“Perfect.”

“Do you want another glass?” He seemed ready to start his orchestrated pleasure session. Or would it be torture? She was eager to find out.

Aggie finished her wine in one long swallow and set her empty glass next to his. “No, I don’t want any more wine. I want you.”

“Soon.” He closed the bedroom door and approached her. He undressed her slowly, caressing every inch of flesh he revealed, first with his fingertips, and then his lips. His tenderness never ceased to amaze her. He fucked her hard. Made love to her gently. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured as he unhooked her bra. “I love your curves.”

She had plenty of curves. She’d never possessed the athletic slenderness that Hollywood and fashion runways considered beautiful, but she was comfortable with her body and glad that Jace appreciated it. Her dancing kept her in good shape, but her feet never touched a treadmill. Her heavy breasts fell free of her bra, and he cupped them, gazing at the flesh overflowing from his hands. He lowered his head to kiss the soft globes, his tongue sliding over her nipples. Aggie’s belly tightened. She rested her hands on his shoulders as he kissed his way down the center of her belly. He removed her jeans, panties, and sandals with equal care and agonizing slowness. By the time he led her to the bed, she was more than ready for him to possess her body, and he hadn’t even started using the objects from his suitcase.

They knelt in the center of the bed, facing each other. Jace pulled something from his back pocket and fastened it around Aggie’s left wrist. She looked down at the thick leather cuff, lined with fleece. Her heart thudded against her ribs. Restraints? He fastened a matching leather cuff around her other wrist and attached them to each other with a length of chain.

“Why are you restraining me?” she asked.

“So you don’t interfere with what I do to your body.”

Her heart thudded even harder. “Are you going to hurt me?”

He stood in front of her on the bed and lifted her hands above her head, securing her wrists to the hook in the ceiling with the heavy chain. He didn’t answer her question.

“Jace, I don’t like to be on the receiving end of pain. Only inflict it.” She supposed if she got too freaked out, she could stand on the bed and free her hands from the hook. She was well versed in self-defense, but something inside told her she could trust this man. Her intuition had never failed her in the past.

He knelt in front of her and touched her cheek gently. “I’d never hurt you, Aggie. I only like to be on the receiving end of pain. Never inflict it.” He stroked her arms with the backs of his hands, and then continued down to draw them along the sides of her breasts, the indent of her waist, and the flare of her hips. “I do plan to make you beg for mercy, but from the pleasure I give your body, not pain.”

Well, okay… if he insisted.

“Do I have your permission to continue?” he asked.

She bit her lip, looking into his gentle brown eyes for signs of deceit. She found none. “Yes.”

“Good.”

He pulled something else from his back pocket and slid a blindfold over her eyes.

“I can’t see,” she said breathlessly. Her heart thudded faster. She wasn’t afraid, not exactly. Excited. Yes, that’s what had her breath hitching, her heart racing, her core aching with emptiness.

He chuckled. “That’s the idea, sweetheart. You don’t need to see. Just feel. Feel me, Aggie.”

“I do. I feel you.”

He gathered her hair in his hand, twisted it, and clipped it to the back of her head.

“Your skin is so soft,” he murmured into her ear from behind. His hands gently stroked her back… her belly… her breasts. “Smooth. Warm.”

“Pale,” she added with a grin.

“Perfect.”

He suckled and kissed the flesh on the backs of her shoulders while his hands continued to stroke her belly, breasts and hips. His hands slid between her thighs, spreading her legs apart. She trembled. His fingers parted her swollen flesh and dipped inside her. Her head fell back against his shoulder. He rubbed her clit, slid his fingers into her pussy, rubbed her clit again. How did he know exactly how to excite her beyond her limits of tolerance?

“Jace.”

He continued to stroke her until she was ready to explode, and then he moved away, leaving her trembling. Unfulfilled.

Something ice cold slid down her spine. She shuddered. It continued down the crack of her ass, over the aching opening to her pussy, and finally her clit. He stroked her there, with the ice between his fingers and her flesh, until the ice completely melted. She didn’t know how it was possible for her clit to feel like it was on fire and frozen at the same time.

“Jace,” she said in a pleading tone.

He slid two of his fingers into her mouth. They tasted like chocolate. She sucked the sweet treat from his digits. He withdrew them and inserted them again with more chocolate. Something cool and thick drizzled over her nipple. His hot mouth sucked at her nipple while he continued to thrust his fingers in and out of her mouth. Did he realize what he was doing to her? She ached from wanting him already. He’d likely restrained her hands above her head so she couldn’t get herself off while he tortured her with pleasure. She was definitely desperate enough to do it.

He moved away again, and she heard a strange grinding sound. Her heart rate kicked up a notch until she identified it as a can opener. Hadn’t he brought a can of fruit…?

Something cool and slick slid into her mouth. The gritty bite of sweet pear dissolved on her tongue. She smelled wax the instant before liquid heat burned down the center of her back. Her spine arched involuntarily. He traced either side of the hot trail with ice. His mouth moved to suck on the side of her neck. Only his mouth wasn’t hot as expected. It was cold. He let the water from the melting ice trickle from his lips as he kissed his way down her throat and shoulder. Thin rivulets of water traced paths down her chest, following the contours of her body to collect between her breasts, slide down her belly, around her navel, and finally between her thighs. She shuddered when the first droplets found her shaved mound.

“Jace.” She’d given up on trying to figure out what he was going to do next.

He paused to put more ice in his mouth. She heard him slurp it inside, and it clicked against his teeth. As the water dripped between her legs and found new paths along her hip bone, she squirmed with impatience. He shifted his mouth to the other side of her neck and used the flat of his hands to stroke her belly and the undersides of her breasts. He pinched her nipples unexpectedly, and she shuddered on the brink of orgasm.

“Jace, fuck me, please. I want you. I want you inside me.”

He moved away abruptly. She listened to the sounds of his movement. A slice of peach entered her mouth. She sucked on it, savoring its slick sweetness. She waited for his return. It seemed like hours before his hands were on her again. They had an unusually rough texture now. He stroked the skin of her belly and breasts gently with his gloved hands while he blew soft breaths over the skin of her back.

“Oh God, Jace. You’re driving me insane.”

“Do you want me to stop?” The low rumble of his voice made her spine tingle.

“Yes.” She gasped when he drew his hands away. “No. Don’t! Don’t stop.”

He curled his body against her back. She felt his cock against her ass, and she rubbed up against him, arching her back in an attempt to get him to enter her. His rough gloves moved between her thighs, pressing them open so the cool air bathed her heated flesh.

“Hold still,” he murmured.

She tried to hold still, but the neglected parts of her body were greedy for his touch. She twisted her hips and rubbed her mound against the hand he had stroking her inner thigh. She sucked a shuddering breath between her teeth. He slapped her ass with a loud smack. Her entire body tensed.