“Honesty?”

“Candor perhaps is a better term.”

“I don’t know which fork to use either.”

She was so fearless in many ways, but also vulnerable. He saw it all through her words and body language. It got to him. He wanted to gather her up and protect her.

So he did.

She didn’t resist, though she was surprised as she wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling from his lap.

“I’ve got you.”

The words were simple. Easily understood in the context.

But they were more. It tore at her. Made her lose her grip on her defenses.

He put his head on her chest and she relaxed a little.

“Forks are overrated. Also, you talk a good game, but your table manners are pretty impeccable.”

He had a house in Maui. Good lord.

“I’m full, but you hardly ate.”

He sat straighter and pulled her plate over. She moved to take the fork, but he grabbed her wrists with one of his hands, holding them fast at the small of her back.

A pulse of warmth flowed through her. Narcotic.

He fed her, pausing to kiss her here and there as he did.

She couldn’t explain to herself why she tolerated it. That he restrained her and fed her and she made no effort to stop him.

But it did something to her. Filled a crack that had been forming since he’d come into her life.

“Candor is important. Most people aren’t honest on that level.”

“Erin says I’m sort of feral.” She shrugged. It was true really. It’s not like she was ever in any one place long enough growing up for a responsible adult to teach her how she was supposed to act.

He smiled. “Not feral. You’re just not affected like so many people are.”

“I’m really not trying to offend people. Well, most of the time.” She smirked. “I can be a total bitch when I put my mind to it.”

He laughed. “I bet you can. And I bet you’re aces at it.”

“Not worth doing if you don’t do your best.” He kept feeding her, holding her hands, keeping her on his lap until she was nearly catlike in her laziness. She leaned into his body, warm and lethargic. “I’m full. I promise.”

He put the plate aside.

“Do you trust me?”

She managed to tip her head back enough to look at his face. She didn’t trust a lot of people. But there she sat, on his lap after he’d held her hands captive and fed her. After she’d told him about growing up in the system.

Ludicrous. But no less true.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

He stood, keeping her in his arms, though he did let go of her wrists to keep from dropping her.

“I can walk.”

“I know. And I can carry you. What’s the point of going to the gym if I can’t carry a hot woman to my bedroom where I’m going to strip her naked and fuck her?”

“Put that way.”

She had to admit she was impressed by the easy way he carried her. As if she weighed nothing, and heaven knew that wasn’t true.

He nudged the doors to his room open with his foot and put her on the edge of the bed. “You need to be naked.”

She quickly complied, pulling her shirt off.

He sucked in a breath. “Mmm, I know you love purple, but red really looks gorgeous next to your skin.”

She was glad she’d worn the red bra.

She bent to help him get his jeans off and then his shirt, which luckily was a button-down so he wouldn’t have to pull a shirt on over his head with his back sore.

She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “You have a fantastic body. Really.”

“Thank you.” He tipped her back to the bed and pulled her jeans off. Pausing to look at the tiny red panties she wore.

“I’m not sure I’d have pegged you for matching lingerie. But I like it. A lot.”

“I have a slight problem. I love lingerie. So much that it’s one of my favorite things about finally having a regular place to live so I can store it all instead of carrying it around.”

“Clearly I need to come to your place so I can check it all out.”

“Maybe. If you’re extra good.”

He grinned, looking rather like a pirate.

He crawled up the bed toward her body, nibbling up her thigh until he got her panties off, tossing them behind him. He paused as he held her gaze and a change came over his features.

“Hold on to the headboard. Don’t let go unless I say.”

She obeyed as if he’d pressed a button.

The cool of the wood was real against her palms. An anchor as he nibbled up her belly and then bit the underside of her breast until she hissed. Then he licked over the spot and warmth flowed as he hummed against her skin.

“Gonna leave a mark.”

That appealed to her. Knowing she’d be able to see it the next day. A tangible reminder of the time they’d shared.

“I like knowing it’ll be there. Knowing my mark will be on your skin. Like a secret.”

He left her breathless with the stuff he said. Good gracious.

The edge of his teeth found her nipple. First the right and then the left. Over and over until she was writhing. Grabbing the headboard so hard she wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d broken it.

“What shall I do next? Hmm?”

She’d been about to answer when he sat up.

“Don’t move.”

She didn’t as he disappeared into the next room. She heard him rustling around for a few minutes and then returned looking rather triumphant.

“I’m not sure if that look bodes well for me.”

“It bodes well for me, anyway.”

He pulled out a blindfold. “I use it while sleeping on long plane rides, but it’ll work just fine for you too.”

The material was cool against her face as he slid it on. It smelled faintly of lavender and of him.

Her skin came alive at the loss of her sight. Gooseflesh rose as he drew a fingertip down her collarbone and then over her nipple.

“On your belly. Hands out to the side.”

He took one of her wrists and she felt the clasp of a leather cuff as he tightened it on one side and then the other. Then he moved her wrist up and attached it to the poster of the bed somehow. He followed with her ankles.

Now, she wasn’t a stranger to sex. She’d been tied up for shits and giggles a few times. But this was different. This wasn’t a game. He was far too good at it to have been a game.

Part of it was—a big part of it—how hot it seemed to make him. She heard his breathing change as he moved. The brush of his cock as he worked let her know he was more than a little turned on by what he was doing.

His hands on her were sure and strong. And though what he was doing was binding her, those hands did not harm or misuse. This was out of her normal repertoire, but she knew that she liked it and wanted more. And that was enough.

“You’re so beautiful this way. Your back, your gorgeous ass and those long legs. Goddamn.”

She couldn’t quite put her words together so she didn’t say anything, though she managed a grunt of assent.

She wanted to know what he was going to do next. Wanted to experience it.

He’d never seen anything better in his bed. Ever.

Her dark hair a river over her shoulders and her back. Her muscles corded with her arms up, bound to the bed with the cuffs he’d actually never used before today. Though he’d taken them out and thought about using them more than a few times. He’d never been alone in the house with a woman he’d trusted enough to use them with.

Charlotte had barely tolerated his taste for rough sex. But she’d never submitted this beautifully. There had been others since the divorce. A woman he used to visit at her apartment. He’d learned a lot. His likes and dislikes. How to wield the tools that appealed. But it had been more like training than a relationship. He’d never been invested in her beyond her bedroom door.

This though . . . Raven was something far more. It had been a very long time since anyone had called to him the way this woman did.

So much to do with her. He let it take over, that part of himself he kept leashed deep inside. It settled in easily. As if it had been waiting for Raven.