Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Tink

Now that I’m on my knees, the doubt falls away. This is the right course, the only course. Hook stares down at me with those dark, dark eyes. His hair is tangled from my fingers running through it, and his piercing glints against the black of his beard. He starts to say something, but cuts himself off before he gets the first word out.

Finally, he steps back and keeps moving back, holding my gaze, until he reaches the bed and sits carefully on the mattress. I wait for his Dom persona to flicker over him, for the arrogant smile to appear, for the swagger.

Instead his voice is hoarse as he beckons me forward by crooking a single finger. “Crawl.”

If I’d planned this better, I’d be crawling to him naked instead of in jeans and a crop top. No time to think about that now. I move slowly, sinuously, giving him a show. The cool wood floors bite into my palms and knees, but the faint ache only heightens the desire.

He’s utterly still, drinking me in as I move closer, inch by inch. If not for the tension in his shoulders and the way he fists his hands, I might be foolish enough to think he’s unaffected. As long as I don’t look at his eyes, that is.

Hook stares at me like I’m the most treasured possession he’s ever acquired and he looks forward to examining me at length. That earlier flicker of insecurity, of wondering if he prefers me as I was instead of as I am, dies under that gaze. There isn’t a single doubt in my mind that Hook desires me exactly as much as he says he does. More, even. He holds himself so tensely, it’s almost as if he doesn’t trust himself to see this through, to allow me this game, before he falls on me like a starving man.

“Hook.” No, that’s not right. Not here. Not now. I lick my lips. “Jameson.”

His hands unclench and clench. “Tell me what you want, beautiful girl.”

There’s no going back now. Maybe there never was. I stop just short of touching him. “I want your cock. I need your cock.” Maybe I’ll regret this later, but I don’t care. I sit back on my heels and run my hands over his knees and up his thighs. “I might die if I don’t have it.”

I half expect him to topple me to the floor right then and there, but I should know better. Hook is made of stronger stuff. He catches my hands before they reach the front of his slacks. “No going back if we cross the line. You’ll be mine in truth.”

Part of me flinches away from the honesty ringing in his tone. I belong to no one but myself. I can’t go back to that, not ever again. “I’m yours in bed. Nowhere else.”

“Tink,” he says my name like he can already taste me on his tongue. “We’ve covered this already. You were mine from the moment you put that ring on your finger and said ‘I do.’ Crossing this last line only cements something we both already know.”

I’m terribly afraid that he’s right. “I’m scared.” I want to take the words back as soon as I voice them. The tenderness on his face isn’t enough to combat how vulnerable I feel.

“You should be.”

Before I can process that, he urges me to my feet and takes his time stripping me. Shock leaves me placid and malleable. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. It’s certainly not that I crave Hook’s hands on my body, crave the way he touches me as if every brush is a gift I’ve given him and that he’s taken as his due.

I finally find my voice as he slides my panties down my legs. “What the hell do you mean I should be afraid?”

“The very best pleasure is spiced with fear. Do you deny it?”

I start to do exactly that but force myself to stop. We crossed the threshold into a scene the moment I hit my knees. I chose this. If honesty is all but a detriment in the rest of life, it’s vital during this flavor of play. “No, I don’t deny it.”

He nudges me away from the bed. “Your safe word?”

It might be protocol to check in like this before every scene, especially with a new partner or new relationship, but I can’t help feeling like that’s not what this is. I speak through gritted teeth. “Pirate.”

“There it is.” He grins. “Can’t say I get tired of hearing it.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“Without a doubt.” He rakes me with a rough gaze I can almost feel. “Stay put.”

He moves behind me, and I can hear him rustling around in something, maybe the locked cabinet near the wardrobes. I poked at it a bit when I was initially doing my explorations, but there was no key in evidence, and even I draw the line at breaking open something that obviously cost a fortune just for curiosity’s sake. Especially when I already had a good idea of what it contained.

