Page 45 of Between Commitment and Betrayal
“They’re being nice, Declan.”
“They can’t take their eyes off you.” His hand curled around my waist and slipped lower and lower as he shook his head. “I know I can’t. I’ve fucked you and called you my wife.”
His skin against my skin, the way he murmured the words, how his voice vibrated down into my bones had me dizzy. I wasn’t in control.
“I’m not… I’m not wife material, Declan. I wasn’t kidding when I told Wes I can’t be exclusive, that I can’t even imagine being in a relationship.” How could I tell him Andy had broken me?
“We’re already married.” He said it decisively, like there was no room for argument, like I shouldn’t be even questioning it. Then, he walked us both backward until he reached the lat pull-down machine. Each side had a bar that was just within my reach, and he wasted no time grabbing the band we’d been using for his rehab to wrap my wrists tight before threading the elastic right next to the bracelets I had on like an Eagle Scout demonstrating how to tie knots. Before I even realized that he’d restrained me, my hands were above my head, attached to the bar, and every time I pulled, the weight from the machine restrained me.
Declan smiled at his handiwork. “What can you pull, babe?”
“Seriously?”
“Fine.” He shrugged and pulled the peg out only to shove it into the three-hundred-pound weight.
Shit. The adrenaline running through my veins should have been an indicator to stop but with him, my body didn’t want to.
“Safe word, Drop?” He asked before he took, asked before he pushed the boundary.
It was the reason I didn’t even hesitate, that I knew I could trust him more than I had others before. “Gardenia.”
“Why?”
“I hate the smell of them.”
He halted his motion for a second. “They’re all around the guesthouse.”
I shrugged. “I know. I understand the appeal. They used to be a favorite.” I didn’t elaborate. The smell of them haunted my soul. They were what Andy had gotten for me once.
“Okay,” Declan murmured and dragged a finger across my jaw, soft, soothing, and as light as a single drop of rain on my skin. “Trust me?”
It was just two words, but my whole heart wanted to desperately, and as the air left my lungs, I gave in to whatever this was between us for the moment. I nodded once, and he moved like he always did, without hesitation and without restraint.
He stepped back, the green in his eyes more vivid, full of life, hunger, and control. He knew he had the power now, every part of me hanging there at his will. He walked around me once. “I shouldn’t want to punish you for the attention they all give you, Drop. But I really do.”
I shivered at his confession. “Do it,” I whispered out.
“She commands me like she has a say. Don’t you know you’re at my mercy, Drop? And I have one goal here tonight.”
“What?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. I tried my best to keep my eyes on him as he circled me again, his stride long, his muscles moving fluidly as he tilted his head to crack his neck as if readying himself for whatever he was about to do.
“Next time you step inside my gym, you’re going to remember most everything in it belongs to me…” He stood behind me, so we looked at each other in the reflection of the mirror again. “Including you.”
“You know I don’t really belong to you,” I said, even though the idea of it made me clench my thighs.
He grabbed my chin so I wouldn’t move my head, so I’d only stare at the both of us, take in how he hovered around me, how I looked so tiny with him standing with his chest to my back. He rubbed himself back and forth so I could feel him. “Look at yourself while you feel me against you.”
His hard length against my back wasn’t something I could ignore. I knew his cock was throbbing for me, knew right now, right here that he wanted me, that I’d made this man almost crazy with desire. Being at his mercy had my body basically begging for him to get closer, my pussy wanted him in me. I tried to push back against him, but he leaned away.
“Stop teasing me, Declan.” I yanked at the restraints on my wrist.
He chuckled. “You’re not getting out of anything I tie you up in, Drop. You’re mine tonight.” He rubbed back and forth over my stomach before dipping his hand low over my yoga pants to rub my clit through the fabric. He worked me up so much that I started to see my arousal coming into view, felt the dampness collecting between my legs. “See how you get wet for me.”
I whimpered as his other hand went to the zipper on the front of my sports bra. “Yes.” Before he even undid it, my nipples tightened in anticipation.
“So impatient, Drop. Where’s that composure I always see from you, huh?”
I bit my lip as my hips moved against his hand, and when he slowly unzipped my bra for my breasts spill out, I knew I wouldn’t last as his hand gripped them.
