24. Sunny

The door opened downstairs,then closed with a huge slam.

"Sunny?"Cole"s voice called out."Sunny, where are you?"

I glanced at my phone. 1:39 p.m. exactly.

"I told you to be waiting for me on the couch."Cole's feet banged up the stairs...past the door I was behind.

Yes, he had."The House likes telling you what to do."

Cole"s earlier words echoed through my memory as I listened to the sound of the door to my room being yanked open."Sunny, are you in?—"

He cut off. Probably because he"d found the bed empty.

His footsteps were in the hallway again. But only for a short distance.

I grinned when he pulled open the door to his own room.

And found me on his bed. Completely naked.

"It"s one forty,"I pointed out, returning to the spoiled brat persona I"d felt such shame about downstairs."You"re late."

He stilled and narrowed his eyes into an expression I couldn"t quite read. Annoyance? Offense?

I shifted self-consciously on top of the bed. Had I taken this little prank too far?

But then his eyes heated with a new flame.

"I tried to make myself wait in the office until thirteen thirty." He closed the door behind him."Just to prove to myself I could."

"How did that go for you?" I asked breathlessly, even though I already knew he couldn"t have gotten all the way over here in less than ten minutes.

"You weren"t where I told you to be when I arrived." He removed both cufflinks and released them.

I watched them hit the black-and-white floor with two cold plinks.

"And where's the romper?" He was down to his suit pants now. All those abs rippling as he kicked off his shoes.

"Somewhere safe," I answered with mock gravity. "Some ruthless CEO was making all sorts of horrible threats against her, you know. And as for waiting on the couch…"

I raised both shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. "Maybe I was on the couch. At one thirty-seven. You'll never know, because you were too busy playing chess games."

"Hmm." Cole rolled his neck in a way that put me in mind of a prizefighter right after he steps into the ring. "Do I have your consent?"

"For sex?" I tilted my head, a little confused. "Totally. I thought that was covered in the con?—"

"For punishment." Cole"s lips lifted into a cruel smile.

"Oh,"I said out loud, somewhat dully. Even as my mind was going,"Ohhh!"In, like, italics, with three hs, while clutching at hypothetical pearls.

I squirmed, and the sensations from yesterday and the hotel room returned with a vengeance, even though he had yet to touch me.

"What—what would um...punishment entail?"

Long, cold beat."I would like to surprise you."

Another weak"Oh"fell out of my mouth.

"You"ll like it,"he assured me. Before adding,"Eventually."

Would I?"And if I don"t?"

"Say ‘Grandma,'"he answered."Trust me, that will kill the mood, and I"ll stop whatever I"m doing."

I almost laughed. That was funny. He"d actually said something funny. But my heart was beating too fast.

"Oh,"I said again. Before deciding at the same time I added,"Okay, you have my consent to, um...punish me."

He held me there from his standing position at the edge of the bed, his green eyes running over my body like a scientist."Show me."

I froze."Show you what?"

"Spread your legs, Sunny. Show me the reason I was kept waiting."

I swallowed. Another command, this one impossibly intimate.

Expose myself even more.

My heart stuttered, and doubtful thoughts began to run through my head.

This had seemed like all fun and games when I came up with the idea to hide and wait for him in his own room. But seriously...could I handle this? Handle him?

Somehow, I summoned up enough courage to uncurl my legs and spread them out for him.

His gaze stayed on me the whole time, so strong it felt like it was the power of his stare, not any muscular command from me, pushing my legs apart.

Cole"s mouth moved at the sight of me splayed before him. Maybe. The slight curl of his mouth happened so fast, I could have imagined it before his face returned to ice.

He laid his hands down on the sensitive flesh of my inner thighs, just below my V. Then…nothing.

He just stood there, looking at me. And I—or maybe I should say my body—responded to that long, hard stare. I could feel myself start to throb below, the lips of my entrance pulsing in and out as wetness pooled at my center.

"Is this the punishment, then?"My voice broke into a whisper halfway through the question. "Making me wait?" And squirm?

His eyes glinted with icy amusement."I"m just getting started, Sunny. Do you want me to touch you?"

"Yes, I want that."I nodded, thinking anything would be better than the weight of his stare, so heavy and weirdly arousing.

But even though I said yes, he continued to stand there. Only watching me.

"What are you...Why are you...?" I attempted to close my legs, but with a simple flex of both arms, he kept them spread. Easily.

"Was it worth it?"He massaged his thumbs over my thighs, the tops of both digits brushing against the lips of my cleft as he did so. It was just a light touch, but a piercing arrow of sexual need shot through my core."Doing what you did to earn my wrath?"

I wasn"t sure how to respond to that. But I didn"t have to.

"Do you like lying here?" he asked before I could answer. "Completely exposed to The House?"

Another impossible question. Technically, the answer was no. I had never felt this uncomfortable in my life. All I wanted was to get away from him and his unwavering stare, but on the other hand...

I could feel myself involuntarily clenching and unclenching now. Practically begging Cole to do more than just watch me.

He answered my body's silent plea, moving his hand to cover my now glistening mound.

I moaned when his fingers found my slit, and I arched into the pads of them as he ran them up and down, tantalizing me but not quite touching me in the way I needed to be touched.

Embarrassment soon gave way to frustration."Why are you torturing me?"I demanded."I thought this was what you wanted."

"It is,"he answered, matter of fact."But I also want you to understand what will happen if you ever tease me again like you did at breakfast. Would you like me to be nice to you, Sunny?"

I blinked. The question coming after the threat felt like a non sequitur.

He brought two of his fingers just to the outside of my tunnel, pressing against its entrance but not pushing the two digits through. I hissed, my belly caving in with need before I arched myself into him, desperately trying to get him inside me.

