His Contract: Legally Bound, Book 1 (18 page)

Letting her soak a bit, he asked, “Where are your clean sheets?” She pointed to a closet in the corner, and Jack pulled a set from a shelf. “I’ll be right back.”

He stripped her bed, replacing the sheets with fresh ones. When he walked by her dresser, he noticed a piece of paper tucked into the mirror above it. It was a printout of her firm’s roster. Her name was on it, and Jack swelled with pride. It was a big step—the beginning of a long line of successes she was sure to have. He was quickly distracted, though, by the photo next to it of Lilly with a man who must’ve been her father. Jack studied the lines on the older man’s face, knowing there were similar lines on his own. For the first time in so long, the age difference between him and Lilly felt inescapably clear.

With a sinking feeling in his gut, he returned to the bathroom. She was sitting up, her arms wrapped around her knees, her spine a curved line that disappeared into the water.

“Feeling any better?”

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “But I think my fingertips are starting to prune.”

Jack held out a hand. “Let’s get you dried off.”

He helped her out and wrapped her in a towel. As he rubbed the excess water from her skin, Lilly watched him from the tunnel of terrycloth, her eyes clear and wide. Jack slowed his rough caress as he looked down at her, his heartbeat in his ears. The gratitude in her expression was more than that of a grateful submissive to her Dominant. It was a question and an answer all at once, one he wasn’t ready for. What could he possibly say? It wasn’t that he didn’t return the sentiment in her gaze. He did, more so than he’d been able to admit until this point. Every moment he’d spent in her presence had brought him back from the grave.

He stroked the damp skin of her cheek. Lilly cupped her hand over his and turned her face to kiss his palm. It was so tender and sweet, and it broke his heart to watch. He pulled her to him and pressed his eyes shut. He couldn’t keep her, no matter how much he wished he could. That wasn’t what either of them had signed on for, and any real future between them was impossible, anyway.

She let out a muffled cough, and he kissed the top of her head. This thing between them would have to end eventually, but not right now. He had to get a hold of himself. She still needed him.

“Thank you,” Lilly whispered.

“Nothing to thank me for.” He helped her into pajamas, then walked her back to bed. “How does some TV sound?”

Her nod was shy but strong, and he handed her the remote before heating up more soup. They watched a sitcom as they ate, and she fell asleep a short time later with her head in his lap. She whimpered when he moved away, reaching for him in her slumber. He wanted to comfort her, to hold her and spend the night by her side, but sleeping together would only make things more complicated. For both of them.

He leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I won’t be far,” he promised, and turned out the light.

Jack awoke Monday morning to the sound of footsteps. He looked over the couch to see Lilly entering the living room. She’d changed out of her pajamas into sweats and a T-shirt. Color had returned to her face.

She offered him a faint smile. “I can’t believe you slept on my couch.”

“It’s a comfortable couch.” He peeled back the blanket. “You look much better.”

“I feel better. And I’m starving.”

Jack grinned. “I’ll get you some breakfast.”

She offered to help but he made her sit. She was silent while they ate, though, hesitant glances thrown in his direction.

“What is it?” he asked.

Her gaze fell to the floor. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to play this weekend. I hope you’re not mad.”

“You actually thought I’d be upset about you being too sick to play?”

She shrugged. Jack put down his coffee and took her hand. “I honestly couldn’t care less about the lost playroom time.” He tugged on her fingers until she met his eyes. “There will be other Saturdays.”

She gave him a sheepish grin, so adorable and sexy and Lilly.

“Come here.” He stood, opening his arms to her. She moved into his embrace, fitting perfectly as he tucked her head beneath his chin. Her skin was no longer clammy but warm and soft again. Jack closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in her scent.

“Thank you,” she said. “For taking care of me.”

“I told you. It’s my job.”

She pulled back to look at him, her chin pressing against his chest. Her expression started to shift, eyes growing wider, her cheeks pink, and not with fever.

“I’d like to change something on my checklist, Sir.”

Jack’s body reacted to the title before his mind could catch up with it, desires he’d forgotten about all weekend reawakening. He tried to stifle it, but it was impossible with how close she was, her breath fanning softly across his chest.

“What do you want to change?” he ground out.

“I’d like to take the limit off sex.”

