Page 73 of Audiophile

This is easier than I thought, because getting her out of her head is getting me out of mine. “Which one? Enlighten me.”

She pushes my hand under the hem of her shirt. “I don’t know.”

It’s not enough. I want to unravel her and unearth her desires. I want to drown her in pleasure—ruin her for anyone that isn’t me.

I want to submerge myself in her soul.

“Is it theoutthat does it for you? Leaving you empty for more? Knowing I need to spread you open and devour you until you shake? I want the messy, slick sounds of your need for me running down my chin while I suck your clit.”

She shivers, but I can’t tell which part of it affected her. It’s beautiful but frustrating. I pinch the peak of her breast and she rocks against my thighs.

“I wish I could feel you clench around me,” I growl. “My own lie detector test.”

She presses her forehead to mine, searching my face. “If you have a condom, I’d go for it.”

“What?” My hearing goes fuzzy as all my blood rushes to my cock. I tug my hand out from under her blouse in a search for rational thought, because she firmly stated sex was off the table. “I need you to be clear, because lines are blurring and I’m not thinking straight.”

“Explicitly clear?” she asks and grips my waist to steady her shaking hands. “Don’t fuck me, Reed. Use me to warm your cock. Say obscene things and feel the way they affect me. Our version of truth or dare. Torture me by keeping still inside me while your words make me ache. Deny me again and again as I beg, because being on the edge with you is as good as any orgasm,tesoro. That’s what I mean.”

Her strengthening conviction sets my heart racing. It’s a miracle that we’re recording, because I want to play that back every day for my entire life. She might appear uncertain, but all this is buried inside her.

She’s a pro.

I clutch her hips to help her grind down, need roaring through me. Her answering moan has my blood running hot.“You’re gonna give me a run for my money. Those were a lot of unexpected words from your pretty mouth.”

When she looks at me, she’s a deer on shaky legs again, though she shouldn’t doubt herself now. “Too forceful? Too upfront?”

“Absolutely not,” I say. “You’re a walking dream. But we can’t. If I get inside you, there’s no way we’re not fucking, baby. That’s not how this works. I won’t stop, and you won’t want me to.”

Her whimper, brimming with longing, rips me apart. Her logic and desire are heading in opposite directions and, through her, so are mine. After a moment of wild indecision, something in her settles into place.

“You’re a self-professed switch,” she says. “Let me tie your hands. If we have sex, it will be on me. My boundary, my responsibility, my willpower.”

Damn. Nate might’ve tried taming her into Bambi, but she’s always been a wolf. It’s hard to submit when I’ve been powerless for the better part of a year, but it’s also incredibly hot to watch her embrace her sensuality. It’s enough that, for the first time since Kinley drugged me, I consider surrender.

I clasp our hands together, contemplating the ground rules, expectations, and aftercare. I don’t have enough clarity or patience to teach her. Not when I need her so fiercely that it blankets everything else.

“If we do this, I’m going to beg to fuck you—” I choke off my words, because Petra’s eyes glint. She wants me begging, and that’s fuckinghot.“Ignore me. If I need to stop, I’ll say Bambi. That means we both take a breath and a break.”

Amusement tugs at her mouth. “Bambi is your safe word?”

“What do you know about safe words?”

She laughs, embarrassed. “Christian Grey was a cultural phenomenon, and you know I have an appetite. Pretty sure every woman over thirty knows what a safe word is.”

An appetite. Fuck me. I’m too keyed-up already, and we’re still wearing all our clothes. “I don’t know how the hell I’m going to hold still and talk dirty to you when you make me crazy.”

Petra lets go of my hands to slip hers under my shirt. Her fingers are gentle as she maps my body. She tugs until I lift my arms, and my shirt lands on the floor.

She leans in close, her breath warm across my neck. “Having your voice in my ear, saying all the things I’ve ever wanted to hear while you’re holding us back? It’s the fantasy I didn’t know I wanted. Ride the edge with me, Reed.”

Her quiet demand sucks all the air from my lungs and replaces it with need. Pure, unadulterated need. “Pet,” I laugh, undone, “you’re the best damn flirt I’ve ever met.”

I fist my hands in her hair and kiss her. It’s harsh, invasive, and demanding. I have thirty seconds of control left before I submit to her, and I’m going to use it. When I yank her closer, my hands grasping each curve and swell of her, she arches against me.

“You’re not a good switch,” she notes, breathless. I place rough, sucking kisses down her neck. I can’t let up, no matter how much I try.

“You can’t untie me while we do this,” I warn. “I won’t be able to hold back. See how little control I have with you?”

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