat. ‘Remain as you are.’

I dropped my shirt to the table, pulling off the sleeveless t-shirt underneath. I kicked my shoes off and I turned back as I worked the clasp to my belt. She had remained as I had instructed. I could see the uncertainty of my plans playing in the dark recesses of her eyes.

When I whipped off my belt, she cried out and I smirked. ‘A slight overreaction.’

Her brows knitted together. ‘I don’t know what to expect from you, Dae.’ Her chin quivered. ‘Pain, but not this, you…you are being cruel, then…then you are just nice. Back and forth. Back and forth.’

I dropped the tail of the belt and walked over to her, placing a foot on either side of her body as I crouched. I clutched the belt in my right hand. My left hand brushed over her skin before I rested my elbow on my bent knee. ‘Now we wouldn’t want your indecision, would we, pet?’

I ran my thumb over the moisture of her lashes and stood again. I bent down and took her bound hands. I pulled on them and she struggled to find her feet. I turned her towards the living room and shoved her forward. ‘Bend over the chair.’ I said, pointing to the arm of an overstuffed recliner.

She did as I asked, leaning forward, her hair spilling over the side like a waterfall.

I smiled.