him, stare at all that hard male muscle, as she had wanted to do since the morning she had walked in on him nearly naked in the living room.
“I’ve got an idea,” he said, trailing a finger gently down her cheek. “But I need you to trust me.”
She stared at his chest, his gorgeous pecs, six-pack abs, the fine dusting of dark hair that arrowed down and disappeared into his jeans. She reached out to touch him, ringed his bellybutton with her finger, and he groaned. She wanted to press her mouth there, trace the indentation with her tongue.
She looked up at him, read the blazing desire in his eyes. And his iron control. “I trust you,” she said.
Bran scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. It felt so good to be held by him, to feel his power and strength. But when he set her on her feet beside the bed, fear began to churn in her stomach.
He must have sensed the change because he bent his head and very softly kissed her. “I’m not going to touch you. I promise. Not unless you want me to.”
Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he pulled out a zip tie like the one he had used to restrain the two men who had attacked them. Before she had time to panic at the thought of being tied up, he pressed the thin strip of plastic into her hand.
“It’s for me, not you. You’re gonna tie me up. I’ll be completely at your mercy. You can do anything you want to me. You can take all the time you need. If you want to stop, you can. If you don’t, then we’ll both get what we need. What do you think?”
Her eyes stung. She looked at his magnificent body, read the heat in his eyes. He was doing this for her. Any red-blooded female would jump at the chance to sleep with him. Instead, he was putting himself out there for her, willing to try something that might help her.
“Have you done this a lot?” She prayed this wasn’t some sort of kink, something he’d done with any number of women. Couldn’t imagine a guy like Bran letting anyone restrain him.
His sexy mouth edged up. “No. It’s not really my kind of thing. But I thought in this situation, it might work.”
Relief filtered through her. She went up on her toes and kissed him. “I have no idea what will happen, but if you’re willing, I’d like to try.”
Bran traced a finger down her cheek and grinned. “Go ahead, honey. Have your way with me.”
SIXTEEN
Bran couldn’t believe he was actually doing this. He’d put it mildly when he’d told Jessie this wasn’t his kind of thing. He was a man and she was a woman, and that’s the way he liked it, especially in the bedroom.
But Jessie meant a lot to him, and he had a feeling she just needed a little help to get her head back on straight.
He started by turning on the bathroom light and partially closing the door, leaving it open enough to illuminate the room in a soft yellow glow.
Taking a condom from his pocket, he tossed it up on the nightstand, sat down on the edge of the bed, and took off his low-topped leather boots. Standing to unzip his jeans, he slid them down his legs, leaving him in his white cotton briefs. He made no effort to hide his erection. He’d told her he wanted her. He just didn’t want to scare her by telling her how much.
“You ready for this?” he asked. She nodded, but he couldn’t miss the trepidation that had crept into her eyes. Leaning down, he kissed her long and deep, then stripped off his briefs, lay down on his back and stretched out on the mattress. Reaching up, he grabbed the post at the end of the padded headboard.
Jessie’s hand shook as she looped the zip tie around the post and his wrists. Bran spread his hands a little as she tightened the loop, a trick to give him enough room to get free whenever he wanted.
Hell, no way he was actually letting anyone tie him up. He was a soldier and Jessie’s bodyguard. That wasn’t going to happen.
Didn’t matter. All that mattered was giving her the illusion of control. It would work or it wouldn’t. He prayed to God it would and inwardly groaned to think how bad he was going to