She braces herself on the edge. I open her legs and kneel between them. As she tosses her head back, the tips of her blond hair getting wet in the water, I pull aside her silk panties and plunge my tongue into her wet, warm slit.

I don’t hold back. I want her to feel as wild as I did in the concert hall, where she sucked my cock so well that I almost shouted loud enough to drown out the music. I’m glad I finished inside her throat this time. As satisfying as it was to come on her face weeks ago, to mark her and put her in her place, this is about intimacy… and there’s nothing more intimate than feeling a throat on your cock, that lovely woman pouring all her attention into making you come as hard as possible.

It’s only right that I give back.

“Oh my God.” Kathryn opens her legs wider, almost losing her balance and falling into the water. “Fuck me…”

I do. With my tongue, my hands gripping her thighs and hips as she bucks against my face.

The water is rapidly filling the tub. If we’re not careful – or quick – we’ll end up soaked from the water overflowing. I’m a determined man, however, and I’ve set out with the challenge of making this woman come before it’s time to get in the bath.

She grabs my hair, my scalp, the edge of the tub. Kathryn fucks my face, her swollen clit pushing against my tongue every time it lashes out to taste her.

Wetness – and not from the faucet – overcomes my lips as we press on. She’s a maniac, grinding against my face, humping my mouth, and losing herself on my skin. Every time I inhale, I smell her scent. It’s getting stronger. Stronger. Stronger. The sweet menagerie of her voice and the running water is getting me hard, but I forego touching myself so I can touch nothing but her.

“Ian…” I love the way she says my name. “Eee-yan.” The sound is so desperate and drawn out. “Ian!”

Gushing. The heat smacks me in the face, and I greedily eat her, letting my tongue lap up everything tumbling onto it. She’s coming into my mouth, and fuck me sideways, it’s the hottest thing that’s happened tonight.

Her writhing gradually slows, and she eases me off her and shuts off the faucet. The water is at the perfect height. Kathryn looks at me, glowing, her dress falling off and begging me to undress her.

So I do.

Our movements are slow in the candlelight. She mutters sweet nothings into my ear as I untie her halter and help her shimmy out of the red dress. My lips suck the necklace dipping into her cleavage until she unclasps it and lets it fall onto the dress. Her panties fall with grace from her legs, and soon my darling Kathryn is naked and radiant in the candlelight.

“My hair,” she laments, holding it in her hand as I undress in front of her. “I don’t want it getting all wet. I washed it this morning.”

I open one of the counter drawers and pull out an errant hair clasp a long-ago lover left behind. Kathryn snatches it from me while I pull her hair on top of her head. It’s the messiest bun in the universe, and I love it.

I love it even more when she dips into the water, shuddering at how warm and delightful it is. As soon as I finish undressing, I join her, displacing enough water to reach the rim of the tub. My arm wraps around Katie’s shoulders and brings her close to me as I relax against the back of the tub.

Her arm circles in front of me, her cheek against my shoulder. I should have brought us drinks, but the candlelight and bubbles will have to be romantic enough.

“I never thought in a million years that you would put something like this together.”

Rarely do I see the ceiling of my bathroom. Can’t say I look up at it very often. Then again, rarely do I soak in the tub. Not alone. If I’m getting in the bath, I want to be with a woman. That’s real luxury.

“You underestimate me,” I whisper into Katie’s ear. “I’m quite the romantic man.”

“Uh huh.” Her lips touch my chest, and I can’t help but wonder what I did to deserve this moment. I thought she would have ran away from me by now.

Especially since she’s acting so submissive.

She probably doesn’t realize it, but the way she defers to my plan, the way she sinks into the tub, and the way she curls around me screams sub. Luckily for her, I can’t really think about it because the feeling of her hand rubbing my skin is lulling me into a light slumber.

I can’t sleep. There are things we need to discuss, and I wait until a few more minutes have passed before broaching the sensitive subject.

“We need to talk, Katie. About the other things.”

Her body tenses in my hold. “Screw you,” she mutters. “Can’t let us have one nice night without bringing that shit up.”

There’s nothing pleasant in her tone. It kills me. “It has to be discussed.”

“Why? You said tonight was about vanilla shit. I don’t want to think about Topping and bottoming, Ian. My thoughts are already muddled with everything else I’m thinking about.”

“Why are you thinking at all? Just relax.”

“What a typical guy thing to say.” Her fingers clench my shoulder. “I don’t know how you men can shut your thoughts off.”

Now it’s my turn to clench her, right on the upper arm. “It’s not a man thing, my dear. It’s also a sub thing.”

“Don’t bring that word up tonight.”

“Katie…”

“Don’t.” The water splashes as she lifts her head and meets my gaze. Her blues are icy flames, and they’re pulling me in, threatening to burn me alive if I say the wrong thing again. “After what happened last time, I want to be myself with you, Ian.”

“What about that wasn’t you?”

She clamps her lips together, blond brows scowling in thought. “Don’t start that shit up. Don’t get you get it, Ian? This is what I want tonight.” Her wet hand gestures to the tub, to our nakedness. “I’m comfortable with you. Don’t compromise it.”

“I’m not going to do anything.” Even if she begged me in bed to get rough and Dom her, I wouldn’t do it tonight, no matter how much my body cried for it. I don’t want to take the risk of driving her away again. Every time Kathryn grows closer to me, something happens to scare her off again. I’m sick of that. I’ve learned my lesson. Please believe me, Katie.

She sighs anyway. Shit, the distance is growing between us again. Good job, Ian. How many times have you freaked her out? This is a good example of why we’re not compatible.

I need to remember that. This isn’t a blossoming romance. This is two stupid idiots trying to make something out of nothing – a negative nothing. Our physical attraction to one another will only take us so far.

“I’m sorry,” she mutters into the side of the tub. “I know you don’t expect anything of me tonight.”

Leaning forward, I wrap both arms around her torso, some of the water of the bath splashing over the side and falling down a center drain. My lips kiss her damp back, licking away the water droplets overtaking her. I’m careful to not touch her breasts or thighs as I embrace her again. I don’t want her thinking I’m trying to dominate her.

Although I would really, really love to.

I got a taste of her innermost self two weeks ago, and now I can only think of having more. She asked me to train her. She asked me, and yet I know deep down that she can barely handle it.

There’s so much pressure. Pressure from her to be kind, gentle, and the exact kind of Dom she needs to fulfill those fantasies lurking in the back of her mind.

And pressure from myself, telling me to forget all that and plunge myself into her again and again.

“We need to talk, Katie.”

Her arms fold on the edge of the bath, her cheek resting on top of her elbow. I draw a line up her spine, but she does not respond. I nuzzle my nose into her messy bun and inhale the sweet scent of the shampoo she used this morning. Even though my tub is big enough for two people, we’re still cramped in here, and turning on my side to indulge in her body means rubbing my soft cock against her.