“You awake?”
The shower door closed and she turned to address him. “Yeah, I—”
Her panic vanished around the same time she looked at him. All of him. In all of his full incredibleness. Shyla hadn’t closed her mouth and wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to again.
Score didn’t seem to notice or care that he was naked as he dried his hair with a towel. Damn. Shyla’s desire to be introduced to his intimate anatomy didn’t seem to know what to feel. The muscles across his abs and his solid thighs were drool-worthy, but his… his dick was… She didn’t have any frame of reference of what a lover would feel like moving inside her, but still… As eager as she was to be with him all the way, she suddenly got a better understanding of what he’d meant when he said having sex wouldn’t feel good.
Her anatomy was designed to yield to all shapes and sizes. Hell, she was supposed to be able to birth a child. It wasn’t like—
“You have to learn.” Shyla heard his words, but still couldn’t quite make her mouth move to respond. “You didn’t have permission to come to my bed last night, did you?”
No, she didn’t. But given her current view, Shyla wasn’t sorry she’d broken the barrier. Score turned around to walk across to the other side of the room. That gave her a view of his ass she hadn’t enjoyed before.
Beyond how pleasing he was to admire, her appreciation for his high level of fitness grew. Sleeping with him could be an athletic experience. So while making a mental note to spend more time in the gym, her mouth finally relaxed enough to smile.
Score wasn’t as happy. He wasn’t a big smiler, but the stern judgement he wore when he turned back suggested he was less than impressed.
“Phoenix—”
“You had no right to come to my bed.”
The last thing she wanted was to make him angry. If he felt violated or taken advantage of, he had every right to chastise her. Suddenly, nothing about the morning was worth smiling about.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was worked up and I—”
“You made a mistake.”
That wasn’t the way she saw it. In truth, it hurt that he was so vehement.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “There’s no excuse for what I did. I wasn’t thinking and… you’re right. I should have waited until I had permission to be here. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you.”
What she should do was leave his private space immediately. Except with her wrists tied to his bed, she couldn’t go anywhere.
Score crossed to the side of the bed and crouched to nearer her eye level. With his scowl still intense, he took a section of her hair between two fingers to move it away from her face.
“I warned you; you didn’t listen. You have to learn that I mean what I say.”
“I know that,” she said, without a clue what warning he was referring to. “I wasn’t thinking. If you untie me, I—”
“No,” he said. “You’ve shown that you don’t understand the rules. You don’t understand that you have to do what I say. Everything I say.”
She would. She planned to. All Shyla could think was how stupid she’d been. “I can’t leave if I’m tied up,” Shyla said, wishing for freedom. “If you just loosen—”
“What did I say would happen if I brought you to my bed?”
Sorting through their experiences, it didn’t take her long to hit on the answer. At the time, it had been a turn on. She wasn’t sure what it was anymore.
“That you’d never let me leave.”
“That’s right,” he said, reaching over her to check her bonds. “I don’t say what I don’t mean.”
When he stood up to go to the closet area behind the headboard, she couldn’t see him anymore. Her panic returned and she tugged at the bonds. He’d told her that she’d never break free of his knots. After using all of her strength to fight them, Shyla was sure he was right.
“Phoenix,” she said, still tugging her hands. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to leave me here. You can’t leave me here! Beeks and Fish will be here soon and—”
“Beeks and Fish are picking up breakfast on the way to the club.”
That meant he’d talked to them already. Set it up so he could leave her there? For how long?
“Why?” she asked. “Why did you tell them to do that? They won’t understand why I can’t make breakfast… Did you tell them about us?”
“Have we had sex?”
She stopped fighting the bonds. “No.”
“They won’t know until after we do.”
Because he feared he’d lose interest in her or she would lose interest in him? If they weren’t sexually compatible…
Score came around the corner of the bed to look down at her. She didn’t say anything, just focused on his eyes hoping he was considering letting her loose.
Instead, he leaned down to throw the sheet from her hips, exposing her whole body. For a second, he went back to the closet. When he returned, he was holding his phone. Just like before, he took a picture.
“Phoenix,” she pleaded.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said, hunkering down again. Bowing closer, he touched his lips to hers. “You’re panicking… You didn’t panic when I did this before.”
Because he distracted her with his mouth. That had happened in the throes of passion. In the current moment, she was concerned he was mad.
“You’re mad at me,” she murmured, their lips still lingering on each other. “I want to
