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“Come in.” I gestured with one hand toward a small table that sat off to one side of the one I worked at. “Clothes.”
She stepped into the dungeon and closed the door behind her.
My smile grew wider. Maybe I’d been lying to myself after all.
Lux paused in my peripherals, her head turned as she studied me, but I didn't give her the satisfaction of looking at her. Instead, I smoothed the leather tails of my whips in a loving caress, stroking along their treated lengths as I had many times in the last hour while I prepared for her arrival.
Rafe had sentme a message that she was on her way down the moment she’d left the bar. Her flight was so fast that I had only a few brief moments to get back into position from where I’d lounged against the wall, playing through the scene in my mind I’d planned for our night.
Her night.
It’s whatit had to be. This was all for her and had nothing to do with me. Not really. I might be present tonight, putting the structure in place, but I wanted her to feeleverything.
“Clothes on the table,Little Bird. Did you enjoy your party?”
She sucked in abreath and froze beside me, no more than half a dozen steps away. “Amazing. So amazing. And fast! I had so much fun. I looked for you,” she faltered. Her hands curled around the edges of the small table in a light grip as though she wasn’t sure if she needed to or not.
Not yet, you don’t. But you will.
“I watched you, too.” I traced over the bulbous head of my favorite whip. It had several purposes, the least of which was being wide enough to part asub’s lips when she held it between her teeth and waited for what would come. “Clothes, Lux.” I used her name, knowing she planned to stall as long as possible.
“Thank you for the gift. I wanted to cry, but it was a private thing,” she murmured, ignoringmy commands and turning to face me. She closed the distance between us until she stood at my side. Heat rolled off her body, and I inhaled her tequila and sunsets scent that reminded me of running with her outside the city limits.
Without looking at her,I raised one hand to curl around her hair, clasping it into an impromptu ponytail, and yanked.
Her head snapped back. It might have seemed frightening, but I kept my hand beneath the back of her skull to limit the flex in the move, leaving nowhere else for her to go. Crowding her space, I loomed over her, bending forward as she arched back, unable to do anything but breathe and watch me.
“I said,clothes. As in take. Them. Off. Now, Little Bird. I won’t ask again.”
“If I don’t?” She managed the soft question without straining her voice, quite an achievement on its own from her precarious position.
I let the corner of my mouth flicker upward. “Should I say we’re done? Because I don’t think you came down here to thank me for a birthday present. Did you?” Itraced my nail along her cheek and wound my hand around her throat.
Her naked throat.
I almost jerked at the knowledge, taking in the way her eyes flared. Rafe’s suggestion, or had she taken it off on her own?
“We’re not done. Please, Killian.” She swallowed against my palm.
A heady dose of power shot through me. I dipped my chin low enough to brush my mouth over hers when I spoke. “Shall I, then?” I stroked the fingers of my other hand across her bared stomach, trailing along the waist of her jeans, and followed the motion by stroking my tongue along the inside of her open lips.
She moaned into my mouth, and I hadn’t even kissed her yet.
That shot of power took me higher.
I flicked the button on her jeans and began to work them over her hips.
Lux’shand caught my wrist in a tight grip. “No!” she cried against me, tugging my hand back up. “You won’t—won’t—” Her breath caught, and she swayed in my one-handed hold.
I released my grip on her hair, sliding my arm around her waist to pull her into me tight. “Tell me, Little Bird. What scares you?”
“That you won’t want me.” Pain and salt glazed her eyes.
I stopped, nonplussed. “Why wouldn’t I want you?”
Fear joined the pain that swirled around her darkened gaze. I stroked my hand down her face in a soothing gesture, but she shook her head and stepped back out of my grasp.
I let her go.
