Page 46 of First Touch

But I couldn’t block out his voice.

“I won’t always ask for your input,” he said next, bending as he pulled my panties down to the floor. “And I won’t always take it when I do.” He maneuvered the material over one shoe, spreading my stance as he lowered my foot back to the ground. “But you will always give me what I ask for.”

Give me what I ask for. They were trigger words for me. Words that turned me from a strong, competent woman to an addict begging for her drug. The lights. Count the lights on the houses.

Leaving my panties dangling at my other ankle, Reeve rose, trailing his fingers up the outsides of my legs until he was at his full height. He met my eyes in the glass. “While I won’t promise that you’ll always like what I do to you” – he pressed in closer, letting the tip of his cock tease at my hole before gripping my hips with both hands – “I will promise to take you where you need to go.”

He thrust into me, stretching me, filling me completely. My eyes blurred and my throat went dry. It felt so good. So right. He plunged in hard and fast. Unrelenting. Unforgiving. Everything inside was tightening, building, gathering. I had to make it stop. Had to keep counting the damn lights. Seventeen. Eighteen. Oh, God…

I held on. Just barely. My eyes latched onto one spot on the canyon wall and I clung to it, focusing on it so intently that I was able to dull the amazing things that Reeve was doing to me. Even when his hand reached around to work my clit in quick, pressured strokes, I held to my focal point.

I added breathy gasps then. For his benefit. It was easy. All I had to do was open my mouth a little and out they came, my body sensing the pleasure despite my head’s distinct denial of it.

The pulsing knot of tension in my belly remained, an orgasm ready to release as soon as I gave it permission, which I wouldn’t. I could do this. I was doing this.

Time got lost in the haze of barely held control. I didn’t know how long Reeve had been moving in and out of me, how long I’d been fighting the mounting storm inside. The sweat that layered my skin and the wobbliness of my legs suggested it had been a good while, but the exhaustion I felt may have been from the effort to keep my climax away just as much as it could have been from the physical activity.

Whatever the time span, I was wearing out. I needed him to be finished, and soon. I laid on the vocals, increased the breathiness in my sighs, raised the pitch of my moan, hoping these efforts would move him along. In my experience, men were always triggered by the sounds. They loved believing they’d affected a woman so much that she was reduced to communicating through gasps and groans. Maybe it would work for Reeve as well.

Except then he slowed his tempo and tugged sharply at the knot in my hair, bringing my face back toward his so forcibly I cried out.

“I’m not going to come tonight,” Reeve said quietly at my ear, “until you’re gripping me like you did last time. So either you decide to let yourself orgasm or I can keep at this for a pretty fucking long time. It’s up to you. Just be forewarned – I’m not going to make it easy for you to withhold.”

My grasp on the haze gave out. Sensation came reeling back into full awareness. Every part of me, every inch, every molecule was ignited and ready for takeoff. There would be no more fighting it. Not just because I’d been called out but also because of the way he’d done it, threatening and demanding. Blatantly reminding me who was in command. I couldn’t control anything anymore if I wanted to. I was putty in his hands. I was the criminal who’d been cornered. Now all I had to do was surrender.

So I did.

I closed my eyes and let my body take over. My body that was currently owned and operated by Reeve Sallis. Now when he pinched at my nipple, I felt every zing it sent to my center. And when his other hand reached between us, drawing moisture from my cunt to my other hole, when he dipped a finger in and massaged the overly sensitive walls – the cries he elicited then were real and raw. The tension had built so long and so abundantly that even at its onset, it overwhelmed me. It shuddered through me with agonizing leisure, thundering through every nerve, gripping me with fierce control.

Then, finally, release. Blissed release. Stars shot across my vision and I fell, weak and boneless.

Reeve caught me and carried me to the bed where he dropped me on my backside. Kneeling before me, he lifted my lower body up like a bridge, and entered me with a punishing stroke. Over and over he pounded into me, fucking me with fury and ferocity. I hadn’t yet recovered from the last orgasm and this one was already starting to consume me.

My vision was glossy and unfocused, but I searched for his eyes, hoping to plead silently for relief. When I found them, when our gazes locked, something passed between us. Something without name or label. Something brutal and honest and undeniable.

That’s when Reeve surrendered as well. He groaned and tensed. His whole body contorted as he ground into me, burying his cock as deep as possible, coming as hard as I had. It set my next orgasm off and I clenched around him, even as he fell on top of me in exhaustion.

As soon as we recovered, he rolled off of me, away from me. He put an arm over his eyes and said, “You can stay if you want. Or leave. Your choice.” Then he went to sleep.

I lay silently, my body wanting to pass out, my head wanting to dissect and study. My emotions were what won out. They were mixed and intense and all over the place. They wanted me to run.

As I gathered my clothes, I tried to convince myself to stay. You need to get closer to him. This is your opportunity. Accept his invitation.

But soon I was dressed. And no matter how strong the argument, I couldn’t bring myself to go back to Reeve’s bed.

I found the keys he’d left on the coffee table by my purse and jacket. Outside, a gray car had been pulled out of the garage and was waiting in the drive. My already weak legs nearly fell when I saw it. I didn’t know enough about cars to know the model, but I knew enough to know that Jaguar Coupes were pretty pricey. And it was mine. Reeve had given it to me in exchange for what had happened upstairs.

Which was what, exactly?

I didn’t want to think about it, but the thoughts kept rolling unwelcome through my head. Even as I climbed into the car and familiarized myself with the controls, I was reflecting on him. On us. As I started the engine and pulled down the driveway, as I wondered how I’d get through the gate and as I sighed with relief when it swung open automatically, as I drove down Mulholland in a car that took every curve with such ease and beauty it was art – through it all, I was engrossed with Reeve.

Eventually, I let the thoughts take precedence. I said to myself what I didn’t want to admit – I’d set out to capture him and instead he’d captured me. I couldn’t fight it. It was done.

And though I’d keep searching for Amber – always – she no longer mattered in my relationship with Reeve. Without her, I’d still be consumed with him, obsessed with him. Owned by him.

I pulled to the side of the road at the first opportunity, and I sobbed.

CHAPTER 14