Axel sauntered over and sat on the side of the bed, next to her. “You just keep tempting the devil. See what it gets you.”

Mystery didn’t reply, just watched him grab her wrists and lift them over her head. Since this used to be Thorpe’s bedroom and he’d combed every inch of the place when Joaquin had been protecting Bailey here, Axel knew damn well all the kink features built in.

He hit a button, and out popped a pair of leather, sheepskin-lined cuffs from behind a panel. The chains holding them together rattled. She gasped.

He smiled as he buckled one around each wrist. “Tug on those.”

She did, testing the restriction of her movement gently at first. Then she jerked a little harder. The more she thrashed against her bonds and realized she wasn’t going anywhere, the shallower her breathing became. Her eyes rolled shut. Bliss transformed her face.

Axel’s cock jerked so fucking hard he wondered if all the blood in his body had flooded south.

She moaned, tossing her head, seemingly lost in the pleasure of the binds themselves. What a damn pretty sight . . . But he couldn’t let her get too far into her own head. He still had more to give her.

After he watched her for a long moment, he cupped her face in his hands. “Stop. Look at me.” He waited for her to comply, then delved down into her slightly unfocused hazel eyes. “You’re well and truly bound. Unless you say your safe word, you’re not going anywhere until I release you.”

Mystery whimpered and bucked her hips. Jesus, the girl loved being restrained. The pressure around her wrists would be a constant reminder that he was with her. At least that’s how some subs described the sensation. For them, the cuffs served mentally as nonstop attention from their Dom, snug enough to feel like some sort of affection. Clearly, the bindings tripped an emotional trigger inside her.

Axel was damn grateful. He could think of a hundred ways to restrain her. But he’d start simple for now. He didn’t know how much longer he could wait to feel her around him.

“Remember, no orgasms without permission.”

“Yes, Axel.” She said the words, but the begging tone told him she was already desperate and asking for one.

Not even close yet, princess . . .

“Don’t forget. I want all your pleas, whimpers, groans, and screams. Be as loud as you need to. I’ll drink every sound in.” While hearing her would excite the hell out of Axel, it would also serve notice to her bodyguard and would-be lover in the bedroom next door that any hope he might have of making Mystery his was dead.

“Yes, Axel.”

“Good. Now spread nice and wide for me. I want to see every bit of that pussy that’s mine.”

*   *   *

MYSTERY sucked in a sharp breath. Axel seemed to know exactly what to say to ratchet her arousal up yet another notch.

She slid her feet apart across the mattress, her toes unconsciously flexing, heels digging in at the thought of Axel keeping her captive here and just staring to his cock’s content. Maybe she should have felt self-conscious or exposed or ashamed by how badly she wanted him, but no. She simply felt ready to combust.

“Pretty.” He complimented her, dragging his palm up her calf, the outside of her thigh, her hip, then finally back to her breasts, his thumbs and fingers making a quick, ruthless vise around her nipples. When she cried out, he released her and eased back, scooting down the bed to hover over her sex. “I want to inspect this pussy. Open to me.”

Mystery moaned and spread her thighs even wider, beyond eager to give him everything he demanded, anything that would make him want her tomorrow and the next day. And the next . . .

“You like being commanded in bed,” Axel murmured, his voice low and thick. “We’re going to get along great.” He parted her folds with his thumbs, then drew in a long breath. “You smell so good. That night in the ghost town? I could smell you then, too. Drove me out of my fucking mind.”

“Everything about you made me want you,” she admitted breathlessly. “Everything. Your knowledge of the landscape, your kindness, your protectiveness . . . your sexiness. I remember thinking that, until you, I’d never met a man.”

His ego probably puffed up at her words. His chest certainly did. Despite the hot need rolling through her veins, the sight warmed her heart.

“That’s good to hear,” he murmured. “I admit, I never quite figured if you wanted me because you had a bad case of hero worship or whether you saw beyond that.”

“I did think you were my hero, but it’s more. It always has been. It’s like . . . we’re in sync.”

“We click,” he agreed. “To me, you’re gorgeous.” He turned his attention back to her aching sex. “In every way. I knew when we met that you were a survivor. Despite your dad’s wealth and fame, you’re not spoiled or difficult. You’re sunny and sweet and a little bit naughty. And look at you now, so ripe and rosy and pouting for attention.”

Mystery struggled against her bonds. She didn’t want out of them. Oddly, they made her feel secure, like she was anchored to him in some way and he’d never let her fall. But everything inside her yearned to invite him in deeper. Never in her life had she felt this need to give herself to a man. Her sexual past had consisted far more of pretty boys who didn’t know much about giving an orgasm, much less getting in her head and fulfilling her fantasies. As with everything else, Axel was a whole new breed.

Since she couldn’t tempt him with her actions, she fell back on words. “Spreading my legs for you is so arousing. Your stare almost feels like a touch. I remember every moment in your bed earlier today, the way you tasted me. I want you to take all of me. I’m dying to give you everything you want. I don’t know how to make that happen or what to do or—”

“Sweetest sub,” he praised. “You were stunning, but having you spread out for me this way”—he skated his thumb over her clit, making her jump and moan with desire—“I’m humbled. And I don’t think I’ve ever wanted inside anyone as fucking much as I want you now.”

She smiled. “You always know just what to say.”

“I say what’s on my mind. And right now, that’s all about this.”

Axel leaned in, peered closely at her pussy. The thought of him looking at her so intently made her need and squirm. And when he pulled her even farther apart with his thumbs, then leaned in closer, she lifted to him.

“Normally, I’d think you meant to coerce me to put my mouth on you. But you’re giving yourself to me, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I don’t know how you sometimes read my mind, but I love that.”

He placed the softest, almost chaste kiss right on her clit. That aroused her nearly as much as a hard pull. Without a word, he told her that he treasured her flesh, worshipped it. She melted.

“I loved getting my mouth on you this afternoon. And ever since I figured out who was in my bed, I’ve been desperate to feel your mouth on me.” Axel crawled his way up her body. “Suck my cock, princess.”

Mystery’s heart stopped. God, she’d love to taste him, get her lips around that salty, manly, sizeable cock.

As he unzipped his pants and shoved his garments down to his hips, his erection sprang free. The length was impressive, but the girth . . . Holy crap! No wonder she’d felt so tightly stretched when he’d worked his way inside her. A tingle zapped her from head to toe at the thought of feeling it again.

Eagerly, she opened her mouth to him. He braced his big palm on the wall above the headboard and used the other to feed the huge head past her willing lips. She had to open wide and worried fleetingly that she didn’t have enough experience to please him. But when her lips closed around him, they both groaned together. She stopped worrying.

“Jesus, princess. Yes. Deeper.”

She strained her neck up, wanting to take more of him on her tongue. His flavor was clean and masculine. She smelled his natural musk wafting up, giving her an olfactory buzz that made her dizzy and wet. Well, wetter.