Page 57 of Love Bound

I roll her into my arms and kiss the top of her head, her cheek on my chest. Then I ask a potentially insulting question. "Oh, Claire, your body is perfect. Is this your first orgasm with a guy?"

Her "No," comes very quietly. I feel her move closer to me and I rub her back. "The first time was last night."

Last night.

What the hell?

"Hey, listen. You're sexy and beautiful and you should appreciate your body. When you respond, you are so damn hot," I tell her.

After struggling to sit up, she offers further explanation. "I mean, I've had orgasms, but only when masturbating."

"Well, you've dated some real losers, then," I tell her, and her silence makes me backpedal. "That wasn't fair. Maybe they were great guys, but they didn’t know what they were doing."

She slips an arm between me and the sofa and then rests her head on my chest. "I can hear your heartbeat," she says.

"Proof I'm alive."

Now she sits up and stares at me, her hand stroking my cheek. "No, you were right the first time. They were losers." She pauses for a moment. "Devon says I'm a control freak."

"Sounds like you've had to be. Your parents died, then Chloe's gone, you run The Inn, go to vet school. You've had to be responsible for everyone and everything." I nuzzle her hair. "Only a control freak could handle all that."

"She says it’s why I don't date and why I can’t keep a man."

I sit up a little straighter. "First, this is not the nineteen fifties. You don’t ‘keep a man.’"

"Oh, I didn’t mean that. God, don’t ever tell Devon, she'd kill me. What I mean is, that she says I don’t enjoy sex as much as I could because I have to control what's going on in the bedroom."

I start to rub her arm and pull the blanket up higher over her shoulder. "You don’t strike me as a dominatrix."

"But I fantasize about that stuff," she admits.

I shift on the sofa.

"Finn?"

"Yes."

"What are you thinking?"

She doesn't have a mom, and her sisters have a code of honor I don’t quite understand yet.

How does she not know this stuff?

I keep my answer short and to the point. "Fantasy is different. You can fantasize about anything and anyone you want. It’s okay to be turned on by all that stuff and even do it, if you don’t hurt anyone. And—"

"And—"

I've slept with women like Claire, who like to run the show, but I've never slept with someone I could tell was scared and having control compensate for fear. "It’s okay for you to want that control. But one day," I lean closer and whisper in her ear, "I'd love to see you out of your comfort zone."

She shivers slightly but pulls the blanket off.

That astringent rush stiffens my cock almost immediately.

Again.

Chapter Fifteen

Claire