Page 132 of Safe Word

His fingers stroked my jaw. ‘Safe word.’

The gravel in his voice had deepened. No longer explanation – command again. Ritual resumed.

My lips parted. I breathed once, slow and steady.

‘Green.’

The darkness pressed in. Every breath sounded louder in my ears, every heartbeat echoing down to where my thighs still throbbed with denied release.

Then I heard the fabric shifting. A soft rustle.

Clothing being removed?

My lungs forgot their rhythm. I wanted to see him completely unrestrained.

I tensed slightly, the urge to lift the blindfold rising, my hand inching to my face—

‘Don’t,’ he said, voice close again, no longer muffled by fabric.

God, he’d removed the mask.

I fought the urge with fervour – I knew pulling the blindfold would shatter what we had, this dark, healing rhythm. Even though I couldn’t see him, he’d pushed the boundary, offered something pure – his mouth. His breath. His self.

So I stayed put.

‘Don’t touch it,’ he warned, as if he knew exactly where my mind had gone. Something in his tone made my stomach knot deliciously.

Time stretched. My skin tingled where his heat had been. I couldn’t see him. Couldn’t guess what came next. The anticipation curled hot in my core.

Then—

Contact.

Fingers brushed my throat. His hand curved up, thumb grazing my jaw with surprising tenderness. I angled my head instinctively, baring more of my neck to him. Offering.

When his breath ghosted over my lips, I could almost taste the mint in it.

‘I don’t usually do this,’ he murmured. The confession was quiet, but no less dangerous. I knew then – this wasn’t about control any more. This was about letting me see the man behind the mask, even if I never saw his face.

He was taking a leap.

And I would let him.

His mouth met mine.

And everything else disappeared.

The kiss was deep, possessive… devastating. Nothing like any of the others I’d ever felt. Not rushed. Not rough.

His lips moved against mine with slow hunger, tongue sliding past the seam of my mouth as if he were savouring something forbidden.

I opened up to it, spellbound.

The world dissolved in the heat of his mouth, the drag of his tongue, the way he tasted like control and sin and the silence I’d always needed. His hand cradled my face, keeping me still as he kissed me like no one ever had.

He unravelled me – thread by aching thread.

The past dissolved on his tongue, and the future could burn for all I cared.