He turned his mouth into her neck and kissed her gently, a direct contradiction to the pounding force in which he’d taken her.
“That was amazing,” he whispered.
She smiled faintly. If she’d been capable of saying anything, she’d have agreed that it had been pretty damn amazing.
Slowly he pushed himself off of her. He was careful when he withdrew not to hurt her. She was swollen and she clasped him tighter than she had before.
To her surprise, Micah was there to pick her up. He cradled her in his arms and walked back to the sofa to sit down. She snuggled into his arms as he petted and stroked her back, her arms and her legs.
He didn’t say anything. He just held her as they watched the game, and every once in a while he pressed a kiss to her hair.
After a while, he whispered, “Rest, Angel girl. We’re all hungry for you, and we’re not going to be easily satisfied.”
CHAPTER 28
A warm hand caressed her cheek, and her eyes fluttered open to see Cole standing over her. Her pulse fired and sped up, and her breathing shallowed. Micah’s hand was still resting possessively on her hip, but Cole’s eyes commanded her.
“It’s halftime. You’re up,” Cole said in a quiet voice.
He held out his hand, and she slipped her fingers into his grasp. Micah helped her from his lap, and she rose to stand in front of Cole.
To her surprise, he pulled her to him, grasped her jaw and kissed her hard and deep.
He swallowed her gasp of surprise and moved his lips forcefully over hers. At first she remained still, allowing him to take, but he wasn’t satisfied with complacency.
He tightened his grip on her jaw in a demand for response.
She opened to his advance, and his tongue slid sensuously over hers, licking, touching, probing. Tentatively she offered her tongue, sliding it over his bottom lip.
A low sound of approval rolled from his throat into her mouth. The pressure lessened on her jaw, and his fingers brushed across her cheek to her neck. Both of his hands tangled in her hair, a soft but urgent caress as he ravaged her mouth.
When he finally pulled away, his eyes were bright with passion. Her lips were swollen and tingling from the roughness and the sensuality of his kiss.
She wasn’t quite sure how to react for a moment, and she looked back at Micah for some sort of read. He stared intently at her, desire and approval reflected in his dark eyes. It was that approval that gave her the courage to turn back to Cole.
It was then she realized that she’d in fact questioned Cole’s command. She lowered her head, thought better of it and then raised her gaze to meet Cole’s and whatever rebuke he might offer.
He smiled and he reached out to touch her cheek. “So expressive,” he murmured. “Your thoughts are reflected in your every expression.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re beautiful to watch, and it’s a credit to Micah that you look to him for permission. You remember well who you belong to.”
His words made her ache. More than anything she wanted to belong to Micah. Not just on a temporary basis for some sexual fantasy they played. She wanted forever.
“And now you’re sad,” Cole murmured. “Why?”
Startled, she focused back on him. Her lips trembled, and she begged him with her eyes not to pursue it any further.
His gaze softened and then he turned and pulled her to the middle of the room once more. There was an apparatus there they’d obviously brought in while she slept. It was much like the one she’d been tied to the first night she was flogged, but it was shorter. Much shorter.
Cole pushed her to her knees and motioned her forward underneath the beam.
“Arms up,” he ordered.
She raised her wrists over her head, and he wrapped the strips of leather around them, binding them together and finally to the beam. She was forced up, her knees just grazing the floor as her upper body was stretched.
Then Cole gathered her hair in his hand and threaded it between her neck and her raised arm so that it hung over her shoulder and down her front, leaving her back bare.
She heard the snap of leather, knew that Cole was working the whip in his hand. He was good. Very good. She knew it firsthand.
“I’m going to mark you, Angelina. Not just a red welt here and there. It will hurt. It