Grievous (Wanted Men #5) - Nancy Haviland Page 0,43

fluttering, teasing the hell out of him because it had made him think about how incredible those small pulses would feel on his cock. She was lucky he’d heard Sorin walking down the corridor. Otherwise, he’d have put her on the table and fucked her right then.

As he once more demonstrated his authority by making her wait for her food, the shadows that had writhed in her dark eyes as she’d spoken of her past began to fade.

A question came to him out of nowhere, and he posed it before he could stop the words from tumbling out of his eager mouth.

“Would you be opposed to wearing a collar?”

TEN

Her mouth remained open, her glistening tongue taunting him as Lucian watched interest war with a woman’s instinctive need to stand against anything she thought might debase her. He sent the fork in past her full lips, and when she took the food he offered, he was content. He wasn’t sure why he so enjoyed that she allowed him to meet her needs, so he didn’t bother dwelling on it. Just as he hadn’t dwelled on another task now added to his list. When he returned to the U. S., he had to find a particular professor and put him in a body cast.

“I would also purchase a matching leash.” His blood heated as he pictured it.

She chewed and swallowed. “Do you seriously need me to address that? You’re kidding, right?”

“Not at all. By collar, I do not mean something black with spikes. And by leash, a dirty leather lead does not interest me. If I were to put anything other than my mouth on your flawless throat—I will have to consider it further before marring its perfection with any item, no matter how valuable—it would be elegant and subtle. As you are. Your lead would be delicate. A fine silver chain perhaps. Or gold, if you prefer.”

“And you would hold the end and drag me along behind you.”

“Or wrap it around my hand and pull down. The tether would allow me to hold you where I want until I was finished using your mouth.”

Her pupils expanded and she shivered hard enough for him to witness it. “Jesus, Lucian,” she breathed as her nipples became two hard points. “Why do I not want to slap your face for that?”

“Because you are coming to accept that you want to please the man who owns you.”

“You don’t own me. I’m lending myself out. I’m staying with you because I want to.”

Was that what she thought? That she had options? He brought her more food, and she took it, but not quietly.

“I can feed myself.”

“I know this.”

“Then why don’t you let me?”

“Because I prefer to do it.”

“May I ask why?”

“You may ask anything you like. The trick is to get your answer.”

He brought more eggs to her just in time to see her lip twitch. His gaze rose the few inches, and their eyes met. Something shifted inside him when he watched the exasperation disappear from her expression as it softened with humor.

He lowered the fork and went in to rub his mouth around that positive emotion. His lips remained closed and barely touched as he drifted around the face that haunted him, the high cheekbones, the long, elegant nose. And finally, that mouth he craved to the point of madness.

“Your beauty is so much more than what most men will ever see.” He kissed her softly before drawing back and lifting the fork again, annoyed with himself over another gesture of affection that was going to make her expect more.

“I wish you’d stop doing that.”

He liked how bright her eyes were now. The confusion in them was a nice touch. The tenderness bordering on sympathy wasn’t. “Doing what?”

“Speaking in a language I don’t understand. It’s very rude.” She opened, chewed, and swallowed before adding, “You’re very rude, but I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less from the self-indulgent rich guy you are.”

“Am I self-indulgent, Yasmeen?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

He placed his hand on her knee and ran it up in a slow caress. “Yes. You are here. And others are in the city we call home, living their lives. If I were self-indulgent, as you claim, that wouldn’t be the case.” What some might consider a smile pulled at his lips as he allowed his fantasy free reign. “If I were self-indulgent, loved ones would be traveling to Manhattan as we sit here enjoying our breakfast. There would be tears and distressed cries over how