A few moments later, he reappears with a long length of black rope hanging from his hand. Hook raises his eyebrows at me, but I clamp my mouth shut before I can give him the satisfaction of a response. I love bondage as much as the next kinky asshole, but Shibari is something beyond slapping a pair of cuffs on someone’s ankles or wrists. It’s a study in patience and slow-roll foreplay. I’ve played that way once or twice, but there’s a lot more trust involved than people expect. If I need to safe out, it’s not as simple as unclasping cuffs. It can take ages to get free, and Doms can be really freaking precious about anything that might damage their ropes.

My breathing picks up despite my determination to keep my reaction under control. Hook’s brows draw together, and now he’s really looking at me. “You’re not claustrophobic.”

“Not particularly.”

Another of those long looks, and he nods, almost to himself. “I see.”

I’m terribly afraid that he does see. I open my mouth, but can’t quite find the words. What am I supposed to say? That as much as I get off on exploring all the strange corridors BDSM can take a person down, that part of me is always held in reserve? When I worked at the Underworld, it was easy to hold back that final piece. I was just an employee, after all. A professional submissive who rose to whatever occasion the schedule demanded. Yes, I played for fun, too, but it was different.

This is different.

There are no cameras in this room, no emergency button to push, no team of security people to rush in if things get out of hand. We have nothing but trust to keep us from going off the rails.

I don’t know if it’s enough.

“Tink.” Hook’s firm voice stills my thoughts. The intense look in his dark eyes stills them further. He waits for me to focus on him fully. “Would you rather I put the ropes away?”

A tiny, cowardly part of me wants to grab the escape he offers me with both hands. Easier to do that than take ownership of what I truly do want. It would be so much simpler if he steamrolled over me. I could pretend I didn’t really want exactly what he gave me. How am I supposed to keep fighting when he carefully extracts my desires and lays them before me?

I clear my throat. As much as I want to look away, I can’t quite manage it. “No, I don’t want you to put the ropes away.”

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t give me anywhere to hide. “You have nothing to prove.”

“That’s rich coming from you.” I shake my head. I hate that he keeps orchestrating emotional confessions. We haven’t even fucked yet, and I can’t deny the way he builds intimacy around us. I feel seen. It’s not comfortable, not even a little bit, but there’s a part of me that soaks up his attention like the roots of tree long thought dead from drought. “The ropes…” Fuck, why is this so hard? “Most other scenes, I say my safe word, it’s over immediately, you know? The action stops, the curtain comes down, then it’s just negotiating the little bit of fallout. This kind of thing … It can’t stop that quickly. Saying yes to this feels like saying yes to more.”

“Trust.” He speaks the word like it’s fine wine on his tongue. Like it’s me on his tongue. “It requires trust that I won’t take us too far.”

“Yes.”

He still hasn’t moved. “If you’re not ready for that …”

I could kiss him. I could definitely kill him.

I run my fingers through my hair, but the little movement does nothing to quell the growing feeling in my chest. “If I wasn’t ready for anything you can give me, I would haven’t just crawled across the floor and begged for your cock. You said a little fear is a good thing, so stop dicking around and give me that little bit of fear.” I have to look away to say the next part. I can’t handle what I might see in his eyes. “I trust you, okay? Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

His low chuckle has me glancing at his face, and I almost whimper with relief at what I see there. The vulnerability is gone, replaced by the arrogant asshole I’m more familiar with. “Very well.” He loops the rope carefully around my neck and begins.

I only manage to stay tense for the first five minutes or so. I don’t know what I expected, but he’s fully concentrated on his work, his big hands winding the rope around my body and creating careful twists that slowly bind me. There’s no rushing this process. Subspace creeps up on me somewhere around the point when he finishes the ladder down my torso, a row of perfectly neat twists that start on my upper chest and descend to my waist. He checks each one and the tension before moving to guide my arms behind my back.

Only then does he begin to speak, to slowly, devastatingly, draw me back into my body as he binds my arms together. “One day, I’ll do both arms and legs and add one careful knot right here.” He brushes his hand against my pussy, right over my clit. “Every time you struggle, it will grind that pretty little clit against the knot. How many times do you think you’ll come before I release you?”

I lick my lips. “Maybe I won’t struggle.”

