He gave a pointed look to the new room that we’d only just stepped into. A room that I initiated the visit to.
“Obviously, I changed my mind on that. I want to explore more, but I’m also not looking for anything beyond that.” I tucked my hair behind my ears as I rushed to tack on, “Not that I think you are. I just want to put it out in the open in case you were worried I was going to read too much into this.”
“I wasn’t worried.”
“Good. Because I’m not.”
I forced my mouth closed before I kept babbling under Tripp’s disconcertingly blank stare.
“Anything else?” he finally asked.
I shook my head.
“What do you say if you don’t like something, siren?”
It wasn’t the first time he’d called me that name. At first, I’d assumed it was something he called all women, like a more uniquesweetheartorhoney. But in all of the coverage of him I’d watched, he never said it. Instead, he always got the interviewer’s name and used that, building a rapport.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I answered his question with my own. “Why do you call me that?”
He looked at me for a few seconds as his hand continued its maddening torment up and down my hip. “Because when I saw you on the roof at my birthday, I was convinced you were a siren there to lure me off the ledge. I would’ve gone, too.” A wicked smirk curved his mouth, stealing my focus until I barely noticed that he was backing me up. I hit the wall behind me, but he cupped my head to cushion the impact. “I’ll always happily go down for you.”
And then his mouth dropped to mine, kissing me so thoroughly, I had to reach out to clutch his shirt to keep upright.
Or try to, at least.
Because his hands wrapped around my wrists to pin my arms at my side. His tight grip made it clear that I was supposed to stay in place. I didn’t even mind that as long as he kept kissing me. But for whatever reason, I fought against the hold anyway. Just to feel the unyielding force of him.
With a pained groan, he tore his mouth from mine. “I asked you a question, and I don’t like repeating myself.”
It took me a moment to sort through the lust fog to remember what that question was. “I say stop if I don’t like something.” At his rough squeeze, I added, “Sir.”
He gave an approving nod before releasing one of my wrists. He moved the other against the wall, and I jumped when something fuzzy brushed my skin. I looked down to see the inside of the cuff was lined with silky soft fur. My alarmed eyes darted to Tripp.
He paused with the cuff in one hand and my wrist in the other. “Do you trust me?”
I trusted him more than almost anyone else, but that wasn’t saying much. Still, I took a few deep inhales before nodding.
It wasn’t another approving nod I got, though that would’ve been enough. Instead, a proud grin split his handsome face. I lost the view much too fast when he buried his face in my neck to lick and nip the sensitive skin there. “So brave, baby.”
That praise was almost enough to extinguish the panic burning through me as he latched one wrist.
Almost.
But it did lessen it enough that I wasn’t hyperventilating. I was just breathing hard. And fast.
When one arm was secured, I thought he would rush to do the other side. Honestly, I was hoping he would get it over with. But he left me like that as he kissed my neck again. My chest. My mouth. Then back again. He slipped the thin straps of my dress down to tease his fingers across the exposed tops of my breasts. Without a bra, he could’ve easily freed them, but he didn’t.
Each graze was too gentle. Too fleeting. I wanted to use my free hand to force him to touch me more. Touch me everywhere. But I fought the urge and was rewarded with his teeth. His rough hold.
His body pinning mine in place so I could feel the long, thick evidence that he was getting off on my torment.
I lost all of it as he stepped back to secure my other wrist. Once he was done, he dropped to his knees in front of me. He shoved the tight skirt of my dress up to bunch around my hips.
I moved on instinct, the bindings keeping me in place with little give. I used my words instead. “You have to unlatch me.”
He pressed his mouth to my stomach, right above the waistband of my panties. “Are you saying stop?”
I shook my head so hard, it was a wonder my brain didn’t scramble. “We forgot to take my dress off first.”
