28. Reed

Chapter twenty-eight

Reed

When I switch on the mic, Petra shifts in place, nervous. “Will my breathing sound weird?”

“Your breathing is extraordinarily sexy.” I settle back onto the chaise by the window and tug her into my lap. I love when she’s close enough that the patterns of green stand out in her woodland eyes. I trail my hands up her back to tap the side of her neck. “Can I kiss you here?”

“Yes.” Her eyes flutter shut. I press kisses to her skin—some light, some lingering, all scrumptious. Her body softens under my attention, but she’s extremely quiet. I can almost hear her heartbeat.

“You can make noise. It won’t sound strange, but it helps me know what you enjoy. Like when I tongue your clit—” I pause as her arms pebble, hair standing on end. “Goosebumps? Darling Petra, I want to climb into your brain and discover which words ensnare you. Should I tell you I want to lick your sweet pussy, or eat you out like a five star meal?”

“Reed,” she whispers. It’s all she gives. Whispers, murmurs, whines. She’s not loud, even when she orgasms. She shifts in my lap, searching for friction.

This is easier than I thought, because getting her out of her head is getting me out of mine. “Which one? Enlighten me.”

She pushes my hand under the hem of her shirt. “I don’t know.”

It’s not enough. I want to unravel her and unearth her desires. I want to drown her in pleasure—ruin her for anyone that isn’t me.

I want to submerge myself in her soul .

“Is it the out that does it for you? Leaving you empty for more? Knowing I need to spread you open and devour you until you shake? I want the messy, slick sounds of your need for me running down my chin while I suck your clit.”

She shivers, but I can’t tell which part of it affected her. It’s beautiful but frustrating. I pinch the peak of her breast and she rocks against my thighs.

“I wish I could feel you clench around me,” I growl. “My own lie detector test.”

She presses her forehead to mine, searching my face. “If you have a condom, I’d go for it.”

“What?” My hearing goes fuzzy as all my blood rushes to my cock. I tug my hand out from under her blouse in a search for rational thought, because she firmly stated sex was off the table. “I need you to be clear, because lines are blurring and I’m not thinking straight.”

“Explicitly clear?” she asks and grips my waist to steady her shaking hands. “Don’t fuck me, Reed. Use me to warm your cock. Say obscene things and feel the way they affect me. Our version of truth or dare. Torture me by keeping still inside me while your words make me ache. Deny me again and again as I beg, because being on the edge with you is as good as any orgasm, tesoro . That’s what I mean.”

Her strengthening conviction sets my heart racing. It’s a miracle that we’re recording, because I want to play that back every day for my entire life. She might appear uncertain, but all this is buried inside her.

She’s a pro.

I clutch her hips to help her grind down, need roaring through me. Her answering moan has my blood running hot. “You’re gonna give me a run for my money. Those were a lot of unexpected words from your pretty mouth.”

When she looks at me, she’s a deer on shaky legs again, though she shouldn’t doubt herself now. “Too forceful? Too upfront? ”

“Absolutely not,” I say. “You’re a walking dream. But we can’t. If I get inside you, there’s no way we’re not fucking, baby. That’s not how this works. I won’t stop, and you won’t want me to.”

Her whimper, brimming with longing, rips me apart. Her logic and desire are heading in opposite directions and, through her, so are mine. After a moment of wild indecision, something in her settles into place.

“You’re a self-professed switch,” she says. “Let me tie your hands. If we have sex, it will be on me. My boundary, my responsibility, my willpower.”

Damn. Nate might’ve tried taming her into Bambi, but she’s always been a wolf. It’s hard to submit when I’ve been powerless for the better part of a year, but it’s also incredibly hot to watch her embrace her sensuality. It’s enough that, for the first time since Kinley drugged me, I consider surrender.

I clasp our hands together, contemplating the ground rules, expectations, and aftercare. I don’t have enough clarity or patience to teach her. Not when I need her so fiercely that it blankets everything else.

“If we do this, I’m going to beg to fuck you—” I choke off my words, because Petra’s eyes glint. She wants me begging, and that’s fucking hot. “Ignore me. If I need to stop, I’ll say Bambi. That means we both take a breath and a break.”

Amusement tugs at her mouth. “Bambi is your safe word?”

“What do you know about safe words?”

