Page 24 of Sins of Arrogance (Syndicate Sins #1)

MICK

I hip check the door shut and lean down to lock it.

"Fitz's monitor on. Alerts only," I order the smart speaker system.

The monitoring system is programmed to pick up on anomalous noises from Fitz's room. If he has a bad dream and vocalizes his distress, we'll be alerted. If he leaves his room, we'll be alerted.

If the cat jumps off the bed and uses the cat door to leave our son's room and roam the apartment, we won't.

We no longer hear his breathing like when he was a baby, but I'm not ready to give up monitoring him at night altogether. Kara isn't either.

If she were, she would have told me to turn off the system.

I carry her to the bed, but I don’t lay her down on it. Instead, I release her legs, letting her feet drop to the floor. She doesn't lean into me, but she doesn't try to move away either.

Her hazel eyes are filled with a pained vulnerability I cannot stand to see.

Cupping her cheek, I slide my thumb over her lips. "So soft. So perfect. So mine ."

Her lips part and I push my thumb into her mouth, rubbing over her tongue. Moving her head back, she scrapes her teeth against my skin and then leans forward again before sucking my digit as deep into her mouth as she can get it.

Pleasure so acute it borders on pain rushes straight to my dick.

This woman.

Her breath stutters when I bring her hand to my chest, pressing it flat under mine and guiding her palm over my pecs.

Her fingers twitch. I feel it. Her struggle not to grip, not to cling like she usually does.

She doesn't want to need me. But she does.

Just like I need her and only her, regardless of what she believes.

The pike in my pants surges with blood as she allows me to direct her small fingers to brush over the nipple with a barbell through it. She bends her middle finger just enough so her nail scrapes over it.

Fuck.

This is the one thing we always get right and have from our very first night together.

This is where the feelings I don't know how to process find expression. The craving. The need. And something else I don't have a name for.

It's not love, not what I feel for Fitz. Though there's an element of the same need to protect. The same need to care for and see Kara happy.

But it also feels like weakness. So, like every other time it tries to surface, I shove it down deep and focus on what I do understand.

The undeniable, always combustible physical desire between us.

When I can't stand teasing myself with her touch any longer, I walk her backward until her hips hit the side of the bed. She doesn’t sit, still fighting the desire raging between us.

She's breathing fast now, lips parted, gaze darting to my mouth, down to the tent in my trousers and back up to my face.

I pull my thumb from her hot mouth. "This is your chance to say no ."

She jolts, knowing what that means. If she says no, I don't get out the cuffs

She takes a deep breath and holds it, her eyes closing, before she releases it slowly. She's trying to regain control of her body, but that's not what either of us really wants.

Tonight, I need her surrender. Her trust. And she needs to give it to me, to remember she's safe with me.

Always.

Her and Fitz are the only living beings that I can say that about with absolute certainty.

The war going on inside her is all over her beautiful face.

Even when she's pissed at me for what she calls my high-handedness, she doesn't fight her desire for me like this.

Why is she doing it this time?

More importantly, is her caution going to win?

Will she deny me? Deny us?

The beast of desire rages and claws inside me, snarling its need and pushing against my own control. But this has to be Kara's decision.

Because she cannot meet the monster that rejects the concept of right and wrong, the cold rationality that would justify turning her own body's responses against her.

After interminably long seconds, her eyes open and they meet mine as she nods her head.

And I can breathe again. But it's not enough. "You need to say it."

"Ye…" She clears her throat. "Yes."

Pulling Kara with me because letting her go right now is not happening, I maneuver us two steps closer to the nightstand on my side of the bed. Then I lean down and open the drawer.

And her fingers finally dig into my shirt, holding on tightly.

Something I have no name for shudders through me and I retrieve the supple leather cuffs. Padded and lined with black silk, they're the same ones I used that first time with her.

I've used other things since: ties, rope, her underwear on a few notable occasions. But these are the only cuffs. They're hers and using them signifies something to both of us.

Tonight, I will take her apart with pleasure and then put her back together again.

The moment Kara sees her cuffs, her pupils blow wide and she follows the movement of my hand as I bring them between us.

I rub the soft leather over her pebbled nipples and she groans.

Tugging at the neckline of her summer dress, I order, "Off."

Kara doesn't hesitate, reaching behind herself to unzip the dress. Then she shrugs it off, revealing raspberry tipped naked breasts and boy shorts that cling to her curves like a second skin.

"Everything," I demand.

Biting her lips, she pushes the boy shorts down, revealing the pretty curls between her legs. The scent of her arousal wafts up from her pussy and I lick my lips.

With a needy little moan, she steps out of her shoes.

"Hands."

She lifts her hands together and I secure the cuffs, buckling each one slowly, and deliberately. I slip my finger between each cuff and her wrist, checking the placement.

They're snug but not too tight.

Tension releases from her body until she sways on her feet.

Fuck. The way she responds to this.

Wrapping one arm around her to keep her upright, I reach for the covers and rip them from the bed. Then I lift her again, bridal style and because I can't not, I kiss her until she's squirming in my arms and my blood is rushing through my veins like liquid fire.

Only then do I lay her down. "Arms up."

She lifts her bound wrists and I attach the cuffs to the hook that pops out from the headboard when I press the hidden lever.

Kara tugs once, but the cuffs don't give and her entire body goes lax.

I lean down and kiss the inside of each elbow before running my hands down her arms. Goosebumps erupt on her skin and she moans.

