Dark Deception (Vampire Royals of New York #1) - Sarah Piper Page 0,20

covered in goose bumps, her legs already trembling, and she had the distinct impression he was just getting started.

“But as lovely and delicious as you may be,” he said. “I don’t trust you. You’re a bad girl, sneaking past the ropes, touching things that don’t belong to you. Running off after bidding on my painting.”

She felt a tug at her waist as he freed the satin sash and unzipped the dress, letting it fall to the floor.

A shiver worked through her body, but Charley wasn’t cold. She was on fire, her skin blazing, her body wound tight as she stood before him, naked but for her strapless black bra, more aroused than she’d ever been in her entire life.

“Give me your hands. Now.” His voice was firm and severe, taking on an authoritative tone that made her nipples ache.

He was still holding the sash from her dress, and Charley knew in an instant what he planned to do with it.

Just as she knew what it would mean to obey him.

It was one thing to consent to the demands of his sexy power games. It was another to allow him to strip her nearly bare in a stranger’s penthouse.

She’d agreed to both, without hesitation.

But tying her up? That was something else entirely. A whole new level of risk.

Don’t be stupid. The minute you give him what he wants, he’ll blow your cover, expose you to the guard, and leave you to the damn wolves.

That was her brain’s warning, and it sounded totally reasonable.

But her instincts said otherwise, and they’d never misled her. After years of putting herself in harm’s way on the job, Charley had learned to listen to her body before listening to her head, and right now, with this man’s hot mouth a tantalizing tease behind her ear, his filthy promises melting her from the inside out, Charley’s body was screaming for his touch.

Butterflies flooded her insides. She’d never been so bold, so daring with a man before.

Her lifestyle didn’t exactly lend itself to long-term relationships with decent men, and her ex—a documents forger Rudy sometimes contracted—had tried his damnedest to make her feel selfish for acting on her desires. For even having desires in the first place.

But tonight, stripped down by her enigmatic stranger in the study of the penthouse her crew was planning to rob, her nipples aching, core dripping with desire, Charley felt her deepest yearnings blooming inside, desperate to be unleashed, aching to be tamed.

By him.

Yeah, he was a total stranger. But no man had ever made her feel so powerful, so wanted before. However far he planned to take this game tonight, Charley was willing to follow him.

All the fucking way.

Closing her eyes, she crossed her arms behind her.

He bound her wrists, pulling the sash so tight her hands ached.

Hell yes.

She was so wet for this guy, so ready to submit to him. When he’d first surprised her in the study, her mind was on one thing—saving her cover. She’d flirted with him to distract him, to buy herself a few extra minutes until she could figure things out. But the moment he backed her against the closet door and dished out his ultimatum, everything changed.

And she knew, despite his obvious need for control, that she’d had a similar effect on him. Her every word, every movement seemed to unlock something primal in the man—a raw, dominant power that had lain dormant beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed by the right woman.

The heat between them was off the charts. Suddenly distraction wasn’t enough—Charley needed him to take her. To totally fucking possess her.

A moan escaped her lips, unbidden as he tugged harder on her restraints. Everything about this man was turning into a thrill ride, a dark fantasy in which she couldn’t wait to lose herself.

“Fucking gorgeous.” He ran his hands down her arms, her hips, the curve of her ass, setting her nerves ablaze. After taking his sweet time admiring the view from behind, he finally grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, his gaze trailing a searing-hot path from head to toe, then back up again.

Her heart beat in wild anticipation as he ran his thumb along her lower lip, staring at her mouth as if he wanted to bite her. The wait was pure torture, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t love it.

He glanced up into her eyes one last time, his gaze a feral warning. Then, with no more than a wicked quirk of his lips,