It worked. Sort of.

He pushed in, maybe about an inch, and stopped short."Is this nicer, Sunny?"

"More,"I moaned.

He pushed in a little more. But not nearly far enough. Frustrated, I let out a whimper of disappointment.

"You seem upset, Sunny."There was a slight chuckle in his voice, but it never quite broke the surface of his icy tone. "Tell me why."

"Because…you won't. You won't…"

"Say it, Sunny. If you want me to be nice, tell me what you want."

"I want you to push them in. All the way in."

"Like this?"He pushed two fingers inside of me all the way to his second set of knuckles. Then curled them upwards.

"Ohhh!"For a moment, it felt glorious, like I was getting exactly what I wanted. But once again, he didn't move.

"Move your fingers. Please, move them!"

He didn't move his fingers. Not even a wiggle. And when I tried to move my hips, his other hand, still on my thigh, pressed down so I couldn't.

"No, Sunny, none of that."

I didn"t realize I"d brought my own hand down to my core until he knocked it away.

But main point: He denied me the pleasure of his hand, then denied me my efforts to do it myself.

Then he just stood there, looking every bit the cruel Ice King as he watched me squirm around his fingers, my body practically screaming with sexual frustration.

"Not nice,"I moaned.

He just stood there.

And eventually, I reached my hands he where couldn"t stop them—to my breasts, heavy and swollen with need. I palmed them, tugging on my nipples. All the while chanting, Cruel Ice King! Cruel, cruel, cruel.

Apparently, out loud.

"You think I"m a cruel Ice King?"he asked without a shred of pity while I lost my mind.

I was in control when he"d first walked into the room. But somewhere along the way, I"d lost all pride, touching myself in all of my inflamed erogenous zones. My breasts, my neck, my burning face—even my lips felt swollen with need. I clamped and licked at them, squirming around his still hand.

And Cole continued to stand there with that icy smirk as I unraveled below him.

"So not nice." I panted, turning my burning face into the cool sheets. "You're watching me humiliate myself. And it's so not nice?—"

He suddenly started pistoning his thick fingers inside of me. Just like I wanted. But even better.

He extended one of my legs and pulled it to his chest, keeping it straight while the other one splayed out to the side.

Opening...The word dropped into my mind as my vision began to blur at the sides. He"s opening me up. With the long bulge of his cock pressed against the soft flesh of my inner thigh.

Why was this position so erotic? I didn"t know, but the part of me that had been denied for what had probably been only minutes but felt like hours immediately started to quicken.

The fire was back. Building...building.

Then he dropped to his knees in front of the bed and let the leg he"d been holding straight fall over his shoulder as his mouth came crashing down on my core.

Without removing his fingers.

"Oh! Oh!"My back arched, and my fingers tangled in his hair, ruining his slicked-back pompadour.

But I couldn"t care or bring myself to apologize like a good little showgirl. I"d never, ever been attended to like this. The combination of his mouth and his fingers felt like the most erotic sex dream come true.

I hated him a few moments ago, but now I had to let him know,"Oh, Cole. That feels so good. So good!"

I didn't last long under his double assault. I came in a blaze of heat, an electric fire catching at the top of my womb and zapping me all the way down to the bottom of my toes.

And then he was on top of me, kissing me as he hauled me up higher in the bed. A square black-foil package flashed at the edge of my vision, and he unzipped his pants.

Then, just a few seconds later, he pushed into me with one long, hard shove of his hips. Filling me up completely. Sinking in deep.

I cried out against his lips. With pleasure. And he fell out of the kiss to let out a single"Fuck!" before he began drilling into me with hard, punishing thrusts.

But it no longer felt anything like a punishment to me.

After that first orgasm, the pleasure of receiving him like this—of him moving inside of me like someone determined to make me pay for my crimes—oh, the pleasure was unbelievable. Every nerve sparked, and my body had become so sensitive, I could actually feel the pulse of his cock as he took me with rough, deliberate jerks.

"Get them around me,"Cole commanded, his voice ragged and hoarse."Your legs…Get them around me and come, Sunny, come."

I did as he instructed, and this new position exposed my clit to his thrusts in a way it hadn't before. I came almost immediately, my hands reaching under the waistband of his suit pants and digging my nails into his muscular butt cheeks. I was somehow trying to pull him even deeper inside of me, even as my body seized and I gasped my way to a second completion, fireworking into the sky.

Two years. And my last time hadn"t been like this.

Nothing in my life had been like this.

It was amazing. Almost spiritual.

But lonely. So lonely.

Cole had commanded me to come, but he was still pumping into me, his strokes mechanical and precise, like he was measuring each one inside his business calculator head.

I buried my nose in his neck. Breathing in his money-dipped-in-ice smell. Licking. Begging."You, too! You, too!"

His strokes stuttered."Don"t,"he commanded on a sharp exhale.

But you know what, Cole wasn"t the boss of me. He"d literally fired me two days ago.

"Yes, Cole, c"mon..."I kissed his neck, his cheek, his jaw. Ran my tongue over the seam of the mouth he"d pressed closed."I want you here with me! You, too."

"Fuck, Sunny."

Cole lost the rhythm again. Dragged one stroke into me. Then another.

Then he came with an angry roar, his cock jerking inside of me.

"Sunny, fuck, Sunny..."

His language was still harsh, but his tone was much gentler as he raised his head to look down at me.

And his eyes...Oh my gosh, his eyes. His light green eyes were filled with tenderness, his expression soft, like I hadn"t quite been able to imagine it.

Until now.

For a moment, looking up at him, my heart completely melted.

But then his expression hardened back to ice.