Page 44 of Gamble

Lifting her palm up to his cheek, Reagan tried to put his mind at ease. “I trust you, Elijah. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I can’t wait to see what you plan on showing me.”

She’d expected her reassurance to appease him. Instead, his eyes went even darker. “Baby, you may want to put some limits on that trust. You’d be scandalized if you knew even half of the kinky things I’d love to do to this delicious body of yours.”

His left hand moved lower, pulling her against his body so she could feel his hard shaft between them.

Wild horses couldn’t drag her away from him. Not now.

“That sounds like a dare. We’re in Vegas. Maybe I want to be scandalized,” she teased, trying to lighten the unexpected heaviness between them.

“Christ… Reagan…”

Was he having second thoughts? Just thinking of the possibility that Elijah might back out of their weekend together crushed her. Thankfully, he didn’t make her suffer long before he asked a most unexpected question.

“Baby… do you know what a safeword is?”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ELIJAH

What the hell are you doing, Keaton?

They hadn’t even made it inside their room yet, and he was fucking this up by going too fast. They weren’t at Black Light. He didn’t need to negotiate their scene as if they were about to partake in a dangerous fire or blood scene. They were going to have vanilla sex.

Except a woman like Reagan deserved so much more than just an impersonal fuck with a near stranger. She was special. She deserved it all. The white picket fence and the two point five kids kinda future that he could never give her.

All they’d have was tonight. So why muck it up with talk of safewords and edgy kinks?

The truth hit him like a sledgehammer.

Because more than his next breath, he wanted to experience those edgy kinks with her. To see her tied down and vulnerable under the heat of a spotlight, a crowd of kinksters gathered around the stage to watch the DM flog his sub until she was writhing with need. To hear her pleading with him to stop just before begging him to claim her.

Christ, he had it bad.

Her hands on his cheeks as she looked into his eyes pulled him out of his spiral of thoughts.

“Why do I need a safeword, Elijah?”

The twinge of fear he heard in her voice fed his sadistic dominance, making him feel like an asshole.

Honesty. There would be nothing but honesty between them.

“Because my sexual tastes run closer to the dark end of the pool. I’m not sure you’re up for swimming with me in the deep water.”

Reagan’s eyes widened. He’d surprised her. But had he scared her?

“I’m a pretty good swimmer,” she answered, a small smile playing at her lips.

Elijah let a sliver of hope take hold. Maybe he wouldn’t chase her away after all if he let his natural instincts run free.

Then again, if he wasn’t careful, he could push too hard and end up alone before his birthday kicked in at midnight.

“Red,” he finally said. When she looked confused, he explained. “You shouldn’t need it… but if you want me to stop something… anything… just say red.”

“I won’t need it…”

He cut her off, his fingers against her lips.

“Maybe you won’t, but I do. I need to know you understand how to make things stop.”