Page 74 of Hell Bent

“You’re kidding,” she said, and I was torn between laughing and smacking my forehead.

“Not kidding,” I said. “It’s been feeling a little empty lately. Whereas you were presumably having sex until …”

“Oh. Huh.”

“Yeah. I realize consent’s a thing, so I’m having this conversation, but after that? Here’s whatIwant to know.”

“Wait. I’m not done.”

I sighed, rested my forehead against hers, and laughed a little. “OK. Go.”

“The box says ‘for the lady’s pleasure.’ I wasn’t looking for them. I was looking for pain relievers for Ben’s hangover. But I couldn’t help but notice.”

This was more like it. “Yeah, it does. Because that texture seems to make it feel extra good, at least among the research subjects I’ve encountered. Have I mentioned that I want to make you feel good? I want to do more than that. I want to make you crazy with wanting it. I want to make you make noises you didn’t know you could. I want to eat you until you think you can’t come anymore and all you can do is gasp and beg me, and then I want to fuck you every way there is. If you don’t want all that, maybe we should have a conversation after all. Talk about your needs. And your limits.”

She was staring at me, a flush creeping up her neck to her cheeks like that old-fashioned lady she wasn’t, and, yeah, my hand was moving on her thigh again. Just a little, because the skin of her inner thigh was so soft, and she was shifting under me. I was still wearing boxer briefs, and I wished I weren’t. I wanted to feel her skin against me. I wanted …

I said, “If you want to tell me what you wish I’d do orwhat you definitely don’t want me to do, this is your chance. I’d love to hear it.”

“What,” she said, “I can’t tell you in the middle of things? I’ve got news for you. I get to tell you in the middle of things, too. Is this your patented technique? Because it has a big old hole in it, and that’s it.”

Geez, she made me smile. “Not sure I have a technique, other than doing my best. And yes, you get to say. Of course you get to say. It’s all for you. Just trying to make this foreplay and not a committee meeting, is what we’re doing here.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you say so?”

“I just did,” I pointed out. “You know … sometimes the first time is more like, grab the girl, pull each other’s clothes most of the way off, and fuck her up against the wall. That’s fun too. I’m just saying.”

“Well,” she said sweetly, “I guess you’d better find a woman with fewer boundaries, then.”

“Mm.” I dropped a kiss on her mouth. Then another one, because she did have one tempting mouth. Full lips, and that bow to the upper one that made you want to lick it. “How about this? I try some things, and you tell me how you like them. Or, you know, show me.”

“How? How will you know? I haven’t had all that— I’ve never been all that— All right, I know it’s stupid. But I haven’t wanted to give up control like that. Plus, you know, I can’t be hit, or have anything too rough, or …” She swallowed. “Even if I wanted that, which I don’t.”

“Baby.” Now, I had both hands in her hair and was kissing her face again, because I loved her face. Broad forehead. Soft cheeks. Lush mouth. And when she closed her eyes and sighed, I was kissing the delicate skin of her eyelids, too, exactly as gently as I could do it. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I promised. “I’ll go carefully, and I’ll go as slow as you need. I just want to feel all of you and know all of you, and yeah, Iwant you underneath me while I do it. Can’t help it. I do. And how will I know? I’ll feel you responding, that’s how. Just like I’ve been feeling you for a while now.”

“All right,” she said. “As long as I get a turn too. To be in charge.”

“Mm.” I kissed her mouth again, then moved down to her neck, and she sighed and turned her head, so she wasn’t exactly hating this. “How about this? Fight me if you want. A dominance struggle works for me.”

OK, that had done it, because her eyes were dilating again. “F-fight you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Go for it.”

“You are a confident man.”

“And you’re a confident woman.” I kissed her again, putting some effort into it, then pulled away. “I told you, I don’t do second-guessing. If I see something I want …” My hand took a trip up that inner thigh, because I had to know. When that hand slid straight over smooth skin and got to something much more interesting without any resistance at all? I gave her a quick little rub there, and she gasped. “I tend to take it,” I said. “And I want to take you. So let’s stop negotiating and let me do it, because you’re wet as hell, and you need me.”

Which was when Ben yelled. And Alix jumped. And banged her nose against mine.

Alix

All sorts of things happened at once.

Pain blossomed in my nose, and then the blood started with a gush. Sebastian was sitting up, saying, “Shit. Shit.”Iwas sitting up, leaning forward, pinching my nose shut, and saying, “Go get him. Ben.”

He said, “Ice pack.”

“I’m—”