Grabbing the ice bucket and removing the bottle, I backed toward the bed until I was almost there, replacing the blindfold over my eyes before I turned and made my way to her.

“Right where I left you,” I said and landed a kiss between her delectable shoulder blades. “Good girl.”

“How was I going to go anywhere?”

I bent and placed the ice bucket on the ground near her feet. “Good point.” Grabbing a piece of ice, I straightened. “Now that I got that first one out of my system, at least I can wait a little while till next time.”

She cleared her throat. “And when are we supposed to sleep?”

“Sleep is overrated.” I took the ice cube and placed it on that spot between her shoulder blades where I’d kissed her.

She jumped and then gasped. “What the—”

But I grabbed her chin, turning her face toward me, muffling her protest, plunging my tongue into her mouth. I dragged that ice cube along her collarbone, over her breastbone, down to her navel as she stiffened in my arms, her body rigid against mine.

It felt goddamn fucking fantastic.

Her arms were tied to the bedpost at the foot of the bed. When I brought that ice cube up to her right nipple, she struggled, but couldn’t evade me.

When I finally figured she’d be quiet enough, I freed her mouth from that kiss. “You okay?”

“I will be after I put ice all over you,” she replied breathily.

I flipped her around to face me, settling her against the bedpost. “We’ll see about that. In the meantime, I think the other one needs some love.” I moved the ice cube to her other nipple while bending to take the cold one in my mouth. She wiggled and struggled, and I held her against the bedpost to keep her stable.

I was so hard again that it was painful. Her ice-cold nipple warmed in my mouth. So refreshing—my own Emilia-flavored popsicle. I laughed at the thought, and once I determined that her other nipple was ready for my mouth, I switched what I was doing, replacing the ice cube on the previous nipple. It was freezing my finger soundly with that painful numbness of cold. These incredibly sensitive parts of her body surely felt the numbness and pain acutely.

She was breathing hard, giving me these haunting moans that were almost muted, her voice slightly deeper than normal.

I dropped the ice cube into the bucket and slid my cold fingers into the warmest place I could find—right between her legs.

She inhaled sharply and stiffened again as I worked my fingers against her wet, hot flesh. I could barely restrain myself from pushing her legs apart right that second and getting inside her. Instead, I plunged my fingers deeper, listening carefully, trying to determine how close she was by the sound of her moans and her breath. So close. Close, but not all the way.

“Adam,” she said in that low growl that made my cock twitch in response. And seconds later, I pulled my hand away. She blew out a breath, shifting from one tiptoe to the other. “So that’s how it’s going to be?”

“Yup,” I replied, smiling though she couldn’t see me. “You owe me some torture.”

“Just you wait. I’ll be turning your own tools against you, Dread Pirate Drake.”

“Arrrrrr. Will you, now? That’s not happening tonight, my little wench. Tonight, I’m in charge.” I grabbed her hips and yanked her toward me so that she was off balance—and even more under my control.

I reached up and raked my fingernails down her back with both hands, all the way down past her waist and over the curve of her ass. She hissed like a cat.

“Tomorrow, you’ll be my blushing bride, and I will worship you, body, and soul. But tonight, you are my plaything.”

“You are a bad man,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Pirate.” I laughed. “You haven’t seen a damn thing yet, Miss Strong.” And to punctuate my statement, I firmly pinched her nipples before working them between my thumb and forefingers until they were large, hard points and she was groaning low in her throat. That sound vibrated right through me and made me throb, head to toe. The tension in my cock bordered on painful.

I bent forward, catching her mouth with mine, smothering her moans. Her teeth came down, sinking firmly into my lip.

I retreated, my lip still between her teeth. “Not the face!” I rasped. “We can’t do anything that affects wedding pictures tomorrow.”

Haltingly, she released my lip. It throbbed, mingling pain and pleasure. This was supposed to be a torture for her, but instead, I was the one doubting I could take any more before I took her again.

Jesus, she was too goddamn sexy. Without warning, I picked her up, slipping her tied wrists off the bedpost. Pulling her against me so she wouldn’t fall off balance, I held her as her body went slack. Her hard nipples and supple breasts pressed against my chest. My heart thumped in double time.

“Your plaything, huh?” she asked.

I closed in, my lips hovering over hers. “Yeah.”

Then I did the next thing very carefully, knowing there was a possibility, because of her past, that she might have problems with it. I pressed down on her shoulders until her legs bent and she was kneeling in front of me.

There was no hesitation, much to my surprise. The minute she hit her knees, she leaned forward and caught my cock in her mouth, sucking in only the tip before pulling away again.

Then she was moving around, reaching for something with her bound hands. I heard her nudge the metal ice bucket. Uh oh…

“Clearly, I should have tied your hands behind your back instead of your front.”

“You need to brush up on your pirate training.” She started crunching ice cubes in her mouth. When I tried to retreat, she hooked a hand around my leg to stop me.

After swallowing, she then grabbed more ice and crunched that as well. When her mouth took me in again, ice cold enveloped my heat. And she had ice chips still inside of her mouth. And—shit—it felt…incredible. Pain and pleasure mingled on the most sensitive part of my anatomy. I reached out to brace myself against the same bedpost in order to keep my knees from buckling. Her mouth slid farther down my shaft, taking me deeper. I growled, allowing the feeling to overpower me as she sucked me—hard.

Christ. She was getting really good at this. You’d never know that it was far from her favorite thing to do.

It didn’t matter. Because with each movement of her head, she was seizing control of this situation, and she damn well knew it.