Fuck.

A tide of emotions warred through him, a groan rumbling in his chest as he fought the urge to slip into role.

“You don’t have to do this,” he rasped. “You’ve been very sick.”

“I feel much better, Sir.” She began lowering herself to the floor, her eyes pleading. “And I want to.”

Jack swallowed, his jaw tight as she settled into her kneeling pose and stripped off her top. She wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. His gaze raked across her breasts, dropping lower when she hooked her thumbs into the edge of her bottoms and shimmied out of them until she was naked.

It was nearly impossible to keep his hands fisted at his sides.

“Lilly,” he said, purposely using her name. “I don’t want you changing your limits because you feel like you owe me something.”

“I don’t feel like that. I’d been thinking about it already. You’ve been so good to me, even before this weekend. Please, Sir, let me thank you with my body.”

Honesty and hunger shined from her eyes. Jack cursed under his breath. This wasn’t how he’d imagined sex happening. They were at her house. It was a weekday. But how could he deny them what they both wanted when she pleaded like that?

Lilly dropped her head in defeat.

“I understand if you don’t want to,” she said. “We’re not in your playroom, and I don’t have any bondage toys—”

“You think I need toys to dominate you?”

Her head snapped up, and she seemed to know it the same moment he did—that switch had been flipped inside him, and now there was no turning back. Jack wrapped one hand around her throat, letting her see he wanted this every bit as much as she did.

“Bedroom, little girl. Walk. Now.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Relief coursed through her, not just from the feel of Jack’s hands, but from the words “little girl”. A shift took over, her mind and body slipping into his ownership in a rush of gratefulness and longing and the undeniable need to serve. She’d never expected him to show up on Friday, never thought he would stay by her side until she was well again. She hadn’t understood until now that his being her Dom meant truly caring for her, and in the shadow of her waning sickness, the desire to give herself wholly to him became a powerful urge.

It wasn’t just as a thank you—she’d felt the weight of his self-control every time they’d played, pleasure her limit had denied him, and she didn’t want him to have to restrain himself any longer.

Jack propelled her toward her bedroom, closed the door and pulled her to him. Lilly whimpered, falling back against the solid line of his body.

“Whining already?” He tugged her hair to the side and grazed his teeth along her neck. “We’ve barely even started.”

She groaned as he nipped his way down to her shoulder, hands cupping her breasts, thumbs teasing her nipples. She reached around behind her, disobediently searching for his zipper. She shouldn’t have been trying to take the reins, to make things go faster, but she couldn’t help herself.

Jack seized her wrists and chuckled against her skin. “Bad girl. What are you so needy for?”

“You, Sir. I need you.”

“You need me to what?”

She swallowed, her breathing tight and fast. “I need you to fuck me, Sir.”

Jack laughed again. His hot breath washed over her ear when he whispered, “No.”

Confusion punched her in the gut. “No?”

“No.”

“But…why?”

“Because I told you when I fucked you, you’d be begging for it. And I don’t think I’ve heard you beg me yet.”

He punctuated his words with a thrust against her. She could feel how hard he was, thick and long beneath the denim. His skills with his tongue and fingers had driven her out of her mind several times over already, so the things he’d be able to do with his cock… Lilly shuddered.

“Oh, please, Sir. Please fuck me.”

He whipped her around to face him, his smile wicked. “Not good enough, but it’s a start. Get on the bed.”

Unable to tear her eyes away from that devious smile, she walked backward until she felt the bed behind her. Falling onto it, she steadied herself with her hands and crawled, feet pedaling on the sheets as Jack stalked toward her. He tore off his shirt, revealing the muscular planes of his chest.

“Safewords.”

His shirt fell to the floor, and Lilly forgot how to talk. It only got worse when he rid himself of his jeans and boxers. His flesh strained, cock jutting and Lilly’s hips flexed at the aching, empty hollow inside.

“Safewords!”

“Red, yellow, green,” she fired off quickly in response.

He bent down and kissed her roughly, teeth skimming her lower lip before he kneeled in between her legs and clasped her by the throat, guiding her down beneath him.

“Put your hands above your head and keep them there,” he ordered. “Do not move.”

