He frowned. “I shouldn’t have admitted that to you, I suppose.”
“No, you should have. I love”—everything I learn about you—“hearing new things about you.”
“My first date, your first flogging,” he said with amusement.
“I adored what you did to me.”
“Tonight I realized that I can torment you and treasure you. For you, it can be one and the same.” His hands began ascending my legs. “And there’s much more to show you.”
My breaths shallowed. “I want to see it all.”
“I’m having supplies delivered tomorrow. We’ll take it slowly, but be prepared for wherever this leads us.”
“You really knew your way around this stuff.” Though I spread my thighs in welcome, he simply teased me with those light circles. “How long have you been doing it?”
“Awhile.”
Evasive much? “Now will you tell me about your particular interests?” With his fingers at work, I fought to keep my concentration. “When did you recognize them?”
He opened his mouth to answer, then closed it.
“Please tell me. I’d like to know, since I benefited from those interests so much.”
“I will, one day. For now, I don’t want to think that far back into the past.” How far back? “Know this: before you, I participated, but now I see those encounters for what they truly were.”
“What?”
His gaze held mine. “Practice.”
“For me?”
“For you.”
I couldn’t stop the slow grin that spread over my face.
His eyes dipped to it, darkening. “There will be rules, Natalie.” He reached between my thighs at last, palming me with a sure grip. “This is mine. I’m the only one who gets to pet you here. I plan to keep you well pleased, but if you ever need to come, you wait for me—or for my command.”
“So I’m never to play with myself in front of a camera for you?” I wriggled over his erection, making him inhale sharply.
“I’ll order you to do that again—at a time when I can properly enjoy it. I was in a meeting that day when I stole a look at you.” Against my damp neck, he said, “I shot hard as rock, had to rush out of the building. The phone shook in my hand the entire way back to you.”
His words sent a thrill through me. “Then I’ll await your command.”
“And my permission. You’re not to come at all until you ask for—and receive—permission from me.”
“I can live with that. Any other rules?”
“Yes, one.” He pinched my chin. “Don’t ever look at another man with lust, unless you want him dead.”
I knew he meant that literally.
“You belong to me alone. No man could feel more possessive of a woman than I do you.” His eyes mesmerized me, as if he could see into my soul. Right now, I felt more vulnerable with Sevastyan than I had in front of an audience of dozens. “Do you understand me?”
Gazing up at him, I nodded.
“Horosho.” Good. “I think that deserves a reward.” He settled me on the submerged bench—alone. Before I could protest he’d risen from the water.
Drops sluiced down those magnificent muscles, over his entrancing tattoos. Just the sight of his body made my achy ni**les grow even harder, my pu**y wetter.