Her arched body was tense and still braced when he slid up her body to lie beside her. It wasn’t until he laid a hand on her diaphragm that she even thought about opening her eyes.
Rolling her head in his direction, Shyla was pleased to have him lying beside her, looming over her. She was too breathless and weak to think about words.
“Just let yourself breathe,” he murmured, pointing his middle finger more than the others to draw lines and circles across her abdomen, through her cleavage and over her breasts, enjoying her in his own way.
Under his caress, she tried to regain her equilibrium.
A minute or maybe five went by. With each second, Shyla became more and more aware of his fingertips grazing her flesh, sending heat through her, compelling each hair on her body to attention. She was ready to be commanded by him, all the way.
“Untie me, Phoenix,” she breathed. “Please, baby.”
“Not a chance,” he said, drawing around her areola then leaning over to open his wet lips around her so he could breathe her in.
His act on one incited both to comply with his want. She squirmed beneath him, a smile forming on her mouth as she whined for him.
“Is that your favorite?” she asked, wriggling against the tip of his tongue when he let it tease the apex of her nipple.
“Hmm?”
“That’s twice you’ve played with that one and you’ve never played with the other… you’re playing favorites, sir.”
She hadn’t thought through what would happen when he stretched over her body to kiss and suckle on her other breast, but Shyla couldn’t say she was sorry.
The cotton of his tee-shirt brushed her already sensitive skin. She tried to arch, pressing the small part of her body that was making contact with his deeper against him, eager to know what it would be like to have all of him lying above her.
“Phoenix. Oh, God, Phoenix, please… I want you inside me.”
He planted a hand on her stomach, holding her down flat, and ripped his mouth away. “That’s enough,” he said, vaulting up off the bed.
Panic zipped over her. “What? No! Please, I’ll be good. I’ll be quiet. I’ll be whatever you need. If you untie me there must be something I can do for you. Something. Anything.” Frustration clenched her teeth. “God, I’m an idiot.”
“Hey!” he barked, whipping around to show the glare on his face. “Don’t talk shit about my girl.”
Surprised by his vehemence, she blinked a couple of times. Clarity hit hard, yet it curved her lips. “Oh wow… I’m your girl now.”
Some of his frown receded after he got back on the bed to lay the length of her. “Yes, you are,” he said, nuzzling her mouth. “I will own you, Shyla Bellamy. I don’t care what it takes.”
Grabbing for his kiss, she wished she could do more than raise her head to respond to what his mouth offered. She was about to beg for her hands again when he stole his mouth away to turn his head.
The frown on his face suggested he wasn’t as intoxicated as her.
“What?” she whispered, surprised by her shortness of breath. “Baby, what—”
“Shh,” he said, touching her lips with his fingertips for a brief moment before replacing them with his lips.
His kiss was short; she was left wanting more when he pounced off the bed without making a sound. Putting a finger to his lips as an indication that she should be quiet, he crept out of the room, leaving her alone, tied to the bed.
Naked and exposed, Shyla was completely at the mercy of whoever walked in. For some reason, Score’s instruction to stay silent translated into her staying still too, so she didn’t move a muscle.
Just a moment ago, she’d been languishing in the kiss of her could-be lover. In a quick turnaround from that ecstasy, her priority was not descending into a full-blown panic attack. If something happened out there, she wouldn’t be able to help Score.
“Hey, boss!” Fish’s happy exclamation reverberated down the hallway. Shyla blew out a breath of relief. But he wasn’t as happy the next time he spoke. “What happened here?”
Oh no! They’d left a helluva mess on the floor outside the elevators.
“You see nothing. You say nothing,” Score’s voice was so low that she only just heard his words.
“Sure. Sure thing,” Fish said, always eager to please. “But uh… you coming to the club, boss?”
“Later,” he said. “You get things started.”
“For real?” The exuberance in Fish’s voice made her smile. He was such a sweetheart. “I won’t let you down, boss. I won’t!”
The sound of the elevator carried to her. She could only guess that he’d left until Score came sauntering into the room. Standing at the foot of the bed, he didn’t say anything, he just studied her in silence, his brow tense.
The power of his concentration made her forget about her almost panic and slide into that cozy cloud he’d taken her to before.
“You know, a picture would last longer,” she said, meaning to tease. Shyla didn’t expect him to retrieve his phone from his back pocket or for him to hold it up to take a shot of her strewn across the bed. “Oh my God!”
Twisting her arms across each other, she managed to get onto her chest, and tugged her knees up under her. With her wrists still bound, there was nowhere else for her to go. The ribbon from her hair had given up long ago, her locks were a mass of tangles and kinks falling into her face.
“Want to give me any more angles?”
Spitting her hair from her mouth, her shoulders were burning, but she was helpless. “Phoenix!”
“Relax,” he
