Page 30 of Reckless

Robbie didn’t look at me as he undressed. He stared at the floor as he unbuttoned his shirt and then shrugged it off. He dropped it on top of his jacket and boots, then leaned down and tugged his socks off. His jeans and underwear were last, and when he stepped out of them he stilled for a moment, fingers twitching, before he straightened up and pulled his shoulders back. He kept his gaze down, as unwilling to look me in the eye as always. I might have dug deeper into his reasons for that if I hadn’t seen him do the exact same to everyone at the end of the council meeting earlier. Robbie Finch didn’t like to be seen, and yet here he was now, exposing himself to my scrutiny.

It was a powerful sensation.

“Good,” I told him, keeping my voice soft so that he had to strain to hear me. “Fold your clothes, please.”

That got me some eye contact—a quick flash of a disbelieving look, before he bent down to obey.

I didn’t give a fuck about clothes on the floor, but I certainly liked to watch Robbie as he folded them naked. I drank my fill of him while I pulled a few things out of a drawer. I liked the way he was built. Strong and lean, his body honed by manual work. A work horse, not a show pony.

“Would you like to be restrained like last time?” I asked him.

He straightened up, holding his bundle of folded clothes. A flush spread from his chest all the way up his throat and cheeks. His gaze flicked to me, then away again. “Yeah.”

I took the restraints from the drawer as well.

Robbie went to the bed willingly when I told him to, and stretched out there on his stomach, his wrists above his head. It was easy to attach the restraints, and I rewarded him with a sweep of my palm down his spine. He shifted, restless, his arse clenching as he sought friction on the bedspread.

“I’d like to touch you some more this time, if you don’t mind,” I said.

“Like...like your finger in my arse again?”

I could feel the heat radiating from his body as my hand hovered close to his spine, that mix of shame and desire that seemed intrinsic to him. “If you like.”

He turned his head to look at me, his mouth twisted. “I want you to fuck me. I don’t care what else you do first, just fuck me.”

“You like it hard and fast,” I said. “But I don’t. Not tonight.”

His narrow gaze was wary, his face flushed. “What are you going to do then?”

I pressed my fingertips into his spine gently. “We’ve talked about impact play before. Is that something you’d be interested in tonight?”

His flush deepened, and he turned his face away. “Yeah. I guess so.”

A ringing endorsement, as always. A team of professional interrogators couldn’t get Robbie Finch to admit to his desires under the threat of torture, but even he couldn’t hide the tremor that ran though his muscles when I’d asked.

“I’d like to spank you,” I said.

He jolted and turned his head to look at me again. “Why?”

“Because I think you’ll enjoy it,” I said. “If you don’t, I’ll stop.”

“And then you’ll fuck me?” he asked, a storm in his eyes.

“Yes. This isn’t a negotiation, though. If you don’t want me to spank you, I won’t. I’ll fuck you either way, if that’s what you want.”

For a moment I wasn’t sure what he’d choose. Robbie was obedient, and I’d been able to push him before. This time though, I wasn’t telling him what I wanted him to do. This time I was telling him to make a choice, and that was much harder. He battled his indecision silently for a moment.

Of course silently.

This was Robbie.

Then he said, “Okay. You can do it. You can spank me.”

Arousal tightened in my lower gut, and heat flooded my veins. I hoped that I kept my expression neutral. “Very well.”

I turned away from him for a moment to make sure my composure didn’t slip, and I remembered suddenly, the flash of memory as sharp as a blade, how Neal laughingly used to call me Jack Frost for the ice in my veins. It wouldn’t have been as funny if it had been true, but I’d always cultivated a cool persona in scenes, an extension of my admittedly lacking bedside manner. I liked to make a sub work hard, and that would never happen if they knew they could have me wrapped around their little fingers too easily. In Robbie’s case it wasn’t merely an affectation. I needed him to decide what he wanted, independently of what I did. I had no reason to think our interests didn’t align—I wasn’t into anything too out there, at least in certain circles—but he had to be the one to figure that out. I could lead him, but I couldn’t decide for him.

When I turned back, every muscle in his body was tense.