She laughs, embarrassed. “Christian Grey was a cultural phenomenon, and you know I have an appetite. Pretty sure every woman over thirty knows what a safe word is.”

An appetite. Fuck me. I’m too keyed-up already, and we’re still wearing all our clothes. “I don’t know how the hell I’m going to hold still and talk dirty to you when you make me crazy.”

Petra lets go of my hands to slip hers under my shirt. Her fingers are gentle as she maps my body. She tugs until I lift my arms, and my shirt lands on the floor .

She leans in close, her breath warm across my neck. “Having your voice in my ear, saying all the things I’ve ever wanted to hear while you’re holding us back? It’s the fantasy I didn’t know I wanted. Ride the edge with me, Reed.”

Her quiet demand sucks all the air from my lungs and replaces it with need. Pure, unadulterated need. “Pet,” I laugh, undone, “you’re the best damn flirt I’ve ever met.”

I fist my hands in her hair and kiss her. It’s harsh, invasive, and demanding. I have thirty seconds of control left before I submit to her, and I’m going to use it. When I yank her closer, my hands grasping each curve and swell of her, she arches against me.

“You’re not a good switch,” she notes, breathless. I place rough, sucking kisses down her neck. I can’t let up, no matter how much I try.

“You can’t untie me while we do this,” I warn. “I won’t be able to hold back. See how little control I have with you?”

She moans, and her hips rock in my lap. “We need to skip ahead, because you definitely would’ve felt how much that turns me on.”

I imagine it, and my reasoning frays at the edges. “Let me undress you. Warm you up first.”

“Who said we’re doing this naked?” she teases. She’s blossomed from the shy woman in my bathtub only days ago, and her joy is infectious.

“You want this or you don’t, baby.” I yank her blouse and bra out of the way to nip at her breast. It’s a bluff. I’ll concede practically anything. Hell, I agreed to be tied up and endure brutal edging for her. But if my hands are going to be bound, I want my mouth to have as much access as possible.

“Fine, agreed.” She moans as I flick my tongue against her hardened bud. I retreat reluctantly, pulling her shirt over her head. She’s haughty as she squints at me and pulls her bra back into place. I’ve underestimated her wolf.

“You’re the one skipping ahead, tesoro . Take off your pants and grab a condom,” she orders, heading for the bathroom. Her confidence has my blood running hot .

“And for a tie?” I ask. She emerges with the sashes from the bathrobes and holds them up. They’ll work well enough. “You’ll only need one. I’ll show you how.”

“Pretty sure I need both for my plan.” A blush creeps up her cheeks. “Are you going to get undressed? Turn off the mic?”

I wonder how far I can push. I stall for time as I unbutton my pants, and she watches me so intently that I might have a chance. “Can I leave it on for you and me? I won’t use any of it.”

She bites her lip; I want to tug it into my mouth instead. “That’s a lot to ask of me.”

“It is,” I agree, pulling her to me, palming her ass. My fingers dig in too deep, desperate to dominate. “So is asking me to submit to you.”

“You’re still going to be in charge.” The ties brush the length of my back when she wraps her arms around my neck. “More than ever, probably. But, alright. Mic stays on, for you and me only. And if I listen to it and want you to delete it, you will.”

“Yes, mistress,” I tease. She shivers, her hard nipples begging for attention through the thin fabric covering them. I’m dying to taste them. “I might be a switch, but this is hard for me, Pet. Give me two minutes of control first?”

She laughs, and it lights up her whole face. “What, am I going to time you?”

I toss her onto the bed, and she’s still giggling as I pin her hands above her head, pressing her into the mattress with a kiss. I give her my full weight, and she wraps her legs around my waist, moaning, as I grind into her. My teeth scrape over her lip as she deepens the kiss, and her gasp destroys me.

My self-control leaps out the goddamn window.

I use the ties she’s gripping to bind her wrists together without her noticing. She’s at my mercy, and that drives me to the edge of sanity. I use one hand to push her bra beneath her breasts, grazing my palms over her tender peaks and navigating her ribs, hips, collarbone, neck .

I never let up from her mouth as I tug her pants and underwear down her thighs. When I break away to pull them off completely, she whimpers.

She makes me insatiable, unhinged, indomitable.

I tower over her at the end of the bed and effortlessly flip her onto her stomach. With a quick jerk of her hips, I’ve got her on her knees. “Up on your elbows,” I demand. She scrambles to obey, despite her binding.