“Yes, beautiful girl, you will.” He does something that cinches my arms together more firmly. It’s not uncomfortable, but Hook still checks in with me just like he has at every other point during this process.

I pull on the bindings. I can’t seem to help myself. Logically, I know I won’t be able to just shrug these ropes off, but the physical reminder has my heart beating faster. My skin tingles in a way that is entirely too pleasant, and I clench my thighs together.

“There she is.” His hands close around my shoulders, and he pulls me back against him. My hands brush against his hard cock, but with my palms pressed against each other, there isn’t a damn thing I can do about the proximity.

Hook palms my breasts. The ropes crisscross above and below, leaving my breasts to hang freely without restriction, but it suddenly feels like he put them on display on purpose. Of course he did.

His rough palms drag over my nipples, and I fight down a moan. Every part of me feels overly sensitized, as if the calm during the binding only masked a growing desire I have no way to control now that it’s been released.

He rotates us to face the full-length mirror near the wardrobes. This time I can’t hold back my moan. I look—I don’t have the words to describe how I look. The dark ropes contrast my pale skin, and the lines frame every dip and curve of my body. Parts of me that I love and am self-conscious of, depending on the day. It’s a relatively simple pattern, but it still feels like he turned me into art.

Behind me, Hook is watching me with dark eyes that are so hot, I might combust on the spot. He holds my gaze as he plucks my nipples, the sensation so acute, it’s almost painful. “I’m going to bend you over my bed and fuck you until you can’t do anything but come.”

I suck in a harsh breath. I knew this would happen, of course. But the dark intent written across his face truly highlights how helpless I am in this moment. He can bend me over any surface, and I won’t be able to do anything but take what he gives me. Hell, even if I lost my mind and tried to run, it’s not as if I can work a doorknob with my hands bound like this.

The flicker of fear the thought brings only heightens my desire. I’m well and truly at his mercy. “Do it.”

“Not yet.” He steps away from me, and I almost stumble from the absence of his warmth at my back. I watch him in the mirror as he moves to the foot of the bed and flips up the comforter to pull out a bench that had been tucked beneath the frame. He hauls it over and sets it down behind me. “Sit.”

The command is deceptively simple. With my arms pinned, my balance isn’t quite what it should be, and I have to move slowly to avoid toppling over as I sink onto the bench.

Hook runs his fingers through my hair, slowly, methodically. I want to make a joke, but I can’t quite find the breath to do so. Not with him touching me almost reverently. This shouldn’t be enough to count as foreplay, but with every motion, I have to fight not to nuzzle against his palm like a cat seeking pets. His touch finally shifts, and I force my eyes open to watch him braid my hair back from my face.

“Why do you keep doing that?” I don’t mean to ask the question, but I don’t mean to do a lot when it comes to this man.

“There’s little more annoying than getting hair in your face when you can’t do a damn thing about it.” He finishes the braid and smooths a hand over his work. “And it’s important to me to see every single reaction on that expressive face of yours, especially when we scene.”

“Oh.” Suddenly I feel a whole lot more naked. “Do you normally put this much thought into a scene?”

“Yes.”

That makes me look at him more closely. I’ve … misjudged him? I always knew Hook hid a lot behind that arrogant charisma, but I’m only beginning to realize how much.

He stops in front of me and sinks to his knees as gracefully as any submissive. The thought makes me snort. “You’re supposed to be the Dom. On your knees for no person and all that.”

“You know better.” The look he gives me has me squirming on the bench, though I can’t say for certain if it’s because I’m ashamed of my shit talking or simply a sheer bolt of lust. He pushes my knees wide and makes a sound as he looks at me that confirms… Yep, sheer lust. That’s what I’m feeling right now.

Somehow, my mouth keeps going even though my brain has long since shorted out. “Do I?”

“I do what pleases me, beautiful girl. Right now, it’s seeing you all wrapped up in my ropes, and your pussy wet with desire for me. You’re better than a birthday present.”

Before I can blurt out a response to that, he grips me under my thighs and tips me back. I’m still squawking at the sudden shift in balance, at being utterly at his mercy, when his mouth descends on my pussy.