"Dnwsh," I mumble, incoherently.
"Louder."
"Don't wash," I repeat, feeling my cheeks heat. I prefer him bloody and sweaty and dirty. I'm coming to terms with that. I'm doingfine.
"You need help, my darling," he says, in that posh voice of his, as he tosses me over his shoulder.
"You never let me walk anywhere in this palace!" I shriek, watching the hallways go by upside down.
"Because I don't like you to lift a finger."
Liar. "That's not it! It's because you don't trust me not to run off."
He laughs, his grip on my thighs tightening. I fucking love it when he laughs. "You've got me there, Rennalya."
He sets me down on the floor outside his...let's call it a downstairs bedroom. We’ve been here a few times now. Turns out Rexxan likes ropes, and turns out I don’t hate them either.
He plucks a black key from a chain, holding his wine glass between his teeth and mine in his left hand. I am wobbling at the knees already. He pushes open the door, waiting for me to step inside before stalking in behind me. I hear the bolt of the door slide into the latch. Ascan has cleaned this since we were last here. I'm almost embarrassed, but I know he and Talyn get up to all sorts in the bedroom. Those kinky bastards can't judge me.
"So why the rope? Have you always been like this or...did you like, have a rope-based awakening? Do you have rope dreams? Was your first wife just a ball of rope?"
"Stop talking, Rennalya," he says, knowing that I genuinely will not stop if he doesn’t ask me to. "Arms up, beautiful." His lips press against the sensitive spot behind my ear once he'd put the wine glasses on the black marble table. I’m in heaven already, my mind whirring with possibilities.
At his command, I lift my arms up, his deft fingers skimming the skin across my ribs as he pulls my dress over my head. "Gods have mercy," he whispers, walking a slow circle around me, his boots thudding heavy on the ground.Oh yes. I'd forgotten about the dark red lace corset I'd put on for his eyes and his eyes only. "Why haven't I seen this before?"
"I wasn't sure you'd lik—“
"Like it? I do. Wear it more."
My heart, and another area, warms at his words as he places a hand on my lower back, walking me past the ropes on the ceiling, past the bed and the hooks on the wall. This man is a real control freak, but I'm happy to let him indulge himself in me.I trust him.
He hooks his fingers beneath my arms and lifts me onto the table, his eyes giving nothing away as he takes two ropes off the wall with his little finger. "Okay?" He asks, holding them up. I reach out to touch them, the brown rope coarse and scratchy against my fingertips. I can see how that might be intense, but I feel too sensitive, too on edge right now.
"Can we have the soft one from last time?"
"Rennalya, you can have anything you want," he replies, in a tone so dark and dangerous that the butterflies in my stomach go berserk. He takes the soft green velvet rope off the wall, giving me a chance to appreciate him from behind. He turns back around. "Lie back, love."
I gasp, the marble table cold on my skin. Goosebumps rise on my arms as he threads the rope through a hook at the top of the table, pulling my left arm above my head. He works silently, but he is thrumming with desire, his breaths coming hot and heavy in his chest. "How does that feel?" He checks, once I am completely and utterly starfished, my legs wide open.
"Um...exposed?"
"In a bad way?" He asks, his voice laced with concern.
I shake my head. "But you'll untie my hands if I want?"
"Of course," he says, walking around the table. He hooks two fingers in one of the cuffs, loosening it. "There. If you really wanted to, you could take your left hand out."
I nod, waiting in silence as he takes his time to look at me. I've been wanted by so many men and women. Hell, I've been the ultimate desire of some people. But no one has ever wanted me or looked at me the way Rexxan does. It's like he's a man possessed, blinded by a want so intense that it surpassed his hatred for me at the beginning of our relationship.
I feel the cool air on my goose-bumped skin, my nipples hardening under his gaze. A slow smile skates across his lips. He loves to do this. Just to watch me in silence while I squirm. His ringed index and middle fingers stroke the stubble on his jaw. "Are you attached to that corset?"
"Do you mean physically...or like...I mean, I haven't sewn myself into it or anything." I shudder. "Even thinking about that is making my skin feel funny. Oh, god. I think I'm nervous. I'm rambling!"
“Be calm, love.” He kisses my hips before his hands vanish between my legs and tear the corset apart, exposing me even more. The cool underground air chills the wetness between my legs. "I'll replace it, Rennalya,” he says, before I can shout an insult at him.
"You're incorrigible," I mutter, under my breath. His huge hands flex on the table as he pushes himself up to join me, a bowl in his hand. Good lord, he looks good like that, towering over me with a confident smile. He's hard, and I'm already writhing in the restraints.
He puts his hand in the bowl and takes out a strawberry, taking a bite and putting the rest in my mouth. Mmm. That's good. He dips down to kiss me, his forearms rippling. He tastes of strawberries and leather and something so distinctly him. "Good?"
