He wanted to expose them, expose her. He wanted to know her for real.

His cock was hardening quickly as he moved over her body to tie up her other arm. Her skin was cool and fair, a stark contrast to the dark cord. As he tightened the knot, her fingers wrapped themselves into a fist.

When her hands were both tied, he backed up slightly. Her arms were spread out toward the posts of the headboard, and her full breasts were stretched across her chest. Her nipples were already hard, although he hadn’t touched them yet and it wasn’t cold in the room.

He felt his body react even more intensely to the sight of her fair, naked skin and soft curves. He leaned in to kiss her deeply.

She responded, her tongue darting into his mouth, dueling with his own. There was something about her kissing that was intoxicating—somehow both passionate and more than that, like a current ran beneath the passion he couldn’t quite name.

Those elusive layers he could never reach.

Eventually, he pulled away from her mouth and trailed kisses down to her neck. She was arching up into his mouth, into his touch, and her obvious need for him reached a tight ball of conflicted need in his own soul.

“Caleb,” she breathed. “Not yet. You haven’t tied my ankles yet.”

He raised his head to meet her eyes, but hers were closed. Her cheeks were flushed, and her head was tossing slightly, as if resisting a desire too compelling to fight.

He thought about what she’d said—about how she never wanted to feel dependent, about how she couldn’t trust anyone enough to give up control.

But she was doing so now. With him.

Submitting completely.

A feeling pulsed in his chest as powerfully as it pulsed in his cock.

He moved to the bottom of the bed.

He lifted up one of her small feet. He kissed the toes and the sensitive skin on the curve of the arch. Her breath hitched audibly when he licked her instep with a flick of his tongue.

He returned her foot to the mattress and stretched the cord around her ankle, and then around the post of the footboard. Silently, he finished with her other foot, completely securing her to the bed.

Now she was spread-eagled on his expensive sheets. Naked, vulnerable, entirely open to him.

He had to close his eyes against the image of her strong, beautiful body in this helpless position, or he would lose the control he had remaining. His excitement must be obvious to her, since he was wearing nothing but his underwear.

“What do you want me to do?” Caleb asked hoarsely, not yet touching her. For no good reason, his heart was pounding so violently that he was sure she could hear it.

He had no idea how they’d even gotten here, when they’d been having quiet sex under the covers.

Kelly looked at him with those wide, unfathomable eyes, her hair spread out around her face like some kind of damaged halo.

“Take me,” she whispered.

He moved over her, covering her supple body with his. “Tell me what to do,” he murmured, his lips hovering over her face. She seemed on the edge of something, and he was suddenly afraid of what would happen if she fell over it.

“No. That’s not how this works. You get to do whatever you want to me.”

It was an act of trust—or should have been. She was offering her body to him, allowing him total control, complete power. But it didn’t feel like trust to Caleb.

It was something else entirely.

And Caleb still didn’t know what that was.

But he was fully erect, his arousal like a throbbing, aching presence on his body. And Kelly was the woman he’d been having sex with for two weeks now. She was asking him to take her.

It wasn’t like he was going to refuse.

He knew she wasn’t ready for him to enter her yet, so he didn’t even bother checking to be sure. Instead, he kissed her some more, gently at first, but then his desire took over and the kiss became hungry and urgent.

When he felt her start to run out of breath, he pulled away and licked his way down her neck, spending a little time on the pulse in her throat. Through his tongue on her skin, he could feel that her heart was beating as erratically as his was.

He reached her breasts. As he played with her nipples—one with his mouth and the other with his fingers—he heard her breathing grow heavier, and she started to make little whimpers and moans.

He loved the sounds she made when he touched her, loved knowing that he could have that effect on her. Sometimes it felt like she was resisting how he made her feel, but the desire was too strong for her overcome. It was like an addiction, knowing she wanted him so much.

He wanted her so much at this point that it was all he could do to keep from lifting her hips and driving himself into her hot, tight pussy. He started to say something—easy, seductive words to intensify her pleasure, the kind he’d always been good at—but he wasn’t confident of his ability to form coherent words.

He concentrated on pleasing her, gave her breasts some more attention, then scooted down to her lower body, parting her thighs to make room for his shoulders.

She was aroused now. Even if she hadn’t been groaning with pleasure, he would still know without fingering her. He could smell her from his position—a scent that did something strange and frightening to his belly and heart—and he could feel the heat she was generating.

He started kissing her inner thighs, making his way up to her arousal.

“No,” she gasped, her body squirming in obvious need. “Not that.”

He looked up at her, more disoriented than ever.

“I don’t want that. Not tonight.”

She was obviously turned on, ready to come. Her body clearly wanted him to bring her to orgasm. He couldn’t imagine why she wouldn’t want him to go down on her.

A flicker went through his mind, recognizing that he’d never done that to her before. He couldn’t remember at the moment if he’d ever even offered until now.

He was processing this fact and starting to puzzle through it when Kelly rocked her body in the bindings, distracting him completely. “Caleb, please. I want you to take me.”

There was something wild in her eyes now, something so conflicted and needy that he couldn’t look away from it.

He rolled on a condom and moved over her again, kissing her and positioning himself between her legs. Entering the hot, tight clasp of her body was almost too much for his weakened restraint, and he had an embarrassing moment of losing control, making a few fast thrusts inside her before he could pull it together.

“How do you want me to move?” Caleb murmured at last, forgetting he was supposed to be the one to make the decisions.

Kelly wriggled beneath him, started pulling on her bound hands. “Take me hard,” she gasped. “Please.”

He smothered a groan in response and readjusted his knees, every instinct in his body demanding him to thrust, to dominate, to take what he so desperately needed.

She cried out when he started to fuck her hard, fast, shaking the bed, shaking her body.

Pleasure and satisfaction howled in his head as he took her. Kelly grew hoarse from crying out so much, and she was frantically struggling against her tied wrists and ankles. She was trying to move her hips with his, the way she usually did, but she was spread so tightly that she couldn’t get very much leverage.

He wanted this. Needed it. He felt the whole arc of his life channeled into this one act—this power, this craving, this absolute control.

Kelly bound beneath him, begging him to claim her.

When she’d lived her life in rebellion against trust and helplessness.

And for some reason that thought provoked a flicker of recognition, even through the hot blur of animalistic appetite.

He opened his eyes and saw her face again, twisted in pleasure, in desire, and in something aching, almost pained.