Surrender to Me (19 page)

“Why should I? You don’t own me.”

He stiffened, then forced himself to relax. Kata would understand his possession soon enough. She knew the reasons he expected her compliance; he’d explained. Her protestations and questions were merely stall tactics. “All you had to say to stop me was ‘Ben,’ but you didn’t. Care to tell me why?”

She sighed, her shoulders sagging. “I don’t know. If you’ll let me sleep first, maybe I’ll be coherent enough to figure it out and I’ll tell you.”

Ah, the predictable dodging of the subject
. So much easier for Kata than admitting that she was not only afraid to embrace what he ached to give her, but too aroused to turn it down.

As she bent and reached for her clothes, Hunter grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her body against his. “Listen, I will do whatever it takes to help you see who I am, what you are, and how great we’ll be together. Get in the tub.”

Kata glared at him, then turned to glance at the bathtub. Wisps of steam still rose from the water. He felt the tension leave her shoulders, signaling a modicum of surrender.

“Fine,” she muttered. “But only because that bath looks heavenly.”

Yes, and because she was finally learning that he wouldn’t let her derail him. He also suspected that her arousal was beginning to overcome her reluctance. Her pussy was still throbbing; he’d bet money on that.

Hunter released her, and she made her way to the tub, sinking into the clear water with a sigh that went straight to his cock.

As she settled into the steaming bath, Hunter climbed in behind her, sitting on the wide ledge above. She stiffened and started to sputter something. Hunter silenced her by laying his palms on her shoulders and massaging away the tension. Seconds later, she turned to butter in his hands. He smiled.

“God, you’re good at that,” she moaned.

“If you’re a good girl, you might find out what else I’m good at.”

Kata shook her head. “You just don’t let up, do you?”

“In case you hadn’t guessed yet, I’m generally a relentless guy. You have to be, in my line of work.”

Before she could say another word, he worked at a nasty knot just under her shoulder blade, then pressed his thumbs up either side of her spine until he reached her neck and began releasing the tightness there. Within minutes, she was totally limp under his hands.

“You always do something redeeming just when I’m ready to slap you,” she mumbled.

He grinned as he reached for the soap. To his relief, Kata didn’t protest when he lifted and washed each arm top and bottom, or when he gathered all the gloriously soft hair in his grip so he could soap up her back. After a quick rinse, he hopped out of the tub and leaned over her, urging her to lie back, then took hold of each leg and bent them at the knees until her feet rested flat on the bottom of the tub. In fact, she didn’t have a hint of defiance left in her body as he gently smoothed the white bar and his hands across her abdomen, over her shoulders, and lingered on her breasts. Then he edged between her legs. As he’d suspected, she was soaking wet.

Suddenly, she gasped and pulled at his wrist. “I can do that.”

Hunter didn’t budge an inch. “Look at me.” And he didn’t say another word until she obeyed. “Get this through your head. I’m going to take care of you. Kata.”

Biting her lip, she looked at him uncertainly. “It’s not that I don’t want you to touch me, but I’m capable of taking care of myself.”

“I never doubted that. Tell me the real problem.”

She looked down at his hand, still covering her pussy, claiming it. “That’s so . . . intimate.”

“Our relationship should be.”

She looked away, seeming to search for a reply. “Hunter, getting comfortable with someone takes time. I can’t just flip a switch inside me and be ready for whatever—”

“Time isn’t the real stumbling block. Both people have to be open.”

She hesitated a long time, then looked down. “And I’m not.”

“Have I hurt you?”

“No.”

“Would I?” he demanded.

“Physically, no. But you want more than that.” Her gaze was earnest as it met his own. “Trusting someone with your body and trusting someone with your soul are two very different things.”

“Agreed. But so far, you haven’t truly trusted me with either. Or really tried.”

Her eyes slammed shut. Pain pinched her brows. She struggled for a moment. Discomfort etched her face, and a part of him wanted to ease up on her. But he’d be sending the wrong message, and ultimately, not providing what she needed.

Finally, she let go of his wrist hovering over her parted thighs. Triumph slid through him.

Gently, he cleaned her slick female flesh. Kata closed her eyes. Her body remained tense, but she let him take over. When he’d finished, he moved back to massaging her neck, shoulders, mid-back until she wilted bonelessly.

At that moment, he pulled the plug from the tub and urged her to stand. She complied, her head lolling on his shoulder, granting him more trust than she’d ever given. His heart caught as he lifted her into his arms, out of the tub.

And right on cue, she asserted herself. “Hunter, this carrying me thing—”

“Is it really worth another argument?”

After a long moment, she sighed and sank back into his arms. A bit more progress. He smiled.

Hunter angled her through the doorway and back into Logan’s room, dimly lit by one small bedside lamp. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

“No.”

“Do you feel safe?”

Kata’s black lashes fluttered over her pretty hazel eyes, and his heart stuttered again. What was it about this woman? Her independence? That she wouldn’t give all of herself easily, but once she did, it would be
so
worth the battle? He didn’t exactly know the answer, but he couldn’t wait to find out. But she was, without a doubt, his.

“Yeah,” she murmured huskily. “No one is getting in here, past you. I hate to admit it, but I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep alone at my own place. Thanks for watching over me. Though I don’t appreciate the whole ‘withholding orgasm’ thing.”

“We’ll rectify that.” He smiled. “Eventually. Rest for now.”

Without another word, she grabbed the sheet and snuggled next to him, then drifted off to sleep. When she closed her eyes, when her brain shut off, she trusted him. Her back nestled against his chest as though she found his touch comforting. They fit together as though they were made for each other, missing puzzle pieces that had finally snapped into place.

