his blood if she could get a knee--or something worse--close to his balls. Jasper was talking to her in a low, even voice, but the words didn't seem to be banking that inner fire.
Jasper was either going to have the hottest time of his life tonight trying to tame that, or he'd end up sleeping alone. If he found himself in a cold bed, Dallas really would owe him for fucking up what should have been a good night. "Think Jas can handle her?"
Lex flashed him a look of sharp rebuke. "If you had any question about that, you should never have let him mark her."
He bit back his retort--that the girl who'd stumbled into their midst wasn't the same one slowly bending under Jasper's words and touches, and Lex should know since she'd been partly responsible for that transformation. But he'd seen the hints of this fierce tiger in the clumsy kitten Noelle had been a month ago, and he was confident Jasper could handle anything she threw at him.
It didn't mean he'd always enjoy it, though. "Collared all of two minutes and you're already second guessing my decisions, huh? You could at least get me a drink first."
She exhaled--it could have been a laugh or a scoff--and nodded once. "Yes, sir." Then she headed in the direction of the bar set up along one end of the room.
Prickly. That was fine. The full impact of what he'd just done was starting to catch up with him, which made the walk back to his couch take forever. The dais was empty, and even Six had abandoned her spot. No one would tread too near with his temper presumably still close to the surface.
If only they knew. The momentary flash of outrage at Lex's presumption had vanished under the gut instinct to turn it to his advantage. He'd missed his window of opportunity on collaring her during the Wilson Trent blow-up, but this time he wouldn't give her a chance to get skittish.
It was a pity that pressing this particular opportunity involved skipping a few key steps. Discussion. Negotiation. The setting of guidelines and the drawing of boundaries. Collaring was ownership, however temporary, and a smart man made sure his idea of ownership fit before trying to shove a woman into it. Doing otherwise tended to end badly.
Lex came back to the dais, a whiskey triple in one hand. The ice clinked as she held it out to him, the perfect picture of submission, ruined only by the glimpse of fire he caught before her lashes lowered.
She reached up, and the collar shifted as the top of her halter dress loosened and fell to bare her chest. The slinky red fabric slipped down to her hips, then the floor, and she stood there, clad only in his ink, his leather, and her high-heeled shoes.
So much for giving Noelle and Jasper back their spotlight. "Thanks," he drawled before patting his thigh. "Care to sit?"
"We can do better than that." She dropped to her knees.
He'd lost count of the number of times she'd blown him right here, just like this, and every memory paled beside the reality of having her on her knees. Burning, like that collar was the only thing holding back the kind of explosion that would singe a man to ash.
Sometimes she was a little scary when she looked at him like that, and fuck if he didn't like it. "I don't know, love. The way you're looking at me, I don't trust you not to use your teeth."
She laid her hands on his knees, slid them up his thighs. "Has that ever stopped us before?"
"Not really." He rested the hand holding his glass on the back of the couch and slid the other into her unbound hair. "Is this what you were going for, Lexie? Is this what you wanted?"
"I always do." His belt buckle clicked, and leather whispered over leather as she drew open the belt. She reached for the button on his pants, the zipper--all by touch, as if she knew this moment too well to even look down.
He tightened his fingers in her hair, a quick tug of warning. "So you're going to swallow my dick like nothing's changed?"
"You want something else?" she asked, pulling against his grip as she leaned over his legs. Closer. "Is that why you asked me to sit on your lap? So I could ride you right here? Now?"
The first time he buried his cock in her, no one else