“Reed?” She sounds unsure, but my fingers part her and slide home. She’s dripping for me.

“Just my hand, Pet. I know your limit. We’re not going to fuck.”

Her long, low moan eats me up inside, and my fuse burns up. I’m barely hanging on to my humanity as I pump my fingers into her— slower at first, before fucking them into her hard and fast. Her thighs tremble, and she’s chanting my name in a whisper that whips me into a frenzy.

“Please,” she begs, but I don’t know her enough to know what she needs. It shreds me, and I’m helpless as she pushes her hips back to meet me. “Please . ”

Surrender. That’s one of her favorites. I curl my hand over her shoulder and press her down into the mattress. Her elbows slide out in front of her, her bound hands curling over the top of her head. On the next retreat, I pull out and deliver a swat to her ass. Not anything heavy, but enough to release some of the hurricane inside me. I don’t give her a moment to recover before I’m two fingers deep in her, and her soft, high-pitched cry is everything.

“Need me to stop?” I pray she doesn’t. I don’t know if I can.

It’s my power I’m taking back, something I didn’t know I needed until now.

“Don’t you dare.” It’s all the permission I need. I grind against her clit with each thrust, and she moans. I give her two sharper swats and press her further into bed. Her knuckles whiten as she grips her hair. “Fuck, Reed!”

It’s the same reprimand as the bath; a sign that she’s right on the edge .

I wish I could fuck her—to stretch her deeper, the way she needs me to—or that I had a vibrator, because one touch and she’d unravel. The only tools I have are my words.

“Going to burn this view into my brain. You’re gorgeous.” I grip her tighter. “Your ass is glowing, and you’re so wet that it’s running down your thighs. I’ve made a mess of you. I can’t wait for you to sit on my face and grind your pretty clit against my lips while I lick you clean.”

“Reed,” she begs. “I need—I don’t—”

“I have what you need. I am what you need. You don’t need to decide a goddamn thing. You just have to take it.” I swat her twice more, harder this time, but her moan tells me it was the right move. “ Take it, baby.”

Petra nods against the comforter, and her submission is complete and intoxicating. Pleasure sweeps through me like an orgasm when she moans. “Yes, sir. Please.”

She cries out when I leave her empty and wanting. I slide off the end of the bed and drop to my knees. I grip her thighs, pulling her backward, and don’t give her any time to adjust before I suck her clit into my mouth.

She’s chanting softly again, higher pitched than before. “Reed, oh! Fuck. ”

“Pet.” I grip her hips and pull her more firmly against my mouth. “This is only the beginning.”

Her toes curl against my sides, and her squeal is the loudest she’s ever given me. I soothe her shaking thighs with my hands and flick my tongue against her. Her words dissolve as I pull out every trick I’ve got.

I’m riding a new kind of high. The need to possess her from the inside out shoves my rational brain off a cliff. I’m drowning in power, in pleasure, in an insatiable hunger. Need her to think of me, and only me, when she touches herself. Need her to take everything I give her and ask for more. I need her to ask for me—Reed—the way she always does .

I devour her as she rocks her hips against me. When Petra is there, on the very edge, I land a broad slap right on her gorgeous pussy, soothe the sting with my mouth, and she comes.

She shakes, locking her ankles behind my back as she tightens and releases. When I wring out the last of it, I push down on her hips, sliding her forward so she can lay flat across the bed.

Petra is still trembling when I climb up next to her, smoothing my hands over her damp shoulders. My heart drums in my ears, urging me on. Faster. Relentless. I need her mouth, her hand, or this view of her stunning ass that I’m going to paint.

I reach under my waistband, seeking relief, when I notice her bound wrists are hidden under her chest.

Stupid, stupid, Reed. I didn’t give her any warning—or a safe word—didn’t test my knots to see if they were too tight, didn’t check in with her during the scene. I threw her in the deep end and asked her to swim. I took it too far, too fast. Like always with her.

It breaks the spell, and I blink out of the haze. “Petra? You okay? Turn over and I’ll untie you.”

“I’m fine,” she gets out. “I’m beyond fine. Holy shit , Reed.”

“Are your hands tingling?” I’m worried for more than that. I was too rough with her. Again.

She shakes her head and lets out a disbelieving laugh. “No. Just give me a second. For the record, though, that was longer than two minutes. And you’re an awful switch.”