Staying close, he began to stroke her body. “How would you do that?”
“Any way you want me to,” she said.
His hand on her breast was loosening her up. The moment began to feel more like the one in her bedroom.
“If I want you to cook for me?”
“I’d do that,” she said, trying to seek his lips again, but he held them just out of her reach. “I’d do anything for you.”
“Anything. Except follow the rules.”
“I didn’t realize it was a strict rule. I thought you were just making a comment. If I’d known it was a rule—”
“What? You would have followed it?”
She nodded. “Yes. I will always follow your rules.”
“You think we should let this indiscretion slide?”
“I think…” The torment of his thumb rubbing her nipple in slow circles made it difficult to concentrate. “I think you should decide.”
“Decide if you deserve to be punished?”
Shyla didn’t have a clue what punishment meant, but part of her was eager to find out. “How would you do that? How would you punish me?”
“Any way I want,” he said. “I could leave you here, keep you tied up, so you don’t have the choice to break my rules…” He kissed her. “Perhaps I should pick up something… something to make you climax over and over again until you lose your urge to defy me.”
Over and over again? That didn’t seem like such a punishment. Her body began to move, not only in response to his hand, but to his words too.
“What else?” she whispered, closing her eyes to picture his words.
On his next kiss, he didn’t retreat and left his mouth on hers. “Maybe I force this mouth of yours to swallow my cock. Force you to give me head all day and all night. Maybe if my cock is your whole world, you’ll learn you only have one thing to worry about. Your only worries should be how you’ll please me and how you might tempt me to fuck you. That’s it. Nothing else. You’re so desperate for it, Lamb. So clueless. Once I have you, I won’t stop pleasuring myself in your body. Your body will be open to me every minute of every day. Anything I want. Any rule I make, you’ll be duty-bound to follow. No excuses. You do whatever it takes to keep my cock happy… That’s your purpose. Your only purpose.”
“Mmm,” she purred, squeezing her legs together. “Yes, sir.”
“Better.”
At the same time his mouth disappeared, his hand did too. Opening her eyes, Shyla couldn’t see where he’d gone. Her body was alive. Alight with her arousal, ready to accept him, ready to be punished. But he’d vanished.
“Phoenix?”
No reply and no Phoenix.
The swirl of panic in her belly began to churn again. Something stopped it in its tracks. Before it became full-blown terrifying panic, she settled herself with one thought. Him. Phoenix. He’d put her there, left her there.
Whatever his reason, it didn’t matter. Whether he meant it or not, it was a trust exercise. He wanted her to hand her existence over to him. He’d promised to take care of her. Told her that he’d take care of everything.
Instead of freaking out, she took a deep breath and let all of her muscles loosen. Some loosened easier than others. The heat he’d fired in her belly was still hot. Her legs moved, and she tried her best to pleasure herself. Without her hands, it wasn’t easy. But imagining his words as reality kept her simmering.
If he hadn’t still been naked, she might have thought that he’d already left. Gone. Out of the apartment, leaving her in his bed for whenever he might want to come home to her for pleasure.
Her whole existence up until she’d started working for Score was about responsibility. Shyla hadn’t been able to rely on anyone to take care of problems for her. Sure, she had her grandfather and Stan, but caring for them meant being capable of everything. No matter what was going on or what had to be done, she was required to carry it out.
Score was offering the opposite. A life without responsibility. One where she could rely on him to take care of everything.
Her eyes were closed and her body moving. Her mind had been so busy that she wasn’t even aware of his return until he skimmed both hands up the front of her legs. Opening her eyes, Shyla locked hers onto his. The stern look on his face was less angry, but that didn’t make it any less intense.
As his fingertips slid higher, he kneeled on the bed and pushed her legs open. Terrified and thrilled in equal measure, Shyla held her breath thinking it could be the moment. His hands drifted from her hips and he rose higher, his fists dropping to the mattress on either side of her chest.
“Phoenix,” she whispered, wishing she could touch him in return.
Bowing over her, he kissed each of her breasts. Taking a nipple into his mouth, he sucked it to a peak and flicked it with his tongue. A zing of delight shot through her; a gasp left her lips. He was taking his time. They were free. Beeks and Fish wouldn’t interrupt. The day was still new, night was a long way off. Shyla was ready. Ready to be his. Ready to respond to him.
His mouth trailed down her abdomen. Kissing his way to the heat between her thighs, he wasted no time in sating the hunger he’d woken in her with his words.
“Yes,” she said, her hips rising.
Words, actions, indulgence, Score gave her everything. He’d become her everything; she didn’t ever want to lose that reliance. More than capable, stern and thorough, Score wasn’t the type of man she’d pictured for herself. Yet, with such little experience of the
