Page 14 of Unzoned

“I didn’t think that was okay to do,” she admitted, slipping her purse from her shoulder and placing it on the small table near the closet.

“Why?” His brow wrinkled.

“I’m not sure,” she said. How much had changed and how much stayed the same?

“Hey.” His hands gripped her shoulders, pulling her to him. He kissed her forehead. “I told you, we’re just us. Everything we did before is still okay. Use your key when you come over, dive into my pantry when you get a craving for chips, borrow my sports pants when you spill salsa all over your jeans.” He laughed. “Just like before.”

“Only now, if I do something you think is wrong, you’ll spank me.” She noted with a soft smile. He made everything sound easy. But it wasn’t. They could ruin everything by walking down this road.

“And sometimes just for fun,” he winked. “Come on, I have the chess board all set up.” He laced his fingers through hers and tugged her down the hall to the living room.

“You want to play chess?” she asked, dropping her sweatshirt over the arm of the leather couch. Two glasses of wine sat beside the set up chess board.

“Well, I want to undress you, tie you to the bed, and fuck you until you can’t remember your name, but I feel like we aren’t quite ready for all that yet.” He winked again, and just like that he had her unsettled. Both wanting to do exactly what he described and needing to run away before she gave into the urge to go through with it, her body twisted with indecision.

“Then I guess chess is a good option.” She sat on the couch while he walked around the table and sat on the ottoman.

“For the moment anyway,” he took a sip of his wine. “White. So, you don’t fall asleep on me.” Red wine would have her snoozing before the game finished.

She relaxed. This was easy. Sitting with him, playing chess. Unwinding after a long day. They did this best; they’ve done this a million times before. They fell right into the game like every other time they played.

“Jade,” he said softly after moving a pawn. “I want you to do something for me.”

She studied the board. “What?”

“I’d like you to remove your clothes.”

Her finger fell off her bishop, toppling the piece over. “Why?”

“Because I like to look at you. And seeing you sitting on my couch naked- it’s what I want.” He reached across the board and righted her bishop. “Now please, then we can continue the game.”

She looked up at him through her lowered lashes. Nude? Sit and play a game of chess completely naked?

“Are you going to get naked too?” she asked, moving to her feet.

He gave her a gentle smile. “No. Just you. So I can see you, look at you, touch you if I want to while we’re playing.”

Her mouth formed the wordoh,but no sound came out.

“Jade.” His voice dipped a fraction. “Now.”

She swallowed. Right. The whole not wanting to repeat himself thing. She nodded so he would know she wasn’t ignoring him. Her hands were taking longer to do what her mind wanted.

“Do you need help?” he asked, starting to stand.

“N-no. I can do this.” She waved him back into his seat. “I just, yeah, I can do this.” She fiddled with the buttons on her blouse until she got them all undone, then slid the material off her shoulders. Her bra came off next, and her cheeks heated when the clasp stuck and she had to wiggle and twist to get the damn thing to unclasp. If he wanted a sexy strip tease- he’d asked the wrong girl.

“Don’t worry about how you look, only worry about obeying. Obedience is sexy- no matter how clumsy,” he said with humor laced through his words.

With heated cheeks, she shimmied out of her skirt and panties, dumping them in the pile with her shirt on the floor. She kicked the items under the coffee table and gingerly sat back down on the sofa. The leather was cool beneath her naked ass.

“Not so hard, right?” he asked with a warm smile.

“This isn’t weird to you?” she asked while forcing her palms to stay on her knees.

“I’ve seen you naked before, Jade.” He pointed out.

“But not like this.” She dug her nails into her knees. His gaze wandered over her before settling back on her face.

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