Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Nolia

"What?" I push against him to put space between us. He tightens his hold on me so I can't find that space. And I was just beginning to think maybe…maybe I could help him out. All he does to answer me is raise his eyebrow, mockingly.

"What kind of….? Why?"

"Well, technically you are already staying with me so it wouldn't really be a big shake-up or anything. And it would definitely just be easier if you did stay with me."

"At the hotel suite? Where you take all your mistresses?"

I wiggle in his lap, not really meaning to say that. It doesn't matter to me if he has mistresses coming out of his ears. It's none of my concern. Even if it has been something I have been worried about from the very beginning.

"I think it's pretty safe to say if I had mistresses I wouldn't have any need for you, now would I?"

"Maybe you don't think they are acceptable or right for the job."

"And you are? With that mouth and those death stares? Not to mention that woman is probably telling the entire floor that I am a dominant, kinky bastard who likes his woman all tied down so I can do who knows what kind of racy, sexually explicit things to them. I think we left acceptable behind when we started wrestling with one another on the floor of my penthouse half naked."

"We were not half naked!"

"Baby, you only had a small ass tank top that was so thin I could see your fucking nipples through it and a pair of itty-bitty panties that hid nothing."

I gasp at every word. I didn't think…well, it hadn't ever occurred to me that he could see so much of me.

"Oh my God…did…you don't think anyone else…? I mean…Roan was…God, I guess I'm thankful you tied my legs together before tying me to that chair leg. Oh shit! You…fuck…"

I try to stand up off his lap, not being able to sit this close to him knowing he got a good look at what was between my legs when he first tied me up. Instead of being allowed up so I can run and hide, the only option I have is to burrow into the folds of his shirt.

"Okay, first of all, I like the cuddling. Second of all, Roan didn't see a goddamned thing because I made sure to stand in front of you the entire time. And lastly," he speaks really soft and low and close to my ear, "you bet your sweet little ass I saw everything, every dip and curve, every soft swell, which is why I changed the way I tied you up."

"Oh my God!" It comes out all muffled. He saw…everything.

I feel him tug at the bottom of my skirt which has risen up to the top of my thighs.

"This is really pretty. What is it called?"

"What?" I unbury my head to try to figure out what he means. His fingers fiddle with the hem. "A, um, dress."

"Just a dress?"

I nod, not understanding where his line of questioning is going but it's making me curious enough that the embarrassment over showing him so much is starting to fade.

He flips my skirt up causing me to squeal and make a grab for the end of it but it's too late. "And these…what do you call these?"

His hand moves up my leg, so he is actually touching the band of my panties where they lay against my hip.

"Underwear?"

"Not just underwear though. Aren't they called thongs or something like that?"

He runs his fingertips up under the edge of the strap.

"How…?"

"When we were wrestling for the second…no, the third time and I got a swat at that very nicely curved backside, and it was bare. The only reason I mention any of this is to show you we have already passed the first stages of courtship and went right to an intimate level with one another from the very first moment we met Sunshine. People don't have to wonder if this is a real thing because we've already done the real thing. Not on purpose, or willingly necessarily, but still done. You coming home with me and sleeping with me, isn't really a far-fetched idea."

His hands linger on my skin. "We're not sleeping with one another though. That won't be happening. Even if I do come home with you, we won't be sleeping together."

He smiles like he might just have gotten away with something. "We'll do whatever you want us to do, Sunshine. After all, it is you doing me a favor. Technically, I owe you."

"Alright, fine. I'll help you. It works out for me anyway because I can stay close to Summer."

"Are you going to be alright going back to the apartment?" I fidget on his lap and don't meet his eyes. Am I going to be alright going back? To the place where I shot a man?

"If you do," he tilts my chin up so our eyes meet, "have trouble going back to the penthouse, we'll go back to the hotel, and I'll look for something else for us."

"I don't…," I wet my lips because they feel too dry before continuing in a soft voice, "I don't want to cause problems…"

"Really? Are you sure you don't want to cause me problems? You seem to be so damned good at it."

He moves closer to me with every word until both of us are whispering and staring into one another's eyes.

"Maybe…a little bit."

It wouldn't take very much for our lips to touch, just one more slight move, one of us making the slightest effort to go just a breath more.

I don't know who makes that move - and maybe it doesn't really matter which one of us it was - but in the blink of an eye his mouth is on mine, the tip of his tongue nudging the seam of my lips like he is asking for permission to come inside.

Is this him showing me we will only do what I want to do? Do I want him inside? Do I want to know what Roman tastes like? I close my eyes and open my mouth, giving him -and myself- the answer.