He took her right to the edge of the bed, standing at her side to pull her forward while he went around to her back. Because he still held the end of the tie in his grip, her connected hands were drawn to her hip. Waiting, the pulse thrumming through her sped up.
How could he arouse her so much with such little action? Shyla was eager and appreciative. Even without words, he was touching the deepest part of her. Heated speckles danced across her skin, pricking every hair, enlivening every pore. Score began to draw down the zip of her dress, igniting the embers of her need. He pushed the straps down her arms to her tied wrists and took the clasp from her hair to toss it aside. Just the tickle of her own locks falling around her shoulders and down her back brought a whimper to her throat.
Although Shyla wasn’t as naked as she’d like to be, what Score had done to free her from the conservative outfit gave her some relief. She wanted to be with him. Naked, alive, and beneath him. She needed him. More than anything in the world, she craved whatever he wanted to give and would always want more.
When his fingers curled around her throat to pull her head back against him, her ensuing moan of aroused surprise ratcheted the tension up another notch.
“You need something,” Score muttered in her hair, forcing her chin higher. “Something to remind you why you’re here.”
Cooking up dessert in the kitchen would’ve reminded her why she was there. Except Score hadn’t taken her to the kitchen. He didn’t want to remind her of her job.
Her ideas of what he’d do to her would probably pale in comparison to the reality. Still, she would let him take the lead.
“Why am I here?” Shyla asked, licking her drying lips.
Before he did anything else, he unhooked her bra. Shaking her arms as best she could with his grip still tight on her leash, she got it to her wrists, where the straps of her dress rested.
Score was liberating her in ways he could never understand. Removing the clothes she’d said goodbye in felt like a real cleansing.
Bernard and Stan weren’t in that house. Mick didn’t own them. Her life with the two men she cherished had shaped her into the woman she was; the woman who wanted to go into the future with the man standing behind her, holding her up.
His leash hand swept up her torso to rouse each of her breasts before laying it flat on her stomach. “You were incredible today, Lamb,” he said, tightening his hold on her just a fraction. “Beautiful and bold.”
Shyla couldn’t say she’d thought the same way that day, or on any day. Score’s view of her was unique. The way he spoke to her, the way he acted, gave her a whole new perspective on herself. Score saw her as a woman, an arousing one who interested him. It didn’t matter that she didn’t get it, he did… and he wanted more.
Discovering how he’d been thinking of her inspired more than just her confidence. “Phoenix,” Shyla breathed.
Though she wanted to touch him, he only gave her enough slack to make brief contact with the hand he had on her abdomen. After just a second, he yanked her hands to her side again.
In the same tug, he grabbed her hip to spin her around, then he bent low, coming closer to her level. “You belong here.”
Drifting on her expectations, Shyla nodded. “I belong wherever you are.”
Sticking to the contours of her body, his hand slid downwards from her throat. There was no way to know what was in his mind, yet she leaned in to his touch, just experiencing his entitlement. His eyes grew more discerning, suggesting he was trying to read what was inside her.
“Sit,” he said, nudging her backwards.
The bed was so close that she could only do as told. Score came down over her, using his grip on her leash to yank her backwards. All the while, his mouth flirted with hers. She wanted him, wanted his kiss, but he withheld it, teasing and taunting her with the possibility. They stopped the ascent when he jerked her arms up and flattened his own hand on the tie against the headboard. She couldn’t move, that anchor kept her where he wanted her.
Rather than any slow show of affection, he got rougher. Compared to his deliberate actions of the previous night, Score’s jostling and jerking was much more tempestuous. His urgency felt wild and dirty, yet it was no less exciting. If anything, the desperation of his desire heated her faster.
While using his legs to force hers open, he rammed the skirt of her dress up, out of his way. With the skirt bunched at her hips, Shyla tried to wriggle lower, but Score wouldn’t have it. Dragging her bound hands higher, he used the anchor point to brace his weight and with a few quick moves opened his pants. Pulled in many different directions, with her own bra obscuring her view, Shyla was shocked when Score reared up and began pushing into her.
He’d only shoved the crotch of her underwear aside and their clothes were still restricting them. There was no kissing or touching or building up to the apex. Score wanted her and had no plans to wait. The potency of his desire
