“I can tell, baby.” He glanced over his shoulder, and once he determined the common area was empty, he leaned down and scooped me up around the waist and put me over his shoulder. It was so sudden and surprising that I couldn’t suppress my squeak of shock. Dante laughed warmly and held me securely as he backed up over the threshold and kicked the door shut.
“Dante!” I swatted at his back ineffectually. “What are you doing?”
He smacked my butt in retribution and I suppressed a little shiver. I never would’ve guessed that I’d like being spanked, but his hands always felt so good on me, especially like this, when he was just maneuvering me however he wanted me.
“Taking you upstairs,” he said as he carried me toward said stairs. “What does it look like?”
“I don’t know,” I complained. “I can’t see from back here.”
Dante laughed again and carried me with no problems up the stairs and into his apartment.
Inside, he tossed me onto the center of the bed, and I landed laughing on the mattress.
Dante tugged his shirt off without my needing to ask, exposing all that gorgeous skin, all those tattoos I wanted to get my mouth on. He tossed the shirt aside, and then just stood watching me with his thumbs hooked into the waistband of his sweatpants, dragging them down enough to reveal the cut definition of his abs and the enticing trail of hair under his navel.
“You gonna be a good boy for me tonight?” he asked in a low, serious voice as his gaze dragged over my body.
God, I loved the way that made me feel. The weight of his gaze made me feel confident—and sexy, a feeling I hadn’t been familiar with before I met him. I shimmied out of my leather jacket and tossed it aside, toed off my boots, too, so I was wearing only my jeans and an oversized long-sleeved Henley. I liked how the neckline of the shirt hung loose on me and showed off my shoulders. Liked how it suggested my body beneath it but didn’t show too much. But what I really liked was the way Dante looked when he saw me wearing it.
“Yeah,” I said with a smile. “I can be good.”
Dante crawled onto the bed and over me, caging me in with his knees bracketing my hips and his elbows on the mattress beside my head. “You sure?” His gaze cut to the nightstand. “Need something to help you?”
What did he have in mind? Curiosity and desire swirled in my gut. “Maybe.”
Dante skated his hands under my shirt and tugged it up and over my head. He hummed with satisfaction, which always made me a little flustered, but I liked it. I liked showing off for him a little bit, arching my back and shifting my hips. Dante leaned down and pressed a kiss to my sternum. “Roll over, baby.”
I rolled onto my stomach.
“Hands behind your back.”
I folded my wrists across each other at my lower back. With my cheek on the pillow, I couldn’t see him, but I heard Dante reach into the nightstand and root around a drawer. Then he settled onto my thighs, just under my ass.
Smooth, soft fabric wrapped around my wrists.
“Is this okay?” Dante asked.
The words wouldn’t come. It was like my brain was replaced with static, desire wiping all coherent thought from my mind as he tied the fabric into a knot, not tight enough to hurt, but tight enough when I tried to move my hands, the binds wouldn’t give. “Oh,” I said, more into the pillow than anything else.
Dante smoothed his hand up the line of my spine. “I need to hear you,” he said. “Yes or no.”
“Yes,” I said. His touch drew goosebumps along my spine. “Yes, sir, it’s good. Green.”
“Good boy.”
The praise wrapped around me like a blanket, making me sink heavy into the mattress. The restraints only added to the effect. All I had to do was relax and let Dante take care of me. And I knew he would.
He leaned down and dropped a kiss onto my nape. “You gonna let me fuck you tonight, baby?” he asked, in a voice so warm and comforting it didn’t match the dirtiness of his words. “Gonna let me fill you up?”
“Yes,” I said again, embarrassingly close to begging. I rocked my hips against the mattress, already desperate for friction. “Please. Please, Dante, I want that so bad.”