Bind Me Before You Go (Entangled Brazen) (Serve) (4 page)

“No, of course not! Um, I mean, we were just talking,” Cassidy answered a bit too quickly, like a teenager caught making out with a boy. God, she
felt
like a teenager again, her body inflamed, desperate for David’s touch.

“So, how was the class?” Cass asked.

Allie gave her a quick wink. “In a word? Enlightening.”

Leo cleared his throat and placed a possessive hand on her lower back. “You ready for the full tour?”

“I don’t know,” Allie said. “What do you think, Cassidy? Should I stay?”

Cassidy shared a glance with David. He, too, seemed amused at the game between Allie and Leo.

“Depends on how long the tour lasts. I can stay at the bar a little longer.”

“Oh,” Allie said. “I didn’t think about that. I don’t want you to have to wait around for me.”

“I can give her a ride,” David said. He glanced at Cassidy. “If that’s what you want.”

Cassidy swallowed. She knew what that meant. If she didn’t want to sleep with him, she had to cut this off now. But she’d die if she didn’t feel his lips on hers at least one more time.

Wow, where had
that
come from? A few hours ago she’d barely been able to keep her eyes open. Now she felt more alive than she could remember feeling in years.

“Okay,” she said.

Leo brought his mouth close to Allie’s ear. “Problem solved.”

Cassidy had come to the club concerned Allie would get into something she couldn’t handle, but she had to admit, the way Leo was looking at Allie—with pure lust, but also with a sincere kindness in his eyes, which suggested he’d never hurt her as they explored their sexuality together—promised that Allie was in good hands.

“I’ll see you later, okay?” Allie said. “Don’t wait up for me.”

Cassidy watched them go while mindlessly scratching her head and expelling a sigh. “Um…okay, I guess. Be careful!” she called out, with Allie returning a careless wave as her only reply.

“No need to look so worried, Cassidy,” David said. He was near enough to feel her body heat, the warmth of her caressing him. “Leo’s a good guy. He won’t hurt her.”

She just stared, but already she felt her attention going back to David, to every nuance of his strong, squared features, to his expression, to the heat emanating from his muscular frame. He reached for her again and threaded his fingers through her hair, and then he gently grabbed the nape of her neck.

“If you don’t want this, now’s the time to walk away,” he rumbled, his eyes scorching hers.

“I…I don’t even know what
this
is yet,” she breathed.

He cupped her face in his hands, studied her eyes for a beat, and then leaned into her. There was nothing soft or hesitant about the way he kissed her.

She only froze for a couple of seconds before she responded to him with equal passion. She grabbed his hair in her hands and brought him even closer to her body.

He growled into her mouth and moved his hands down her sides before squeezing her ass in both of his hands. She gasped then and broke free of their kiss to search his face. There was need in his expression, too.

“Getting an idea what
this
is yet?” he said, not a hint of teasing in his voice.

“Maybe,” she breathlessly answered. She rubbed her lips together, savoring his kiss. “It’s obvious there’s some intense chemistry between us. And even though I’m trying to let go more, you need to know…” She turned her head away, collected a bit of courage, and then met his gaze again. “I’m not like Allison. Don’t get me wrong, she’s awesome, but I’m not built like her. Impetuous, carpe diem, all that shit.”

“I appreciate the heads up, honey, but you’ve gotta know I find it all kinds of cute that you’d even spend a fucking second thinking that I’d mix up the kind of girl she is with the kind of woman you are.”

Cassidy’s eyes rounded and her mouth opened, but no words would come out.

“My bike’s just a few blocks away,” he replied, already taking her hand in his and lacing their fingers together.

She couldn’t hold back a small smile. “Okay… But David?”

“Right here, honey,” he roughly whispered, like his need to touch her was barely contained.

“You need to know that I’m not going home with you tonight.”

“I know that already.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “That’s because I’m going home with you.”

Chapter Three

Everything about David screamed alpha male, but when he convinced her to get onto the back of his bike and ride with him to her apartment, she realized a better description might be Jedi-Mind-Trick-Master.

She never took rides home from men, let alone on a motorcycle.

Christ, the man might as well have waved his fingers in front of her face like Obi-Wan Kenobi.

These are not the droids you’re looking for.

She went to throw her leg over the back of the bike, but he held up his hand.

“Just a second,” he said.

“Something wrong?”

“Get your phone. Just a precaution for your own safety. Take a picture of my driver’s license”—he held it out—“and text it to a few close friends. I swear you’ve got nothing to worry about with me. But in order to be safe, you’ve gotta be smart. And that’s a small way to do it.”

“Do you want to see
my
license?” she teased. “Because you don’t know. I could be this fly-under-the-radar, ninja warrior assassin luring you into my lair.”

That particular line of smart-ass earned her a smile that made his good looks a million times more electric.

“Sounds like the perfect way to go, so bring it on, honey.”

