“What?”
“You’re protecting and supporting him. The same way you always protect and support me and Candace. You only do that with the ones you love.”
Oh God, she loved him. She really and truly loved him. And now her goddamn plan to show him just how much she cared had backfired.
“Did you tell him how you felt?” Candace asked.
“I told him I only wanted sex. He agreed.”
Candace shook her head in confusion. “So you gave him money?”
“He told me no one had ever supported his dream. I figured if I gave him money it would show him how much I cared. Show him that what was between us wasn’t just about sex for me, like I had originally said.”
Anna softened her voice. “Has he ever told you he felt differently?”
“No, why would he? He went into this thinking of me only as a playmate. And after talking with him, intimately, I now know he’s used to that type of behavior from women. He doesn’t expect anything more. That’s why I felt I needed to show him, and not just tell him.”
Brad’s voice sounded in the doorway. He pointed to Lindsay. “You. In your bedroom. Now.”
Lindsay stood on shaky legs and, as though fearing she was going to bolt, Brad cupped her elbow, packaged her tight against his body and escorted her up the stairs. When they reached the bedroom, she twisted to face him.
“Brad, I…”
He pressed his fingers to her lips. When his eyes met hers, a shiver traveled all the way to her toes. “I’m an idiot.” His voice was low, harsh.
Before she had a chance to respond, his mouth smashed down on hers. Hard. His kiss was so full of urgency, need and passion, her body responded in kind. Blood racing, she kissed him back with all the love inside her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered into his mouth, her voice rough with emotion.
Bodies still molded together, Brad inched his mouth back. He cupped her cheeks and held her face between his palms. God, she loved how he touched her in such a familiar way. She arched into him and when she saw love shining in his eyes, her heart slammed in her chest.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” The heat of his breath assailed her neck and aroused all her senses. Her skin came alive with desire.
She worked to find her voice and slid her tongue over her bottom lip. “When I offered you that money, I didn’t stop to think it would offend you. Or make you feel used, the way other women have made you feel. It was just my way of showing I cared, where no one else did.”
His hands were all over her, like he couldn’t get enough. “I know that now, Lindsay. I should have trusted that it was a heartfelt gesture, that you were doing it because you cared.”
“Old insecurities are hard to let go of, Brad. I know that firsthand.”
“Fortunately Pamina helped me understand things.”
Lindsay’s fingers raced through his hair, pulling him impossibly closer to her. “Pamina?”
She could feel his body trembling with pent-up need. “Yeah, she explained to me how men always used you and how offering me money was a big leap of faith on your part.”
Lindsay furrowed her brow. “I don’t know how that woman knows so much.” But none of that really mattered to her right now, because standing before her was the man of her dreams and the look on his face told her all she needed to know. He loved her as much as she loved him.
Brad slipped his hands to the small of her back and splayed them open. She watched his throat as he swallowed. His voice dropped to a whisper and there was such tenderness in his gaze. “Before you I never believed in love at first sight.”
“Me neither.”
“I love you, Lindsay, and I’m never going to let you slip away.”
She grinned, her heart nearly exploding in her chest. “I love you too, Brad. But just how do you plan on doing that?”
Mischief filled his eyes. “I do have my ways,” he assured her, his glance going to the goodie box.
“Show me,” she said, inviting him to answer the pull between her legs.
“It’d be my pleasure.”
She smiled. “I’m pretty sure it would be my pleasure too.”
He furrowed his brow, his voice taking on a hard edge. “I’m sorry, did you somehow think I gave you permission to talk?”
Lindsay bit back a smile, thrilled with the way he so easily slipped into his role, a role he played just for her. She’d never met anyone so in tune with her needs, her desires or her emotions before. God she loved him so much she ached.
She assumed her role. “I should probably be punished.”
Brad stepped back and let his gaze pan over her body. “Take off your clothes but leave on your panties and bra.”
She obliged without hesitation, thankful that she’d put panties on that morning.
Her entire body shook as she watched the way his eyes devoured her with hunger, with heat. Once she was naked, he gripped her hips and backed her up until she was next to the window again. He went to the box and pulled out a set of leather straps.
Oh. Good. God.
With predatory moves he stalked toward her, gripped her wrists and wrapped the straps around them.
“Spread your arms.”
Brad shackled her wrists and tied her arms to the hooks meant for the curtain tiebacks, prohibiting her from moving. Such ingenuity. Her body quaked in anticipation, certain she’d never been so excited in her entire life.
His hand stroked over her body, a slow seduction that nearly unhinged her. He caressed the pattern of her curves and then casually made his way downward to her panties. He pressed his finger into her heat and moaned.
“You’re very wet, Lindsay.”
He was testing her to see if she’d speak, knowing if she did punishment would come. Hell, who was she too disappoint him?
Her mouth curved invitingly. “You make me this way.”
He
