“See? That wasn’t hard,” he murmurs and brushes my hair off my forehead with his thumbs as his fingers caress my scalp. “When I ask you questions, I want you to answer me honestly. Every time.”

His face is passive, sober, waiting for my answer.

“Understood.”

He rests his forehead against my own and takes another deep breath before kissing my nose, down my cheek to my ear. “I’m going to worship your body for a while, baby. It’s not going to hurt. I just want you to keep your hands where I put them. Got it?”

I nod and sigh as he trails those magical lips of his back down my body to my piercing.

“I love this,” he murmurs, then travels farther south.

“I haven’t showered since yesterday morning,” I remind him as he peels my panties over my hips and down my legs, discarding them on the floor.

“You’re fine.”

I bite my lip as he settles between my legs, nudging me open with his wide shoulders. “Fuck, you’re beautifully wet for me already.”

He glides a fingertip over the soft bare skin of my pubis, down the crease where my thigh meets my torso, then back up and over the other side, without actually touching the sensitive skin that’s screaming for him.

“You have a freckle right here,” he murmurs and plants his fingertip just to the right of my lips.

I gasp and have to consciously keep my hands over my head.

“Good girl.” His voice is full of approval, and part of me glows brighter.

I love hearing his voice like this, the feel of his hands touching me as he pleases, pleasing me in turn. I’d keep my hands over my head for a week to keep his voice just like this.

His finger moves in, sliding in my wetness, from my slick entrance to my clit and back down again, slowly, leisurely.

Jesus, the man has the patience of a saint.

Finally, he leans in and plants a chaste kiss over my clit, then drags the tip of his tongue down into my folds, wraps his lips around them and sucks, hollowing his cheeks.

My hips buck up, and it takes everything in me to keep my wrists planted on the mattress over my head. His hands grip my hips, hard, and I settle, letting him take me wherever he wants to go.

Happily.

Freely.

He buries two fingers inside me and makes love to my clitoris with his mouth, sending me over into a mind-numbing climax. I plant my heels in his back and scream his name as I come against his mouth, my world shattering spectacularly around me.

As I return to planet Earth, I’m surprised to find my hands still over my head. Matt has continued his journey down my legs, kissing and massaging my muscles as he goes.

“Sometime soon I’ll tie your feet up as well.”

My eyes find his smiling down at me. “Then you’ll be completely at my mercy.”

“I think I am already,” I reply breathlessly.

“Perhaps.” He shrugs. “I have so much more to show you.”

He turns me onto my stomach, then checks to make sure my arms are at a comfortable angle above my head and I can breathe comfortably. “Okay?”

“I’m good,” I reply.

He kisses my cheek and then buries his face in my neck, tugging the flesh with his teeth.

“Tell me if the ribbon starts to pull too tight, or if you can’t breathe freely,” he instructs, then begins another journey with his lips down my back. He kisses the tattoo on my shoulder, making me grin.

I’m glad he likes it so much. I think it’s pretty, and I like to wear clothes that show it off.

My entire body is one big tingle as his lips and fingers journey over my skin. I can feel his warmth against me, and every once in a while, his erection will press against me, making me swallow hard, remembering how it feels to have him buried so deep inside me.

“Tell me about this,” he whispers, kissing the ink over the left side of my ribs softly.

“I got it when I opened the shop,” I tell him, loving the flutter of his lips over my skin.

“Recite it to me,” he demands.

I frown. He’s looking right at it. He can read it.

“I want to hear it from your lips,” he clarifies.

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

“Why these words?” he asks.

I bite my lip. Jesus, he’s stripping me bare, body and soul here, and I love it and am afraid of it all at the same time.

Suddenly, he slaps my ass, and whispers in my ear, “What did I say about answering my questions?”

“Opening Sweets took everything I had. Failure isn’t an option for me.”

“Ah, baby,” he murmurs.

I hear the crinkling of a wrapper and the dip of the bed as he sheds his briefs before his hands glide down my back to my ass, over my hips and thighs. “You are an amazing woman, Nicole.”

“Ni—”I begin to correct him, but he interrupts me.

“We’re going to have to work on your stubbornness in the bedroom, baby.” He chuckles and bites my shoulder, then returns me to my back, covering my body with his. His eyes are on fire as he gazes down at me, his elbows planted on either side of my head, under my arms, holding me even more immobile. “Your body is fucking gorgeous. Every inch.”

His nose sweeps against my own as his pelvis rests on mine, his cock lying nestled in my slick pussy lips.

“I want you,” I whisper against his lips.

He sucks in a breath and lets it out in a shaky sigh, pulls his hips back and then slides slowly inside me until he’s completely buried.

“So fucking tight,” he growls and begins to move.

I raise my legs around his hips, opening myself up wider, allowing him to push inside even farther, and it’s pure fucking heaven.

I’ve never felt anything like this, never had this kind of physical and emotional connection to a man in my life. I bite my lip as he begins to move faster, harder, an unseen force driving him on, as though he just can’t help it. He crushes my mouth under his own and devours me, fucking me and kissing me voraciously.

Suddenly, he rears up, holding my knees out to the side, watching his cock move in and out of my wetness. He slides one hand down my inner thigh and plants his thumb against my clit, sending me into another plane of being.

I cry out just as he sends me over the edge into another orgasm, even stronger than the one before.

The head of his cock is dragging against my sweet spot, and his thumb continues to press against my clit, and it’s amazing.

Crazy.

Fucking unbelievable.