Page 37 of Playing with Desire

With a cordial nod at Mitchell, Rick wrapped his fingers around Summer’s wrist and led her toward the private room he’d reserved for tonight, just in case he’d found someone who interested him. He stabbed his code into the keypad, then pulled her inside and made sure the door locked behind them.

She yanked her hand from his grasped and glared at him. “When did you become so boorish and bad-mannered?”

“When did you become so bold and rebellious?” He was shocked to see that the sad, heartbroken woman she’d been the past four months—including the week before at dinner—was gone. At least in this moment, she wasn’t anywhere to be found, and he wasn’t sure what had changed or when.

“When I realized that feeling sorry for myself was getting me nowhere,” she replied, her new impudent demeanor making Rick’s palm itch to spank her ass, given the chance.

Standing a few feet away from her, he crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you doing here at The Players Club?”

“The same thing you’re doing.” She sighed and shook her head. “For God’s sake, Rick, I’m single. Declan made sure of that, and I have every right to be here as much as you do. I can’t lament the loss of him forever. I miss him, so damn much, but at some point, I have to move on and live my life again.”

He heard the ache in her voice and suspected that decision hadn’t been an easy one for her to make. Or even coming back to The Players Club without Declan. But Rick also knew that Summer was a woman who’d traded in her vanilla sex life for two men with more assertive tendencies the first time she’d visited the club and hadn’t looked back.

Tonight, having returned to the club, she was making it clear she wasn’t looking to be coddled or searching for a sweet, gentle encounter. Rick was well aware of what she desired—a firmer hand and submitting to darker, more sinful demands—and Lord help him, he was prepared to deliver.

He closed the distance between them, and tucking his fingers beneath her chin, he lifted her gaze up to his, trying not to let those soft red lips of hers distract him. “You want to play tonight?” he murmured huskily. “Then play with me, because I’m not letting another man touch you.”

She arched a brow at his definitive statement. “You’re notlettinganother man touch me?” she challenged.

“I’m not a stranger. Youknowme,” he said more persuasively. “You trust me. I’ll give you everything you need.”

She swallowed hard, her blue eyes softening as they searched his. “What I need is to forget about Declan, at least for a while. I don’t want to think tonight. I just want to feel something other than grief and heartache. I just want to lose myself in pleasure.”

He could provide that escape and more. There was no doubt in his mind that if he allowed her to walk out the door, she’d find someone else or go back to Mitchell, and he wasn’t willing to give her that opportunity. He also understood that she loved Declan, and Rick still felt as though his stepbrother was a fucking idiot for letting her go, but he couldn’t imagine Summer “moving on” to another man, not when he had the ability to be everything she needed in this moment.

Done talking, he released her chin and stepped back, deciding to start a scene and see if she followed along or walked out of the playroom. “Take off your dress.”

Her eyes widened in startled surprise at his abrupt demand. “What?”

“You heard me, sweetheart,” he said, and walked around her to lower the zipper down her back before facing her again. “If there’s an issue, you have a safe word you can use. Otherwise, take off your dress, unless you want me to rip it the rest of the way off your body.”

There was no disguising the spark of excitement that flashed in her eyes as she obeyed his order. She quickly removed her dress, leaving her standing before him in a red lace bra and matching panties. The deep, rich color was a stark, sexy contrast against her creamy skin and blonde hair and accentuated her stiff nipples poking against the thin fabric of her bra.

Lust surged all the way down to his thickening dick, while his jaw clenched at the thought of any other man in the place seeing her like this.

He began unbuttoning his shirt to take it off while she watched. “Have you taken a look around the room?” he asked, certain she hadn’t bothered during their earlier conversation.

She shook her head and did so now, her gaze skimming over the bed before moving on to view all the erotic furniture the last room she’d shared with him and Declan hadn’t provided. Stocks. A St. Andrew’s Cross. A spanking bench, and more.

Letting her soak it all in while wondering about his intentions, he shrugged off his shirt and tossed it onto a nearby chair, then strolled toward the armoire against the far wall. He opened the doors and searched for what he wanted.

“Do I get to pick something, too?” she asked, anticipation in her voice at the possibility, since he and Declan had allowed to do so their last time together.

“No,” he said, his tone firm as he selected a leather paddle and a small clitoral stimulator, which he took out of its box. “You’ll take whatever I decide to give you, which in this case is a punishment for your actions tonight.”

She shifted on her feet when she saw the items in his hand, watching him warily as he strolled back to her, then set them on a nearby table as he began unbuckling his belt.

“Strip off the rest of your clothes.”

While he took off his pants, shoes, and socks, which left him in his black boxer briefs, he enjoyed the view as she slowly removed her bra, then her panties. She stood before him, gloriously naked, literally taking his breath away at how gorgeous she was.

He led her toward one of the pieces of furniture in the room, upholstered in black leather. “Do you know what this is?” he asked.

She nodded her head tentatively. “I... I think it’s a spanking bench.”

“It is, and you’re going to kneel on the padded leg rests, then bend over the upper platform so I can secure your hands and legs to the bench,” he said, making her aware of what he intended to do, knowing how much she enjoyed being restrained.

She complied, moving into position, and with her legs spread wide on the knee rests, he strapped her ankles and calves to the padded supports and secured her wrists to the front legs of the apparatus. She was on her knees, bent over at the waist, unable to move, and his to do with as he pleased.

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