He seemed too good to be true. Every time she tried to impose some sort of boundary with him, all he had to do was remind her that whatever limit she needed, he would respect it, and suddenly she felt the need for that ‘line-in-the-sand’ melt away.

How long had she lived like this, assuming these boundaries were necessary when really she was keeping herself safe from what she truly wanted?

God…what she truly wanted. She didn’t even know what that was, only knew that whatever David was offering had awoken something in her that felt true and essential.

Was she ready for this?

“I don’t think you should come upstairs,” she said.

He locked her with his seductive gaze. “That’s your choice. But I want to come upstairs with you. And I think you want that, too.”

She swallowed. From another man, his words would have come across like a power play. A deception to make it seem like he cared about what she wanted. But from David? One more boundary fell away.

When they went inside her apartment, she expected him to go full throttle into Operation Seduction. Instead, he threw his jacket over a chair and took his time scanning the apartment.

She was usually really good at reading people, but he gave nothing away as he sauntered through. When he got to her room, he studied the books she had on her shelves, as well as her entire record collection. He took her Van Morrison record off the shelf and raised his eyebrow at her.

She understood his unspoken question.
This okay?

She nodded, and he took it out of its protective sleeve and got it going on her turntable. She sat on the edge of her bed while David remained in a deep knee squat.

The man practically oozed sexuality. Which in itself wasn’t new for her. She’d been with alpha men before, guys who knew what they wanted and how to get it, their eagerness so powerful that it had overwhelmed her.

For a while, it had been enough to disappear into their desire. As long as they were happy, wasn’t that enough? But now she knew she had needs, too. And David’s insistence that whatever happened between them included those needs made her half scared, half inflamed.

“We just met tonight,” she said. “Don’t you think it’s a tad presumptuous to judge what’s really me and what isn’t?”

A ghost of a smile appeared, along with an arched eyebrow. “You want to play that game? Because I’m all up for playing with you.”

She leaned forward on the edge of the bed. Then he surprised her by reaching for her feet and taking off her heels.

“What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, he took her foot in hand and started pressing deep into her arches, all the while never diverting his gaze from hers. She gasped as pleasure radiated from his firm touch.

Her eyelids got heavy as all of her bundled up tension dissolved.

“Do you want me to keep going?” he asked.

She let out a long breath and nodded. It really did feel amazing.

He took her other foot and kept up the same rhythm and pressure into her flesh. She fell back on her elbows, and her head lolled off to the side.

“Fuck, when I see you melt like that…” he choked out, rising up and over her, his grip on her thighs strong. He was watching her, waiting for her to say…what?

Her breath felt shallow. A heat rose from her core and spread through her entire body. She’d never felt such intense desire.

“Finish what you were saying,” she said.

“If you could have me do anything to you, what would you want?”

“Anything?”

He nodded.

“I don’t know,” she muttered, averting her eyes.

“Think about what you put on your application,” he answered, while gently taking her by the chin so she was forced to meet his eye. “I could suck on your nipples while fingering you…” He leaned in and gave her a gentle, almost chaste kiss. “I could blindfold you and work you up to a frenzied pitch…” He moved the kiss down the curve of her neck, nipping the sensitive skin with his teeth. “Or I could spread your legs and work your clit with my tongue.”

She swallowed, and he must have seen the change in her.

“Is that what you want?” He licked his lips. “Just say yes, and I will.”

Now she understood what he was waiting for. He was like a caged beast waiting for a command to release his passion.

No, like they were both caged, and he was inviting her to join him in breaking free.

“Tell me you want it,” he said.

“Or what?”

“Or I won’t touch you at all.” He lifted his hands and hovered over her, a show of strength in that he could maintain his balance and contain his desire in that position.

What was holding her back? She didn’t care anymore. Not that she’d met him only tonight. Not that she was ready to claim her desire in a way she’d never before attempted.

What did she want?

She wanted to feel the roughness of his tongue swirl against her center. She wanted an orgasm not by her own hand for a change. And by God, even if just for tonight, she wanted to
tell
him that was what she wanted.

“Do it,” she hoarsely whispered.

With that declaration, he lowered her zipper and pulled off both her jeans and panties in one fell swoop, before she even had a chance to register what was happening. She was still wearing her tank top and bra but nothing else from the waist down, which for some reason made her feel even more exposed than if she had been lying there completely naked.

God, had she said want? She
needed
him to put his mouth on her. And now that she’d said yes, it was like she’d formed a channel between them that he could use to sense what she wanted.

He dragged his fingernails up the sensitive skin of her inner thighs while resting his forehead just above her pubic bone. His hot breath came out in spurts against her center. He was like a feral animal just waiting for her to unleash him.

She shivered. She’d never wanted someone so much.

“Make me come with your mouth.” She paused. “I want you to do it.”

He gazed up at her, looking almost relieved over this small surrender. Then he hooked his arms under her thighs and roughly pulled her to the edge of the bed.

She liked that he wasn’t gentle, that his jagged movements expressed his raw, carnal need for her.

