Page 168 of Us Defiant Few

“Good. Shut your eyes.”

Khalani exhaled deeply and did as he asked.

“That’s it. Keep them closed,” he whispered.

Her skin buzzed like live bolts of electricity were shooting through her veins. Every sense was heightened, and when she heard Takeshi stand and walk away, she cocked her head, listening for any movement or hint as to what he was doing.

A slight rustle echoed back to her, the closet door opening. She heard him rummage around, searching for something. Khalani yearned to find out what was happening, but she kept her gaze firmly shut.

His footsteps returned.

“Lift your arms,” Takeshi instructed.

She did so without hesitation, but when she felt a layer of rope gently wrapping around her wrists, she nearly burst out of her skin.

“Do you want me to stop?” he whispered.

“No. I’m just freaking out a little.” She released a nervous chuckle, keeping her eyes closed. The bed dipped slightly, and his warm breath brushed her ear.

“I’m nervous, too.”

Her brows knitted. “You don’t seem like it. You always seem so…unafraid.”

Takeshi’s lips curved against her skin. “That’s because I only let the nerves in for a few moments. I acknowledge the anxiety. How I’m on the edge of losing everything. But then I let it all go. I take my power back. And when it’s done, I take what is mine.”

She barely breathed as Takeshi moved behind her and tied her wrists to the bedposts. His knots were thorough, tight enough that she couldn’t escape, but not enough that they hurt.

Her mind raced a million miles an hour, so fast that everything became a blur, and all she could focus on was the fact that she was completely letting go of her control. And it might’ve been counterintuitive, but she’d never felt more free.

“Remember.” His dark voice reached her ears. “Any time you want to end this, say stop, and I will.”

“I understand,” she breathed out.

He moved to her side, and she felt his gaze drift over her, as tangible as a finger tracing her skin.

“So beautiful.” The awe in his voice was palpable. His hands skated up her feet, past her ankles, then her muscular calves. Tickling past her thighs. He raised them past her hips and kissed just below her naval.

She squirmed against the restraints.

“Ticklish?” he asked.

“Sensitive.”

So sensitive that the barest touch felt like a hot flame pressed against her.

“Never stop breathing for me,” he whispered.

The command wasn’t just for this moment. It was for the rest of her life. And as long as Khalani’s lungs were able to take in the weight of the world, she’d keep inhaling.

In the next moment, Takeshi’s tongue traced up the center of her core. She gasped, hips arching as he hooked his arms around her thighs and nestled closer.

He tasted her like a man starved, stroking her with his tongue, releasing a masculine groan. And when he lapped at her clit, Khalani saw the universe.

“Takeshi…it feels so good,” she moaned, her nails digging into her palms, her self-control hanging off the edge of a cliff.

He grinned into her core and sucked deeper in response, like he was enacting revenge for all the times he wanted to do this and couldn’t. She was trying to hold on, but when Takeshi pushed two fingers inside her, she came apart. Shockwaves trembled through her as Takeshi pulled her thighs closer, keeping his mouth locked on her.

And he didn’t relent.