Trembling, she stretched her arms up and clasped her hands together. Jack surveyed her body like a starving man being served a seven-course meal. He caressed her lips with his thumb and then plunged it between them. She sucked eagerly, her hips lifting off the bed, her body arching against air. Jack laughed, soft and deep, but she didn’t feel patronized or shamed. If anything, it made her even hungrier.

He slid his thumb free and chased it over her breasts, thumbing wet paths over each nipple before fanning his fingers down to her thighs. His touch was so delicate it was almost unbearable. Instinct made her push up, and Jack slapped her side sharply. She gasped in surprise.

“I told you not to move,” he snapped.

Alarm gripped in a cold freeze, but as he held her gaze, Lilly remembered this was the same man who cradled her head and fed her soup. Who rinsed her body and washed her hair. Who’d talked her back from every fear that had crippled her for months. Jack wouldn’t ever hurt her—not her body, or her heart.

“I’m sorry, Sir. I just need more.”

“Poor baby. But begging will get you nowhere if you can’t behave.”

He pushed her legs open wide, hands bracketing the backs of her knees.

“Stay,” he reminded her and bent down, his soft hair brushing against her belly as he leaned in and lapped at her clit.

Lilly gripped her hands together. It was so much more difficult to control herself than it was to be tied up. It was as if he was putting her through the same pain of self-discipline he must’ve felt all this time, a delicious punishment that only got worse when he released one of her legs and sank two fingers inside her.

She cursed, her mouth dropping open, head tilting back. Her limbs shook with the effort of remaining motionless. Every deep, slow pump of his fingers combined with the rapid movement of his tongue was making it impossible for her to keep still. When he sucked her clit into his mouth, Lilly arched uncontrollably, lost to sensation.

Jack lifted his head and slapped her other hip, even harder.

“I said, stay!” he said, his teeth bared. “Disobey me again and I will stop and leave you like this.”

He would too. No matter how much he wanted this, he’d let her suffer.

“I’ll be good, Sir. I promise.” She strengthened her resolve and Jack tested it, sitting back on his knees to watch his fingers moving inside her, the sound of slick flesh against flesh filling the room.

“Bad little girl. So needy. So wet for me.”

She was—drenched beyond belief, ridiculously turned on at being so open and helpless, completely at his mercy. Jack changed the angle of his hand, curving his fingers until they hit a spot that made her sob. She was on the verge of calling out “yellow” when Jack slid his fingers free and palmed her hips, shifting forward until the tip of his cock slipped through her folds. His gaze was trained down between them, stomach muscles bunched, beautiful body working back and forth, arms gleaming with sweat. Her nails dug into her palm.

Jack stopped and smiled. “I can’t wait to finally fuck you, but I don’t think you’ve begged me enough yet.”

“God, Sir. Please!”

With a quick tug on her waist, Jack lifted her up, twisting her body around until she was on her hands and knees. Poised at her entrance, he grasped her by the hips, then stopped, going suddenly still. Lilly held her breath, anxiety freezing her lungs.

“Shit,” he muttered quietly. “Do you have condoms?”

Oh.
Her breath rushed out, the tightness in her belly softening. It was sweet and endearing, hearing him unprepared like that.

“We don’t need one. I’m still on the pill. I never went off it.”

He grunted and squeezed her hips, but if it was in gratitude or in silent acknowledgement of what they were about to do, she didn’t know. Her questions disappeared, though, when he braced his arms around her, body hovering over hers, his cock nudging her opening as he pressed an opened-mouthed kiss to her cheek.

“Tell me you want this.”

His words took her back to that first passionate kiss they shared in her hallway. “I want it, Sir.”

He shifted, slipping forward just enough to push the crown inside. “How badly?”

“So bad, Sir,” she whined. “Green, green, please!”

His chuckle vibrated through her. “I told you you’d be begging.”

Then he finally eased inside her, filling her aching pussy with that blissful hot stretch. When his hips came flush against her ass, Jack stilled, his body rigid and unmoving. His forehead pressed between her shoulder blades as he shuddered and let out an agonized curse.

“Fuck, what you do to me, little girl. You have no idea.”

The sound of his pleasure made her walls clamp down around the solid, pulsing weight of him, and Jack groaned.

“So good,” he grunted. “You feel so goddamned good.”

