Cuffs - Cara Lockwood Page 0,17
out of being ever present. She was keeping a tight rein on her stupid sex fantasies. Just get him out. Get him on his way.
“Okay,” she murmured when the tricky part was done. She sat back and let him sit up and stretch. She glanced up at the clock and rolled her neck, feeling the stiffness there. “I think we’ve done enough for today. We can finish up in a day or two.”
Gael glanced down at the outline of the bird in flight. “Wow. You did...” His eyes grew wide. “An amazing job. This looks just like the cover. And you just drew this from memory?”
Mags liked the way he was looking at her now, as if she was a witch who could spin spells of magic. She nodded. “It’s just what I do. We’ll color it in tomorrow or the next day, after you’ve had a chance to heal, and we can see if your body takes to it all right. But right now, you’ve got the bones of it on you. You can see what it’ll look like.” She slid off her rubber gloves with a snap and tossed them into a nearby trash can. She rolled her neck again, working out the stiffness.
Gael nodded.
“You don’t even know what this will mean to Ava.” There it was again, that shining look in his eye, as if she’d saved him from something. As if she’d saved him somehow. She felt uncomfortable, almost, with the praise. She’d been careful in her work, sure, but she was careful every time. She’d rarely seen a man so happy to have her art on him.
“You’re welcome,” she said, but her throat suddenly felt dry. The way he could be both commanding and grateful at the same time made her feel disoriented. Like a true alpha, she thought, commanding but caring. His first obligation to protect the pack.
She grinned, though, matching his joy, unable to help herself. His joy was contagious. She’d worked hard for him, and he appreciated it. She couldn’t believe she liked his approval so much, but there it was. She couldn’t believe it, but she was beginning to like this damn suit. Maybe it was because he wasn’t wearing it. Not the shirt, anyway. He had on just his pants, the V of muscle near his groin disappearing beneath the expensive leather belt he wore.
“You did well. Really well.” The praise. In that deep voice. She felt something in her tick on. Want, pure and hot, rushed through her veins. His approval grew like warmth in her belly.
“So I don’t get a spanking then?” she managed. She met his gaze and saw his switch had flicked on, too. She could tell, because his grin faded and his green eyes burned with his own desire.
“Do you want one?” His gaze also held a question. And she knew the answer.
“Maybe.”
“Come here, then.” Mags’s stomach lurched. That voice. That commanding voice that she felt in her toes.
Mags moved to him. He reached out and pulled her into his lap, and she went, compliant and ready. His eyes never left hers, and his jaw twitched again, his mouth in that familiar strong line. It was the strength there, the determination that made her thighs tingle.
“Spankings are for bad girls,” he told her, a glint in his eye. “You’ve done well. You deserve a reward.”
Her mouth parted.
Yes. I’m a good girl. Reward me.
She was deep into the role play, and she couldn’t get out. Didn’t want to get out. She was lost in it and forgot entirely about Gael being a suit, about him being not her type, about anything but the sensual curve of his mouth. She realized she’d wanted to kiss him, taste him, since the moment he’d walked into her shop. She had done good work on his arm. And now she’d claim her reward.
She put her lips on his.
CHAPTER FIVE
GAEL COULDN’T BELIEVE it as Mags’s lips parted and her soft, wet mouth opened up to him. She tasted like cherries—her lip balm, maybe—and something else, something primal, something he needed. His brain was still struggling with the shock of it. Because Mags—the tough, blue-haired Asian biker chick—actually responded to him. He’d been half teasing about the spankings, about playing the dominant, but damn, it had worked better than he’d ever dreamed. Here she was, firm, warm ass on his legs, her tongue exploring his mouth. The tough girl that had all but told him to go to hell now putty in