Or would he be repulsed by my advances? Judging from what I took to be his extreme interest, I thought not, but one never knew. Men were weird. Especially men made of tempered steel and fire and perpetual darkness. Or men with penises. Either way.
I let the ketchups practice cunnilingus virtually unsupervised as I devised a plan. He was simply too big, too powerful for me to overtake him. To tie him up. I doubted even sex would distract him that much. No, I needed to incorporate the restraints. Men loved that shit. Also, I just wanted to see him tied up.
I sat beside him and watched him work. He stiffened, paused his efforts to twist the round thing onto the other round thing.
“Can I ask you something?”
He slowly resumed his work. “I’d rather you ask me than Google.”
I snorted. “Please. You wouldn’t have told me half of what I learned on the Web, and you know it.”
He didn’t argue. “What did you want to ask?”
“First, you have to promise you’ll do it.”
He ducked under the cabinet doorframe and sat up, one hand resting on a knee. We were mere inches from each other. “I don’t trust you.”
His admission surprised me. I blinked up at him. Tried to figure out why he wouldn’t trust me, of all people. He was the powerful one, after all. “No offense, but what on earth could I ask of you that would be a great hardship?”
His gaze rested on my mouth before making its way to my eyes again. “You could ask for the world, and then where would civilization be when I conquered it and laid it at your feet?”
I stilled. He was dead serious, and I realized I’d greatly underestimated his power. He was a supernatural being, yes, but he was more than that. So very much more. I breathed in his emotion and realized he’d done it. He’d conquered a civilization. Possibly more than one. His confidence was not derived from conceit. He was not arrogant. Not in the least. He was… experienced.
That knowledge sent another shudder through me, but not of revulsion, as it should have. As it would have any normal person. It sent a shudder of awe rocketing through my veins, and my plan solidified right then and there.
I stared at him with a new determination, but I still needed a guarantee. “If I promise not to ask for the world, will you do as I ask then?”
It took him a moment, but he finally agreed with a curt nod of his head. Apparently he took his promises very seriously. I liked that.
Down to the wire. My nerves sprang to life, and I almost chickened out. Two things drove me forward. I was desperate for answers and, again, I really wanted to see him tied up.
I chewed on my lower lip a moment. He watched me.
Drawing in a deep breath for encouragement, I said, “I was wondering if, maybe, you know, if you weren’t doing anything at the moment and you liked me – as in liked me liked me – if you might consider letting me tie you up and have my way with you. For fifteen minutes.”
Gawd, I was good at this shit. I should’ve been a lawyer.
When he only stared, I looked away and tried to force the heat that crept up my neck and face back down. Humiliated was not my best look.
“But I understand if you don’t want to. It’s kind of sudden.”
I scrambled to my feet and was about one step from the threshold when an arm shot out to block my path. I didn’t even hear him move.
He stood at my back, his breath stirring the hair I’d stuffed behind my ear, which was probably as red as the rest of me.
“What happens after fifteen minutes?” he asked.
A surge of adrenaline laced up my spine. The soft fire that bathed his skin reached out to lick over mine. To caress. To punish just a little. I watched for a moment as it brushed over my exposed skin. The flames lapped like a thirsty animal, stretching as though to further its reach.
Reyes stood waiting for an answer. As always, I felt many things from him, but desire topped the list. It was like a white-hot pinpoint of blinding light in a sea of absolute blackness. And yet he didn’t make a move. He didn’t reach for me. He didn’t touch me.
Perhaps he didn’t want to scare me off. Whatever the reason, I