Hunter released a shuddering, exhausted breath. No matter how tired he was, when he felt Kata warm and naked beside him, his cock stood at full staff.
Shit
. He glanced at the clock. Thirty-eight minutes until the hour. He set a vibrating alarm on his cell phone and closed his eyes.

No matter how soft and accepting Kata seemed now, this was going to be a damn long night.

KATA lay across the sheets like a sacrificial virgin, arms and legs spread, in the near dark. She could make out a shadow between her thighs. Male. Stark, intriguing face not quite visible. Tremendously wide shoulders blocked the rest of the room. Powerful hands glided over her thighs, up to her hips. She tingled everywhere he touched. Then he settled his palm
there
, and sensations converged into an unrelenting ache. He fueled it by rubbing his thumb, hot and relentless, over her clit.

She shifted restlessly, trying to capture more of the sensation. Desire multiplied, tightened, gathered like a tropical storm, swirling, growing. With a gasp, she reached out for something to anchor her, but found nothing. Certainly, there was no escape. He made sure she felt every skillful, slow touch of his hands . . . but never gave her enough to hurtle her into release.

More. Please!
She moaned, her entire body thrashing in need.

He stopped, not moving a muscle, not persisting with that perfect attention to her clit. The sweet ache between her legs turned vicious.

Kata wanted to beg but couldn’t speak. She wailed in frustration. As if he understood, he lavished attention on her clit again, harder, faster—the pressure precisely perfect to launch her into a supernova of an orgasm. Then he added to her sensory overload, slipping something inside her, prodding a spot that sent her careening faster and farther into a drowning pool of need.

Somewhere in the back of her hazy mind, she knew she was dreaming this unabashedly sexual fantasy, but it was too delicious to force herself to consciousness. Knowing it was all in her head, she opened her mind to the mounting pleasure. God, this dream man knew his way around her body, and wasn’t that heavenly?

Her back arched, her body lifting and clenching as she thrashed madly, seeking that little bit extra she needed, exactly where she needed it. She was nearly there, so ready to explode. But he eased back, gave her a gentler touch, avoiding her most sensitive spots. A mewled protest rose up in her throat.

Damn, she wanted this—bad. For a dream, it was so vivid. She wanted to see her lover, ask him why he tormented her, beg for relief.

“Kata.”

The whisper was as real as the breath hot against her breast.

She flung her eyes open. Hunter knelt between her legs, his big body casting a shadow over her, his stare hot, predatory. The buzz cut of his hair made what might have been a pretty face look harshly male, throwing every dip, plane, and jut into stark relief. His washboard abs tightened above his faded jeans. They were zipped but not snapped, giving her a tease of what was behind that bulge in his fly. She nearly swallowed her tongue. Desire bloomed fiercely inside her.

With an unrelenting stare, Hunter gripped her thighs, his hands pushing their way up her flesh, back to her very wet sex. His thumb toyed with her clit.

And Kata knew then that none of what she’d been feeling had been a dream. He’d brought her to the very verge of climax and left her there to ache and twist. Just as he’d vowed that he would.

She wanted to bite his damn head off, tell him to stop messing with her. But if she said anything of the sort, he’d take her defiance as a personal challenge. There’d be no orgasm in her future—immediate or otherwise. And Hunter had done his job, as she imagined he did all things, capably and well. Thanks to his expert touch, she
needed
what he could give her . . . if he chose to.

“Hunter?” She raised her hips to him, begging in the only way her pride and apprehension allowed.

Verbalizing how badly she ached for him left her exposed in a way mere nudity didn’t. Admitting that she yearned to be covered, taken, powerless under his touch, seemed as smart as swimming with chum in shark-infested waters. Hunter was definitely capable of chewing through her resistance and eating her alive.

The wicked gleam in his eye, the half smile on his mouth, told her that he knew everything she felt and feared. “Want something, honey?”

Kata pressed her lips together. She was a big girl who could see to her own orgasm. She’d had plenty of practice.

But when she tried to lift her arm from above her head and slide it into her wet flesh, she found it cuffed to the bed. Attempting to move the other netted the same result. Fury and panic raced through her.

“You
tied
me to the bed?

“Manacled, actually. They’re fur-lined but made of steel, attached to chains, soldered into steel supports behind the headboard, and anchored into the studs in the wall.”

In other words, she wasn’t going anywhere until he was good and ready to let her go. Panic surged ahead of fury. But a fresh curl of arousal wasn’t far behind. From the moment they’d met, Hunter had been trying to control her verbally, sexually. But now he was getting really serious. Manacles and chains and steel.
Oh my.

“I’m not ready for this,” she choked.

“Your body is. It’s your mind that’s fighting. We’re going to get past that. And you’ve earned these punishments.”

“So you’ve chained me to the bed and you’re going to, what? Refuse to give me an orgasm?” The thought only made her crave it more.

“Every hour on the hour, until you cooperate. Just like I promised.”

Oh, God. She already wanted him so badly, she was about to crawl out of her skin. How desperately would she need him by then? She didn’t like being controlled this way. She didn’t like being controlled, period. “Piss off.”

“If that’s what you want.” Hunter leaned over her, supporting his weight on his elbows. “Or you can learn some compliance. Then you’ll find I can be as accommodating as hell.”

Kata felt the lethal spread of his chest over hers, his steely six-pack pressing into her belly. He nudged an erection of killer proportions between her spread thighs. Her clit burned with arousal. When she tried to close her legs and squeeze her thighs together, she found them tethered, too.

A gasp slipped from her lips. Her helplessness excited her even more. God, why did she find that so damn sexy?

Above her he smiled, a flash of disconcerting white in the near darkness. “Yes, your ankles are manacled, too, attached to chains, set in titanium supports under the floorboards. I helped Logan install them, so I know.”