Before she could stop herself, Kata gasped—and not in pain. Hunter sent her a satisfied grin.
A new fear wrapped around her. Why couldn’t she understand—or control—her own traitorous reactions? Suddenly, the thing she’d long feared was the thing she wanted most.
“Let’s try this again,” he suggested. “Strip.”
If she complied, he would turn her inside out. She knew it. After everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, she already felt raw. Kata couldn’t take more now. “I’d rather bathe alone.”
Hunter took his time responding. “Okay. But when you’re hot and you need me to ease your ache, I’ll make you wait for an orgasm until you beg. For hours.” He shrugged. “It’s your choice.”
Kata had no doubt Hunter could—and would—do exactly that. Even the suggestion made her clit pulse.
He grabbed her shoulders. “I don’t want to fight about this. Trust me, honey. I won’t hurt you or let you down.”
The blaze in his eyes sizzled her skin. The deep timbre of his seductive voice resonated through her, settling right between her legs. Hunter, along with his air of power and control, got to her like no man ever had. In his place, someone like Ben would have yelled, thrown a tantrum. Hunter had merely laid his cards on the table and now waited patiently, certain he’d come out victorious eventually.
Kata swallowed. Maybe she was being paranoid and looking at his demands all wrong. Denying herself a hot guy wasn’t her style. Refusing to try something new wasn’t like her, either. So Hunter played the game differently than Ben or any of her previous lovers. No big deal, right? She couldn’t deny that she’d eaten up everything he’d done to her so far. Yes, he was a lot to handle. But she was strong. No reason to assume that she couldn’t manage.
“If ... we try this and I want out?”
“‘No’ isn’t an acceptable safe word. Instead, say ‘Ben.’ If you do, I’ll know you’re not ready to move past your status quo yet, and I’ll back away until you are.”
It almost seemed too simple. Where was the loophole? Or did Hunter have so much self-control that stopping at any time wouldn’t be a problem? “That’s it?”
“Nothing more complicated than that. You know what I want. I’m waiting, honey.”
Fine. If he wanted to see her naked because it turned him on, then she was all for it. Kata wasn’t too cowardly to admit that the way he watched her like a predator getting ready to pounce aroused her.
She grabbed at the bottom of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head, tossed it to the floor. Hunter sucked in a breath, and Kata looked down. Ah, yes. The red bra with lace cups so sheer, he could see through them. His gaze caressed her wide, rosy areola, and she knew he saw her hard ni**les almost poking above the delicate, low-slung fabric.
He didn’t move, didn’t say a word, but there was no missing the sudden tension in his body or the erection straining the front of his jeans. He’d filled her utterly last night. But now . . . he looked even harder, bigger. He’d have to really work to bury all of that inside her.
Kata shivered, and her panties turned even wetter at the thought. She reached for the snap of her capris and slowly unfastened them. Her fingers drifted down over the denim . . . until she rubbed at the ache in her pu**y. A muscle ticked in Hunter’s jaw.
Holding in her smile, she slid her hand back up her stomach and found the tab of her zipper. She began tugging it down, torturously slow. A peek at Hunter only proved that he was even more rigid—everywhere.
When Kata had lowered the zipper, she hooked her thumbs in the waistband and began to shove them past her shimmying hips, over her ass, down her thighs. Finally, they pooled at her ankles, exposing her matching red thong.
“Fuck me, you look hot,” he muttered, his stare harsh, electric. Possessive as hell.
Her pu**y spasmed, clenched.
As much as it pained her to admit that Hunter was right, in her deepest, darkest fantasies Kata had imagined being overpowered and restrained. Imagining him dominating her, securing his ropes around her wrists and taking her at will, only turned her ache into an unrelenting throb.
“The bra, Kata. Now.”
Strain showed in Hunter’s voice, suddenly husky and gravelfilled. His deep tone, coupled with those electric blue eyes of his, seared her. She was hyperaware of every beat of her heart, every inch of her exposed skin, every long-held fantasy she’d ever repressed.
She reached behind her and grabbed the band, unhooked the fastenings one at a time. Before the bra slid down her arms, she pressed her palms to her br**sts, precariously holding the cups in place.
“Let go.” Hunter made a fist at his side. “Or I’ll rip it off.”
Kata had no doubt he meant that . . . but the devil in her prodded her to goad him. “But it’s the only bra I have with me.”
A nasty smile curled up the side of his mouth. “Oh well.”
He tensed, reached for her. Kata let the bra fall, exposing her br**sts.
They felt heavy, swollen. More blood rushed to the already-sensitive tips, and they hardened until the sensation became a pleasure/pain all its own. His stare lashed them like a live wire, a stunning jolt across each nipple.