Page 47 of Take My Hand

I pull the shot back out as he rests an elbow against one of his knees and brings the shard in his hand closer to his face. His eyes dance over it and he runs the tip of a finger from his opposite hand over one of the points.

What is he thinking about? I wish I could crawl inside his mind and find out. The tension with the guys has clearly been weighing heavily on him, but there’s something else underneath it all. A painfully taut rope that he seems to be clinging to dear life for. What is he so afraid of letting go?

The next thing I know, he’s raising the shard up to his mouth, his tongue darting out and pressing against the jagged edge. A small bead of red appears on the tip of his tongue, and I gasp slightly, worried that he hurt himself. A blink of his eyes is the only reaction he gives before he presses the glass against the skin harder, causing a bubble of blood to well and drip down the side of the shard.

His eyes flick to mine.

Holy shit.

I freeze at the sight of him. Black sweatpants stretching across his muscular legs. Tattooed chest on full display and multiplied in the reflections around him. Long fingers gripping the shard as tightly as they gripped my hips earlier today. Black hair hanging over his forehead, partially hiding eyes that are currently burning a hole into me through my camera.

My camera. Damnit. I’m supposed to be taking his picture, not just drooling over him. My finger gets back to business, snapping photo after photo as the blood slowly drips down his hand, leaving a path of dark red against the black and white of the ink below.

Hayden pulls the shard away from his mouth and lets it drop in front of him with a soft ping. It breaks him out of his trance, and he stands.

“Sorry,” he mumbles as he looks at his hand. Swiping it back and forth on his sweatpants, he wipes away the line of blood. “Got a little carried away there.”

“No,” I breathe out, my voice barely above a whisper. “You were beautiful.”

His head jerks up. The instant our eyes connect, his control snaps. In a blink, he’s across the room, grabbing my camera from my hand and setting it to the side, before grabbing my chin and bringing my mouth to his.

I moan the instant our lips connect. His are warm, soft, and gentle despite the powerful grip he has on my face. He takes his time, reaching his free hand behind me and snaking it along my spine. I shiver under his touch and open my mouth, allowing the kiss to go deeper.

His tongue dances with mine, the coppery tang of blood mingling with the taste of him and the fire that has been simmering at the bottom of my stomach blazes and burns bright. My entire body is tuned into his kiss.

I tangle my hands into his hair and twist the strands around my fingers, tugging gently and earning a groan from him.

He pulls me closer to his chest, and I melt under the heat of him.

His lips begin a slow descent across my jaw, up to my ear, then down my neck. Nipping and sucking at my flushed skin.

“Hayden,” I say, breathless.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asks in between kisses, and I shake my head immediately.

“No, please. Keep going.”

I can feel his smile against my neck as he presses another kiss there. Taking his face in my hands, I try to bring him back up to my mouth, desperate to taste him again. But he stills, not allowing me to move him.

Pulling back, his eyes search my face, hazy with lust, but there’s an edge to them. “I need you to give me control over this.”

My eyebrows shoot up, and I rear back. “What do you mean?”

He licks his lips, stalling for a moment as if trying to choose his words carefully. “If we’re going to take this any further, it’s something I need from you.”

“Control? Over what?”

“You.”

Goosebumps erupt at his words, my mind recalling the words he said so offhandedly to me in my bedroom when he was helping me build my dresser weeks ago.

“Just know this is the only time I’d let you take control of something in the bedroom.”

“Your body, your mind, your pleasure. Only in these types of situations. I promise I would never demand any sort of control over you in your everyday life or choices. But this—” He snakes a hand around my waist and brings our bodies together again, letting me feel how hard he is for me. “I need it. I need you to let me lead. I won’t do anything you won’t like. But I’m asking you to give me this.”

In the back of my mind, I want to know why. It’s digging at me to ask him for answers, but I know I can get them later. Right now, I just want to say yes.

For just a little bit, I want to be able to shut my mind off and not have to think about every single decision. So what Hayden is asking for, demanding, right here, right now, my entire body shivers with desire, and my mind begs for the release he promises.

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