"Are you wet for me?" I know the answer. I can smell her sweet nectar, but I want to hear her say it.

"Yes."

"How wet?" I push her legs apart, taking in the sight of her juices glistening around the tantalizing pink opening to her body.

"You tell me," she breathes.

Running my forefinger through her folds, I gather her arousal.

She moans softly, her gaze fixed on me.

"So perfect." Lifting my finger near my mouth, I inhale her unique scent.

My mouth waters and I suck her juices off my finger, her tangy essence bursting across my tongue.

Then, because I can't not, I do it again, this time dipping into her satiny heat to coat my finger in her arousal. Her vaginal walls clamp around it and her gorgeous tits rise and fall with her rapid breaths.

Pulling my finger out, I trace up her folds and circle the sweet little clit peeking out of its hood.

" Michael ." My name is a plea on her tongue, but she's not ready for more.

Not yet.

Withdrawing my hand from between her legs, my gaze roves over the beautiful curves that drive me wild. "Not wet enough yet, mo stór . You'll soak the sheet under you by the time I'm done."

Her pupils dilate and her body moves restlessly on the bed. She wants that too.

A river of carnal sensuality runs under the surface of my buttoned-down wife and I am the only one who will ever get to see it surge over the banks of her control

Standing, I begin to strip as Kara watches with avid interest. I take my time, knowing this drives her wild. She is as enthralled by my body as I am by hers.

"Stop teasing me," she husks. "You know I want to see."

I shrug off my shirt and she sighs, her eyes glowing with appreciation. Before our marriage, I had women look at me with lust before, but none ever watched me like doing so fed their soul.

If there's anything left of my own soul, it belongs to this woman. My addiction.

As I shove my slacks and boxers down my legs, my cock bobs and slaps against my stomach. It's so hard, a painful rhythm of blood surges through it with every beat of my pulse.

Kara's gaze locks onto it, and she licks her lips, the heated desire in her eyes turning into an inferno.

She's pissed at me because of Dierdre, but she still wants me.

Almost as much as I want her.

Feeling like the predator that I am, I crawl onto the bed and kneel between her legs, spreading her thighs wide.

Kara's light brown curls are dark with moisture. Her nether lips glisten, inviting my kiss and her swollen and needy clit begs for my tongue.

I trace my finger over her folds again, circling that tight little bud just enough to make her hips buck, but giving it no direct stimulation.

Pushing her foot toward her curvy ass cheek, I make her bend her knee before I press down on her thigh. Then I do the same to her other leg, leaving her in a lewd lotus position completely exposing her pussy to my hungry gaze.

I take my time looking, letting my eyes soak in the sensual beauty that is my wife bound and arranged for my pleasure. Her labia flushes darker, and her arousal perfumes the air around us.

Inhaling deeply, my hunger grows. "Look at that sweet cunt, so ready for my mouth."

"Yes." She shifts a little, but her legs don't move from the position I placed them in.

Good girl.

Shifting my body so I can put my mouth against that delicious flesh I crave, I have to be careful not to rub my straining dick against the bed.

I'm that close to coming and I'm nowhere near ready to fuck my wife. We're just getting started.

Leaning down, I lick her slow and easy, circling her clit with the tip of my tongue without quite touching it. She whines, canting her hips upward and straining against the cuffs.

Feasting on her delicious pussy, my tongue goes everywhere, except where she wants it most.

"Please, Michael!" she cries.

My name on her tongue sends a spear of pleasure straight through my chest. "Begging already, my sweet wife? But I've only just gotten started."

I slide two fingers inside her, curling them until I find the spot that makes her jerk. Then I stop.

"Mic—"

"No talking. No begging." There will be plenty of time for that. "Just feel."

I press in deeper and rapidly flick her clit with the end of my tongue. Over and over as I fuck her with my fingers.

She arches, her body tensing, and just as she's about to tip over, I pull back.

"No!" she cries out.

But I shake my head. "Not yet."

Then I bring her to the edge again.

And again.

By the fourth time, she’s sobbing. Her thighs are shaking and her body is covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

"Please. Please, Michael. I need it. I need to come."

"Not until I say."

I put my mouth back on her, sliding my tongue inside her tight channel along with my fingers and she screams.

But she doesn't come. Not yet.

Pulling my mouth away from her tangy sweetness, I lift my head. Kara's eyes are closed and tears track down her temples.

"Look at me, mo chuisle . Let me see your beautiful eyes and I will let you come."

They snap open, but her gaze is hazy.

I wait until her eyes focus on mine. "Watch."

She jerks her head in what is probably meant to be a nod.

"Good girl. Perfect wife." I return to her swollen, sensitive flesh, but keep my own eyes locked with hers.

Then I close my teeth gently over her engorged clit and suck. I give her three more hard strokes with my fingers and her vaginal walls tighten like a vise.

Kara screams, the orgasm taking over her body, but she keeps her gaze on mine. Such a good girl.

Her entire body bows, thighs locking around my head because she can't stop herself from moving. And that's exactly where I want her.

Finally, she can't keep her eyes open any longer as her body shudders through the ecstasy I give her.

As her muscles start jerking uncontrollably with every flick of my tongue against her clit, I slow my thrusting fingers. But I don’t stop.

I want to wring another climax out of her. I need to feel her muscles spasm around my fingers, her juices soaking my chin.

I fuck her with my fingers and tongue until she comes again, this time crying my name.

Michael .

Her husband. Her lover. Her man.

I gentle her enough that her thighs fall away from my head and then I stand.