“No, baby. I want to control you.”

The hitch in her breath had conveyed her true feelings before she said, “What?”

“I crave your fear, and I want you safe. But I need to control you.” I bit my lip to keep from giving myself away and gave in to the demand for pleasure. My hand stroked faster.

“Is this always how it will be?” When I didn’t respond, she called my name. “Keiran?”

“Yeah, baby?” I tried to keep my voice neutral, but the soft moan I’m sure she didn’t mean to release gave her away.

“Keiran… are you—are you touching yourself?”

“I need you.” I didn’t bother to conceal my pleasure.

“What are you doing to me?” she asked, but I could tell it was rhetorical. She was silent, and I wondered if she was listening to me until I heard her breathing quicken. I decided to poke the sensual beast coming awake inside her.

“Just because you aren’t home with me where you belong, doesn’t mean you can leave me hard and wanting.” And I was damn hard. “If you were home, you’d be in our bed. I’d lay you on your back and kiss your soft skin until you were hot enough to set us both on fire. Then I’d spread your legs…” I heard the sound of sheets rustling and knew she obeyed my hidden command. “I’d nibble on your thighs so you’d hurt so good. You like when I make it hurt, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

My cock released a little drop of pleasure at the sound of her moan. I pictured her thighs flushed with heat and my mark of possession. “I’d touch your clit, baby.”

“Ok,” she agreed, and I smiled knowing she was doing just that.

“You’d want me to stroke you fast so you can find release, but you wouldn’t do that, would you? You’re a good girl.”

“Damn you, Keiran.”

“Slow—I’d savor it—how wet you are and how hot your pussy feels. Savor it.”

“I want to come.”

“I know you do, but I’m still not inside you.”

I’d never grow tired of the sound of her begging. I was a slave to her need. My own cock, straining against my hand as the physical need to release escaped and traveled down the length, proved that. I used the added lubrication to glide my hand up and down easier.

“If you were here,” I continued the game, “I would use my fingers to fill you.”

“Yes.”

“You’d beg for my mouth.”

“I want it.”

“My tongue would come next so I could taste you.”

“Please.”

“You’d move against me, sending my fingers deeper inside you. You’d use me, baby and I’d let you.”

God, I was so close.

“You’d be right on the edge and just when you’re begging to be fucked—”

“Oh, God,” she cried. I knew she was much too close to stop now.

“I’d take you, Lake. I’d fuck you so goddamn hard.”

My hips tensed with the need to drive into her and give her everything I had promised, and I came.

I fucking came.

Involuntarily, I released a hoarse shout that mirrored her cry on the other end of the line. My name on her lips was all I could hear. Nothing else mattered.

The line became quiet as we settled into the silence of the aftermath. When seconds turned into long minutes, I picked the phone up, ignoring the sweat and leftover release and disengaged the speaker. I started to speak, but only when I hesitated did I realize how nervous I had become at the possibility of rejection.

“Keiran?” she called, sounding just as nervous as I felt.

“Come home, Lake.”

“I—” Silence returned and then she quickly said, “I can’t.”

The line disconnected, leaving me with a soft cock, a mess, and even more pissed off than I was before.

Chapter Twelve

LAKE

I silenced my phone, shoving it under the pillow—as if it could protect me from giving in and running home, just as he had demanded.

What the hell had I done?

I told myself I was done taking orders, but when I heard his voice and shared his release, I wanted nothing more than to obey.

I rolled onto my stomach and groaned into the pillow. The only thing keeping me sane was to know he was in no better shape than I was.

The sound of movement traveling from the front of the apartment had me shooting upright. Had Keiran found me after all?

Just as quickly, I shook my head, realizing how silly that idea was.