Page 93 of Two Chambered Heart

“Why?” he asked, like he hadn’t heard anything she’d just said.

“Because… I care about you.”

“But why?”

“Because even though you’re a violent, grumpy asshole, you’re also incredibly sweet and considerate and funny and obviously extremely attractive…” She trailed off, blushing, letting her hands drop from his face.

“Those aren’t good enough reasons.”

He was right. She wasn’t being honest enough. “Fine. You make me feel like I’m not alone. You make me feel like I can breathe, like I can do anything. You make me feel like I’m not insane, like I matter. Like the shit I’ve been through matters. Like it was all real. Like I’m real.” She fought not to look away from him, so he could see how much she meant what she said.

He blinked at her, taking in her proclamations.

“You’re the only one standing in your way, Jase. Let yourself have this.” She swallowed thickly, willing her tears back. “Let yourself have me.”

He took in a big breath, blowing the air out slowly and closing his eyes, like he was trying to block her out. His jaw ticked with how hard he was grinding his teeth together.

When he opened his eyes again it was all wrath and a little bit of pleading. “You’re going to run from this.”

“I’ve only ever run to you.” She was breathing heavily, as if in evidence of her sprint to his room just now. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Fuck it,” he growled on an exhale, crashing his lips to hers.

She melted into him, and he spun her around, laying her on his bed. He pressed her between him and the mattress, his weight calming her. She pressed her bare legs into his, relishing in the contact. He kissed her feverishly, like the dam had finally broken. The aggression from earlierbled out into pure desire. She kissed him back just as fervently. Finally, he was running his hands through her hair, touching her the way she’d been aching for him to do, like she was precious to him.

“I’m right here,” she said again.

“I know,” he said, like maybe he was starting to believe her. He broke their kiss, pulling her up to stand from the bed.

“Take your sweatshirt off.” She did as instructed, a thrill running through her at the command. The fire in his evergreen eyes was back, bright in the dim lighting.

She stood before him naked, waiting for more instructions.

“We do this my way.” His voice was gravel, harsh as it left his throat, and underscored with need.

“Any way you want, Jase.”

He smirked, walking to the trunk and taking out piles of rope. “It won’t be like last time.”

“Good,” she said, anticipation tripping up her already erratic heart rate.

With one coil of rope in his hand, he slid behind her, running fingertips along her skin, raising the hair on her arms. “Hands behind your back. Clasp opposite elbows.”

Again, she did as she was told.

He unravelled the coil and wrapped one rope over her arms and around her chest, ghosting light kisses on her neck as he went. His hands guided the rope dextrously into knots at her back before he drew it back in front of her, wrapping another length under her breasts, hitching them up, his fingers trailing the sensitive skin underneath. With more knots in the back, he brought the rope over one shoulder and across her chest, under one breast and then back over her other shoulder, crisscrossing the rope so that each breast was constricted in its own space within the big X. He followed the pattern several more times, and she was completely at his mercy as he touched her freely, with no ability to move her arms from behind her.

Though his fingertips were soft, she could feel his calluses on her bare skin. She couldn’t stop staring at the muscles of his chest, the thick cords of his forearms as he moved around her. He was behind her again, and she leaned into him, his fingers running further down her stomach as her head fell to his shoulders, and he kissed her.

Then his fingers were teasing her, low on her pelvis, nearing where she wanted him to touch. His fingers were everywhere but there—her hips, her ass, her inner thighs, then back up under her breasts, teasing towards her nipples but not touching.

There was no music. All she could hear were her breaths mingling with his, and she felt the heat of it in her blood.

He pushed away from her, and she heard herself whine at the loss of contact. He went to his bedside table and changed the lighting to that sensuous red, bathing the room in it. Then he took another coil of rope and wound it around her waist, twice, before pulling it down her thigh, wrapping her leg up. He repeated the same pattern on her other leg, creating a harness of interlacing rope so tight around her legs that she could feel her ass cheeks hanging over the rope in the back.

He brought the last two pieces right into the crease of her hips, pushing the lips of her pussy out from the pressure. His fingers trailed everywhere the rope went, and her skin was alight with sensation.

He was behind her again with more rope. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but he was quiet as he worked, running his tongue up the side of her neck, and she moaned over his breaths.

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