"Most of the time, I am," she admitted, "but something about you allows me to let go of my inhibitions."

“That’s exactly what you need to do to fully enjoy this. Let go.”

Letting go was surprisingly easy to do with Kellen in control.

“I’ll try,” she said.

"This will be a bit different for me, doing this all by feel," he said. "I'll be careful, but if anything is rubbing your skin raw or pinching you, you have to promise to tell me where. Usually, I can see any hang-ups in my design, but I'm going in blind here."

Her heart thudded faster as she strained to hear the sounds of the rope running through his hands. When the first loop wrapped around her ankle, she tensed. He tightened it so that she could feel the soft cotton against her skin, but it didn't cut into her flesh.

"Dawn?" he said. "Are you sure you don't want to be naked? Once I get started there will be no way to remove your bra and panties."

But her panties were the only thing keeping her fluids from dripping onto the lid of the piano beneath her.

"Is it better with them off?"

"Do you want release or just pleasure?"

Yes! "Can I have both?"

"I'd like to involve every inch of your body in this." His hand slid up the inside of her thigh, and she nearly shot up off the piano. "I think you'd appreciate a series of knots between your thighs, rubbing against your bare clit, your opening, and your back entrance."

She tried to imagine how she could appreciate knots between her thighs, but came up blank. It sounded downright uncomfortable. "What do you mean, Kellen?"

"I'd rather show you," he said, "but they'll be placed in such a way that minimal squirming should allow you to get off."

It could? What a completely sheltered life she'd been leading.

“If I say yes, will you remove my panties for me?”

He didn’t wait for her to say yes. His fingers slid beneath the elastic at her hips and tugged. He paused so she could lift her bottom and he could pull her panties down over her butt. The piano clanged a protest as her feet pressed into the keys, and he slipped her panties slowly downward. His breath warmed her mound as he breathed deeply.

“You smell amazing,” he whispered, the little gusts of air from his words dancing over her highly sensitized skin.

Her eyes flipped open in surprise when the soft, wet tip of his tongue slipped down between her lips to flick over her clit.

“Mmm,” he murmured.

His tongue traced her inner folds and swirled around her aching opening. Dawn’s back arched off the piano and her hand dove into his hair—so long and silky and still damp from the rain. God yes, kiss me there. She forced his face closer, her legs wrapping around his back to urge him closer still.

He pulled away, almost dragging her off the slick surface of the piano as he untangled himself from her limbs.

“I need to hurry up and tie you so I can feast on that pussy for hours.”

“Why wait? I wasn’t stopping you.” Encouraging him. That’s what she’d been doing.

“It’s too easy for me to lose control of myself when you’re free.”

“If you don’t like me pulling at your hair and digging my feet into your back, I can stop.”

“That’s not the problem,” he said.

“Then why did you move away?”

“Because I do like it. I like it too much. It makes me want to do more than lick this.”

His fingers slid down her seam and slipped inside her.

“It makes me want to fuck it.”

It clenched around his fingers eagerly. Yes.

“I think I’ve changed my mind about being tied,” she said. If it was that easy to make him lose control, then she’d encourage the hell out of him.

“Then I’ll have to leave.”

Damn. That didn’t work. He really was in control here. But she trusted that he would give her what she needed and more. She was still worried that he wouldn’t get what he needed from the experience. Making love should be about give and take, not take and take and take, but if he was willing to give her that much, she supposed she shouldn’t complain.

“I don’t want you to leave,” she said. “I want you to feast on that pussy for hours.”

He emitted a nervous laugh.

“I’d like you to fuck it too, but if you’re not willing to go that far, I’ll try to make do.”

She could hear him taking deep calming breaths through his nose and wondered if she should push him farther. She felt he was at a tipping point and that a little shove would send him falling in her direction. Or might send him away from her forever.

After a moment, he removed the rope from her ankle, pulled her panties free, and slipped the noose around her ankle again, drawing it tight. His hands slid up her leg—altering its angle slightly so that her back and butt were in a more comfortable position on the surface of the piano and her knee in a natural bend. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sensation of the rope being run up the side of her calf, around the top of her knee and down the other side. The rope pressed into the sole of her foot, and her toes curled under. Why did that feel so good? She sighed in bliss. He leaned away slightly, working the rope—she could hear the fibers scraping against each other. A knot pressed into her instep. She sighed again. If she wriggled her toes slightly, that knot rubbed at a spot on the bottom of her foot that made her nipples pebble with excitement. She had no idea if he’d intentionally put the knot in exactly the right spot, but she was grateful for the stimulation. She’d expected him to tie her spreadeagle to the piano legs, but apparently there was more to this Shibari stuff than simply rendering her helpless.

His secured the rope at her ankle and then ran his hands up the length of her body. He cupped both breasts through her bra, his thumbs tracing the hardened tips.

“Perfect,” he whispered.

“Take it off.” She wanted to feel the pads of his thumbs against her bare nipples.

“Is it pinching you somewhere?” he asked and shifted his hands to her bound leg, carefully running his fingers over the rope and knots he’d fashioned.

“No. I didn’t mean the rope. I meant my bra.”

“Oh.” He chuckled and a pulse of pleasure converged between her thighs. So now even his laugh turned her on? She was a goner.

“Let me bind your other leg first,” he said, “then I’ll have you sit up.”

He left the free end of the rope dangle from her ankle and picked up another piece of rope to bind her other leg. She had some experience with his motions now, so instead of concentrating on where he was putting the rope and tying it and knotting it, she allowed herself to feel how it affected her body. She most enjoyed the knots between her soles and the piano keys where her feet rested, but the tightness of the ropes on her thighs directed her attention to the open and exposed flesh between them. She hoped he’d do something about that soon; she couldn’t close her legs and squirm as she’d been doing since she’d sat beside him at the breakfast bar and then on the piano bench. Even though he’d taken the edge off with that sweet orgasm earlier, she was hopelessly excited again.

When he had her legs secured the way he wanted them, he ran his hands over the ropes as if checking for flaws in his design. “Does that feel okay?” he asked.

“Feels great,” she murmured.

His lips pressed gently against the inside of her thigh. “Your scent is driving me wild. Will you be able to keep your hands to yourself if I steal a small taste?”

“Yes.” She was lying. Even before his tongue slid sensually over her inner folds, her hands were reaching for his thick, glorious hair.

He moved away before she could latch onto his scalp. He slid a hand between her lower back and the piano and eased her into a sitting position.