He brought one of his hands up under her jaw, and wrapped his fingers carefully around her throat.

“Don’t you dare fucking move.”

His momentary lapse in control had vanished. Lilly gripped the sheets as Jack retreated, then fucked into her slowly. Withdrew and plunged, over and over, every purposeful thrust a reminder that he was in command of their pleasure. He kept at it until Lilly’s arms were trembling and they were both slippery with sweat. Then he changed his angle, lifting her hips so his cock rubbed along a spot so intense it nearly made her weep.

“God, Sir. Please let me move. I can’t…I can’t.”

Jack steadied both his hands on either side of her and brought his lips to her ear. “Since you’ve been such a good girl, move. Fuck me back. Make your noises and make them loud. They’re mine and I want them now.”

Her head dipped toward the mattress in relief. “Fuck. Yes. Thank you, Sir.”

Lilly ground back against him, surging with that perfect fullness as he slid into her again. She was too keyed up, her need for more a frenzied, debauched thing, and there was no shame at all as she pleaded for him to please take her, harder. Deeper. Now.

He reared up and formed a fist in her hair, yanking her back so roughly she was nearly lifted off the bed. His other hand grasping her hip, Jack started a brutal, pounding rhythm. Lilly moaned and thanked him, her knuckles white as she clenched the sheets, her body arching back to meet his every thrust.

“You like it like this?” he asked, his breathing ragged. “Wet, hot and dirty?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“You want me to use you? Until you’re bruised and bitten and fucked so hard you can’t walk in the morning?”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Who do you belong to?”

“You, Sir. I’m yours.”

“Mine.”

From the thick fog of her own pleasure, Lilly could hear how close he was. She was careening toward orgasm too, but she needed his permission to fall over the edge.

“Need to come,” she begged. “Please, Sir.”

“Yes. Fucking do it. Do it now.”

She lifted a shaking hand to her clit, thankful for the way his grip kept her upright. It barely took a few swipes of her finger before she was shattering beneath him, her limbs spasming with the force of her release. Jack let go of her hair and bit down on her shoulder, groaning into her skin as he came, each shudder accompanied by short pumps of his hips, his body jerking above hers. The sounds of his climax vibrated through her and she closed her eyes, savoring every second of it.

When he finally calmed, he kissed the spot he’d bitten before pulling out. Sweat ran down her neck as she lowered herself to the mattress on wobbly arms and legs. Jack stretched out next to her and pulled her back to his front, one arm wrapped around her body while the other made a pillow for her head. She smiled, enjoying the simple comfort of his knees tucked behind hers, his stomach against the small of her back, their breathing synced and quiet.

“You should get sick more often, I guess.”

Lilly laughed, but her lungs weren’t back to one hundred percent yet, and a cough erupted from her mouth, her shoulders jerking up with the force of it. Jack sat up to cover them with a blanket, and Lilly turned over to face him, her hands tucked beneath her cheek.

“I guess so, if it means I get to have you all weekend.”

She’d said it as a joke, but then Jack’s face went serious. His eyes filled with such startling affection her breath caught.

“I want you for the entire weekend,” he said. “Every week.”

She blinked, not sure how to respond. Was she Lilly again, or still his little girl?

“What about Rumbles?” she asked.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Bring him. I’ll buy him a litter box. We’re old friends at this point.”

“But where will I sleep? Doesn’t sleeping together violate some kind of BDSM rulebook?”

Jack laughed, his eyes shining with emotion he so rarely expressed. “You can have Josh’s room. I turned it into a study, but it has a bed and its own bathroom.”

“So we’d be like this?” She waved a hand in between them. “The whole time?”

“I’m not implying full weekend play. We’ll figure it out so we have time to be ourselves, but I want you longer than a few hours. One day isn’t enough for me anymore.” He stroked her cheek, then her arm, palm finding a home in the hollow of her hip. “Please say yes.”

Lilly felt a stab of anxiety. She was so happy here in the circle of his arms, but her heart was moving toward something larger than the freedom she felt in his restraints, and stronger than the pleasure he brought her body. She was losing a battle she didn’t know she was in.

She might have been falling in love with Jack.

She may have already fallen.

But none of it mattered as his eyes fell closed when she whispered, “Yes.”