Page 55 of About Time

“On the bed,” I order her and send her off with a slap to her ass.

Hattie climbs onto the bed, but before she gets too far up, I grab her hips and hold her still. Her head is down against the mattress, her weight is balanced between her elbows and her knees.

I stroke my hand down her back. “Don’t move.”

I reach over her, grab my cuffs, and bind her wrists together. It doesn’t really keep her from moving, but it helps to get her into the right headspace. I take a step back and appreciate the view.

“As much as I love you on your hands and knees for me, right now I need you in the middle of the bed.”

When she doesn’t get moving, I swat her ass. “Do as you’re told, Doll. I need to get you on your back so I can lick your sweet pussy. It’s been too long, and I am dying to taste you.”

Hattie works her way to the middle. Admittedly, it would have been easier if I hadn’t bound her wrists first, but less fun.

Finally, she manages to crawl to the middle of the bed and roll over onto her back. I prowl up her body from the foot of the bed. My clothes brush against her skin. When I got home from the reception at the house, I changed into a worn pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I’d love to feel her skin sliding across mine, but I really don’t want to embarrass myself.

Hattie has her bound hands resting on her chest. I grab the chain between the leather cuffs and lift her arms over her head.This is the same bed I had when we were together, so there’s still a ring hidden in the frame to hook her cuffs to.

Once she’s secured, I stroke down her arms from her wrists to her shoulders. Her skin feels like warm satin. My eyes catch on her plump lips, and I can’t stop myself from kissing her. She’s not as pliant and engaged as she usually is. Her body stiffens under mine, and I pull back.

By lifting myself up into a plank position, I’m able to look down at her face. “If you’re not into this, I will take off the restrains. All you have to do is say the word.”

Her tongue swipes across her bottom lip, leaving them glistening and making the urge to kiss the shit out of her worse, but I hold back.

“I want to, but kissing is a bit too?—”

“Intimate?” I supply.

Hattie nods. “I’m trying to remember that this is temporary. It’s too hard to hold back when you kiss me like that.”

I chew my lip. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her not to hold back, but that’s not fair to her. We have an expiration date, and it would be best if we remember that this time. Instead, I look her in the eyes so I can gauge her sincerity and ask, “Do you want to stop?”

She shakes her head.

“Words, Hattie. I need to hear you say it.”

“No, I don’t want to stop. Just don’t kiss me.”

“At all?” My tone has turned teasing. I trail my index finger down the column of her throat, stopping at the indentation between her neck and collarbone. “What about right here?”

I watch her swallow. “There is okay.”

I follow through with putting my lips in the divot and press a kiss there. Then, I draw a line down her sternum and stop between her breasts. “And here?”

“Yeah, that’s good,” she rasps.

“Good,” I say against her skin and move myself down her body, letting my lips travel the same journey as my finger.

Hattie shivers as I keep going, swirling a finger around her nipple. “And now?”

“Mmhmm,” is all she’s able to say.

As much as I want to keep working my way down her body, I’m enjoying savoring her. That’s one of the benefits of time. I’m far more patient than I was half a decade ago. Being without her for so long has created a strong desire to drag every moment out.

I flick the tip of her nipple with my tongue before circling it. I spend the time worshiping the rest of it, going so far as to gently nip underneath before repeating the sensual torture with the other one. Once I’m satisfied that every inch of her breasts has been kissed, I start tracing another line down her abdomen.

She’s really starting to squirm underneath me.

“Charlie, just not on the lips, okay? Everything else is fair game,” she blurts out in an uncharacteristic break from her submissive role in these scenes.

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