He then placed his full lips over her sex, sucked on her folds, and made delicious circles on her clit with the tip of his tongue. She could tell he totally got off on tasting her because he practically growled his excitement, and the vibrations thrummed through her sensitized flesh.

Her hands shook as she fisted his hair to hold him in place and gyrated her hips wildly over his hungry mouth.

“That’s it,” he groaned into her core. “Use me up. Ride my mouth. Make yourself come on my tongue.”

He inserted a couple of his fingers inside her and curved them up to massage her G spot while pulling hard on her clit with his lips—

That did it. In a flash, her orgasm thundered through her. She let out a primal cry of pleasure and released a tightly wound heaviness so constant she’d forgotten it was there.

Now she was weightless. Boneless. Pure light.

Most men she’d been with would’ve stopped the minute they felt her convulse, but David stayed on her. His tongue slowed down its motion at the same pace her orgasm receded, as though he was helping her climb down from that high point. When she had gathered enough of her wits about her, she sat up and reached for the top button of his jeans, only to feel his sharp grasp, blocking her intention.

“What the…”

He immediately brought the palm of her hand up to his lips, trying to lessen the sting—she assumed—of his actions.

“Not this time, babe.”

“But why?”

He regarded her for a beat, but instead of answering her right away, he nabbed an extra throw blanket she had on the end of the bed, unwrapped it, and then draped it over her lower half. She hadn’t realized she’d been cold until he encased her in the blanket’s warmth.

“Thanks,” she said. Her voice sounded like sandpaper, almost hoarse.

He fluffed up some of her pillows on her bed. “Lie back.”

Mindlessly she obeyed his instructions, and he proceeded to tuck her into her bed. This whole time, she realized, he’d remained fully clothed.

He sat on the edge of the bed next to her as she tried to re-anchor herself to the moment, wondering if he was staying or going and how she felt about either scenario.

“You don’t need to go yet,” she blurted out. “I mean, well…I didn’t get a chance to play with you in return.”

He was still sitting next to her. He leaned forward on one arm and brushed aside some stray hairs from her forehead. His gaze grew serious, studying, taking everything of her into him again.

“Don’t worry about me for now,” he said. “You’ve got a decision to make before we can talk about that.”

If she hadn’t been before, she was now fully present in the moment. “What do you mean? What kind of decision?”

His gaze scanned her mouth, the cadence of her breath, the combination of excitement and wariness in her eyes. “I mentioned that I have a specialty. It’s not just something I’m good at. It’s something I prefer. Something I need.” He paused then, as though he was giving her a chance to consider his words.

“Go on,” she said.

He tucked her hair behind her ear, then grazed the curve of her neck and the dip of her collarbone with the tips of his fingers before resting his warm hand on her upper thigh. Such a seemingly simple gesture, and yet now every place he touched her tingled and burned in the most delicious way.

“Tonight was about you and what you want. But moving forward—if you want to move forward—it means we’re agreeing to make this about what
we
want.”

A nervous but excited energy rushed through her. “So what do you like?”

“I’m a Master in the art of Japanese rope bondage called Shibari. Sometimes I use other tools, especially if there’s something you want to try, but my main thing is ropes. If you decide to become a member at Serve, we can play there. But in the meantime, I have my own setup at home that I prefer to use.”

She blinked a couple of times and then swallowed some air. “Um, okay. But I don’t know what that is or what this means, exactly.”

“It means I’d like to tie you up and use that gorgeous body of yours.”

“Tie me up?” She raised her eyebrows. She’d seen something about rope play on the list of kinks, but they’d moved on before she could ask what it meant. “Is that like domination?”

He smiled. “For some, yes, it’s about domination. But for me? It’s the opposite. It’s about letting go of control. If I do it right, I will know what you want by working your body, learning your signals, and I’ll find a way to make it good for you.
Really
good for you. That’s what helps
me
get off.”

She licked her lips. That sounded…amazing. Maybe this was the kind of situation she needed. With her previous lovers, she’d lost herself by focusing so much on what
they
wanted that she didn’t stop to ask what
she
wanted. But with David? She could abandon herself to his desires, his fantasies, because the thing he wanted was to find out what
she
wanted.

“I’ve never done this kind of thing before. Does this mean we’re seeing each other?”

“You mean like dating?”

“Well…yeah.”

“You need to know up front that I’m not the type of man you want to bring home to Mom and Dad someday.”

“Really? You seem all right to me.”

He shook his head. “I’m damaged goods. Trust me on that.”

She smirked. “Okay, but I never said anything about forever. I’m asking if you’re offering something more than a kinky booty call.”

He chuckled. “Did this
feel
like a booty call?”

Her breath hitched in her throat, and her heartbeat quickened as she remembered how he’d devoured her.

No, it hadn’t felt like a booty call. She’d had those before, an impulsive hookup where her lover took what he needed without either of them stopping to ask what
she
needed, too.