Page 40 of Bound to a Monster

He licks his lips and looks down at me. “You have the pants on already, don’t you?” His expression darkens. “You were playing dress-up already.”

Well, shit. I guess he’s more observant than I realized. The sweatshirt’s big and nearly down to my knees, but it’s kind of hard to hide the very distinct white cotton breeches.

“I was just testing it, okay?”

“Test it again.”

“I’m not doing this.”

“And I’m not asking.” He moves toward me. “Put on the outfit, Carmie.”

My breath catches in my throat. Why does this excite me so much? Something about him wanting to look at me makes the pulse between my legs skyrocket.

“Will you get out of here if I do?” I ask, barely able to get the words out.

He tilts his head like he’s considering. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do with you yet.”

I have to fight not to whimper at that, becauseholy shit. The dripping innuendo makes my knees shake.

“Turn around.”

He hesitates. I can tell he doesn’t want to. But I may be out of my mind, except I’m not an idiot. There’s no way I’m undressing in front of him.

Slowly though, he turns his back to me and leans against the doorframe. “I’m impatient,” he says softly, which nearly makes me scream.

Impatient to see me play dress-up for him.

I take off the sweatshirt. I skip the chest protector since it’s just a big, restrictive padded bra anyway meant to protect a female fencer from a hard touch. I shrug on the jacket, trembling slightly as I button it up and turn to him.

“Alright, you can look.”

He turns back around. And hestares.

I’ve never felt more vulnerable in my life. Not even when I gave him my virginity for the first time. That night was something I wanted. I felt like I was at least partially in control. But this is totally different. This is whathewants, and I’m doing it because he likes it, and that’s a power dynamic I wasn’t expecting.

I like the way his eyes rake up and down. Fencing costumes aren’t exactly the sexiest things in the world—they’re basically giant white jumpsuits—but the way he’s drinking me down makes it feel like I’m standing ass naked in here. My nipples are stiff, and I’m tingling like crazy between my legs, and my breath’s coming in fast, and I don’t know what I’m going to do if he comes any closer.

His jaw flexes. He takes a deep breath and blows it out like he’s struggling to keep himself under control.

“It fits,” he says.

“I was pretty surprised too,” I say awkwardly.

“You look good. You look… like you should have that on.”

“Thank you?” I’m not even sure what that’s supposed to mean, but he’s clearly into this right now. The tension between us is electric, and one wrong move, one wrong word, could set this whole place on fire.

And I’m not sure that’s what I want right now.

Considering how complicated our relationship is.

“You should wear it more often. I have space… down in the basement. If you wanted to start training again.”

My eyebrows raise. That isnotwhat I expected. “Really? You’d do that?”

“I can clear it out. Get you what you need.” He stares into my eyes. There’s a depth to him that I didn’t expect. I knew his charm and magnetism hid a darkness behind it, but this is new.

It’s almost like he cares.

---