Page 60 of A Little Harmless Pleasure

Evan followed him into the kitchen, tossing his sunglasses onto the counter. “What’s up?”

Chris turned back to the jambalaya he was cooking. He had to keep busy. “Cynthia and I had a misunderstanding.”

“Don’t tell me, she didn’t go for all the submission and domination stuff. I thought maybe you’d made some headway because she’d become a little bossier, a little more confident, but I guess I was wrong. There are some women who just don’t understand the life and never will.”

Even in his maudlin mood, Chris smiled. “Really? Well, what if I told you that about a week ago, she took me to her house, tied me down, then fucked my brains out?”

He had the pleasure of seeing Evan at a complete loss for words. He shook his head, and Chris nodded.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“She didn’t want to give it up.”

“Give it up?”

“I asked for her submission.”

Evan studied him for a moment. “She said no?”

Mentally, he kicked himself in the ass again. Damn, he had wanted her so badly, wanted that concession from her, that he had thrown good sense to the wind. Beneath it all, he knew the reason, but he wasn’t about to confess to Evan that he wanted Cynthia to admit she loved him.

Evan brought him out of his thoughts. “What happened?”

Chris sighed as he threw the peppers and onions into the heated oil. They sizzled, and a moment later, the scent filled the kitchen. “She asked for time to think. She knew it was coming. All the reading she had been doing, well, there was no way she didn’t understand what I was, what I needed. I think I might have rushed it.”

Evan was opening his mouth to argue when both of them heard the front door click shut.

Cynthia shut the door with an audible click and sucked in a huge breath. Footsteps sounded against Chris’s tiled floor. Licking her lips, she fought the urge to turn and run out the door. The moment he appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, she knew she’d made the right decision. Her stomach flip-flopped, but her heart warmed at the sight of him. The kitchen light poured around him, making it difficult to see his expression in the darkened foyer.

“I didn’t know if I would see you tonight.”

She could sense the question that lay behind the statement. In his voice, she heard the same worry she felt, and for some reason her own nerves seemed to settle a little. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, his feet bare. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

She smiled. “I told you I needed to think about it.”

He nodded. “What did you decide?”

Her heart melted. The man was too good for her, really. Standing there a mixture of pride and vulnerability drifted over his face. He had given her more than she had ever given him, in and out of the bedroom. And he had asked this one thing to make them complete. Even with all his bravado, she sensed the undercurrent of fear. And with that, he completely captured her. No one had ever worried about losing her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked back tears. “What do you think?”

He studied her for a moment. Slowly, sensually, his lips curved. A jolt of heat speared from her stomach to her pussy. Every nerve ending in her body came to attention. Damn, all he had to do was smile at her and she was raring to go.

In two giant steps he reached her. Before she could say a word, she was in his arms. He took her mouth with a kiss so forceful it stole her breath and turned her brain to mush. His hands slid from her waist to cup her rear end. Pleasure burst through her as he lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“I don’t mean to intrude…”

Evan’s amused voice sounded from behind Chris. Chris broke off the kiss and gently set her on the floor.

“Do you want to do this, Cynthia?” He took her hands in his and raised them to his mouth, placing kisses over her knuckles. “Will you let me share you with Evan?”

She swallowed and looked at Evan. Instead of his usual cynical expression, need and understanding filled his gaze. A tremor of lust danced in her blood, while her heart softened.

“Cynthia?”

She turned to face Chris, the worry in his voice mirrored in his solemn air. Wanting to reassure him, she widened her smile, raising herself to her tiptoes and lightly brushing her mouth over his.

“Yes.”

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